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Alana Joli Abbott ([personal profile] alanajoli) wrote2010-08-02 10:13 pm

E-book question for writers

So, there's been news lately about Wiley Agency starting an Amazon only imprint for their writers. It's sort of a weird deal -- a literary agency acting as a publisher and giving exclusivity to a single seller -- and it's much debated (which I won't get into here). It has got me thinking, though: in theory, writer royalties are supposed to be larger in e-books. (That's another thing being batted around the news lately.) If that's true, it would make sense for me to exclusively buy e-books instead of mass markets, as they're priced very similarly, and on e-books, my money would go more directly to the writer.

So, writer friends:

1) Are your royalties better on e-book?
2) Does my math make sense?

Twostripe has looked at my to be read pile, which I've now divided into three as part of the baby-proofing efforts at the house (it's far less likely to topple now). When I talk about buying a new book from my release list, he makes a funny gurgling noise that isn't at all a sound of approval. He suggested, however, that I look into saving us shelf space by buying digital, so I'm headed that direction. (I picked up Nalini Singh's newest, Bonds of Justice, when Kobo Books was having a sale the other day.)

This messes up my "I like all of my books to look the same on the shelf" strategy -- I'm compelled to buy matching book sets, which is why I have all the Percy Jackson books in hardcover, and why I at one point had three different incomplete sets of the Harry Potter series, since I picked up paperbacks of several of the books in England over two or three trips. On the up side for the blog, slimming down my print collection could mean a lot of fun prizes and contests coming up here.

[identity profile] bccreations.livejournal.com 2010-08-03 02:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Royalties are derived from net price, so:

$30 hardcover x 15% royalty rate = $4.50

$10 ebook x 25% royalty rate = $2.50

The higher royalty (25% being the current standard at the big 6) does not offset the lower price point.

[identity profile] alanajoli.livejournal.com 2010-08-03 08:13 pm (UTC)(link)
But if my choice is $7.99 for a mass market at, say, 15%, vs. $7.99 for an e-book at the 25% rate? That's really the distinction I'm looking at. Hardcovers are probably always going to net more.