I bought an ebook from webscriptions.net, Baen Books' online bookstore, last night, and got to wondering about how their royalty rates to the authors vary between ebooks and mass-market paperbacks. The retail cost of the ebook (_Fledgling_, by Steve Miller and Sharon Lee) was $6.00; most MMPB's these days retail for $7 to $9. The per-book cost to the publisher is lower for an ebook, since they aren't having to pay for paper and ink, and the financial cost for the disk space for a single copy of an ebook is bound to be far less than the financial cost for warehousing a print run. On the other hand, editorial costs and the like should be about the same regardless of the physical medium involved.
So, do authors make about the same royalties on ebooks and mass-market paperbacks, or is the royalty prorated along with the retail price? I know that the royalties paid for hardbacks and trade paperbacks are generally more per copy than those paid for mass-market paperbacks.
-- John F. Eldredge -- j...@jfeldredge.com "Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria
John F. Eldredge wrote: > So, do authors make about the same royalties on ebooks and mass-market > paperbacks, or is the royalty prorated along with the retail price? I > know that the royalties paid for hardbacks and trade paperbacks are > generally more per copy than those paid for mass-market paperbacks.
I don't have a contract to hand, but I think I get proportionately MORE per ebook than for anything else, though the absolute numbers are still probably below hardback royalties (hardback gets the double boost of higher retail price AND higher percentage of royalty)
John F. Eldredge wrote: > So, do authors make about the same royalties on ebooks and mass-market > paperbacks, or is the royalty prorated along with the retail price? I > know that the royalties paid for hardbacks and trade paperbacks are > generally more per copy than those paid for mass-market paperbacks.
Everything depends on how the contract is written.
>I bought an ebook from webscriptions.net, Baen Books' online bookstore, > last night, and got to wondering about how their royalty rates to the > authors vary between ebooks and mass-market paperbacks.
My Baen contracts state:
20% royalties for Webscriptions, 10% for hardcovers, 8% for paperbacks
Chris Dolley wrote: > John F. Eldredge asked: >> I bought an ebook from webscriptions.net, Baen Books' online >> bookstore, last night, and got to wondering about how their royalty >> rates to the authors vary between ebooks and mass-market paperbacks.
> My Baen contracts state:
> 20% royalties for Webscriptions, 10% for hardcovers, 8% for paperbacks
Hey Chris,
Don't think I've seen you around here in a while! What's the latest?
Bill
-- Living on the polemic may be temporarily satisfying, but it will raise your blood-pressure, and gives you tunnel vision.
Bill Swears wrote: > Hey Chris, Don't think I've seen you around here in a while! What's the > latest?
Hi Bill,
Currently I'm pitching a fun urban fantasy series, a quirky mystery series and doing a lot of waiting:)
The first books in both series are done. I'm working on the sequels now - luckily they work as stand alones so their fate isn't tied up with their respective book ones.
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