4 ms·

Speaking as someone publishing an ebook through BN, Amazon, and Apple, there's some competition in distribution. Basically Apple and BN are competitive and Amaz

Speaking as someone publishing an ebook through BN, Amazon, and Apple, there's some competition in distribution. Basically Apple and BN are competitive and Amazon isn't (which is, I guess, what you'd expect given that Amazon is dominant). Apple offers 70%, as does BN. Amazon offers 70% if you sell your book for under $10, and only in some markets, and it charges you for downloads (from your 70%). If you want to price a book over $20 you get 35% royalties.

jusben1369 15y ago
Fascinating. I assume this is self publishing (vs this article which is about the large publishers?) When you mention 35% royalties are you saying that Amazon gives you 70% of the street price you set to them? However, if your street price is more than $20 they drop that to 35% to you? Also, do any of the agreements require you, if you sell in other locations, that the price listed must match the price you told them? Ie - are they using a MFN clause like that listed in the article above?
- podperson 15y ago
  AFAIK Amazon doesn't have an MFN clause. (Does Apple still w.r.t. books? I thought that's past tense.) If I am willing to sell for under $10 Amazon offers a 70% royalty (less various charges -- effectively 60%) in some regions, 35% in others, and if the price is over $10 then it's 35% (with no deductions). Oh my original post is confused -- books over __$10__ are limited to a 35% royalty (which is a huge poverty trap) In all cases I'm talking percentage of my set selling price. (Perhaps Amazon wants to discount my books and still have enough margin to pay my royalty -- that's a lot of wiggle room -- they can sell my $20 book for $10 and make just as much money off it as if I'd set the cover price at $10. From Apple, Barnes & Noble, etc. it's 70% minus some admin charge -- effectively 65% or so -- across the board. Note that Apple does cap prices for "textbooks" created with iBookauthor at $14.99. I guess in the end this doesn't matter much since we can always split books into parts, but the fact is that Amazon's business model currently involves: * paying less to writers than anyone else * evading state sales taxes by fair means and foul * being the only vendor of ebook readers that can't read DRM-free ePubs out-of-the-box
tallanvor 15y ago
It's not that Amazon isn't competitive, it's that you don't like the deal you are able to get with them as an author. If you were to go to a major publisher, I can pretty much guarantee that you would get a much worse deal unless you've already written books that have sold many copies.
- podperson 15y ago
  iBooks offers a 70% royalty flat to anyone. Amazon offers 35% to me, or 70% - some amount based on file size, if I am willing to sell for under $10.00. I don't care what deal I'd get from a publisher -- the whole point of this new world is we don't need more middlemen.

jusben1369 15y ago

Fascinating. I assume this is self publishing (vs this article which is about the large publishers?) When you mention 35% royalties are you saying that Amazon gives you 70% of the street price you set to them? However, if your street price is more than $20 they drop that to 35% to you? Also, do any of the agreements require you, if you sell in other locations, that the price listed must match the price you told them? Ie - are they using a MFN clause like that listed in the article above?

podperson 15y ago
AFAIK Amazon doesn't have an MFN clause. (Does Apple still w.r.t. books? I thought that's past tense.) If I am willing to sell for under $10 Amazon offers a 70% royalty (less various charges -- effectively 60%) in some regions, 35% in others, and if the price is over $10 then it's 35% (with no deductions). Oh my original post is confused -- books over __$10__ are limited to a 35% royalty (which is a huge poverty trap) In all cases I'm talking percentage of my set selling price. (Perhaps Amazon wants to discount my books and still have enough margin to pay my royalty -- that's a lot of wiggle room -- they can sell my $20 book for $10 and make just as much money off it as if I'd set the cover price at $10. From Apple, Barnes & Noble, etc. it's 70% minus some admin charge -- effectively 65% or so -- across the board. Note that Apple does cap prices for "textbooks" created with iBookauthor at $14.99. I guess in the end this doesn't matter much since we can always split books into parts, but the fact is that Amazon's business model currently involves: * paying less to writers than anyone else * evading state sales taxes by fair means and foul * being the only vendor of ebook readers that can't read DRM-free ePubs out-of-the-box

tallanvor 15y ago

It's not that Amazon isn't competitive, it's that you don't like the deal you are able to get with them as an author. If you were to go to a major publisher, I can pretty much guarantee that you would get a much worse deal unless you've already written books that have sold many copies.

podperson 15y ago
iBooks offers a 70% royalty flat to anyone. Amazon offers 35% to me, or 70% - some amount based on file size, if I am willing to sell for under $10.00. I don't care what deal I'd get from a publisher -- the whole point of this new world is we don't need more middlemen.