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A typical royalty is 10% of the retail price. If the book is $30 (cheap these days), then a million copies sold (an extremely rare feat, even for a best seller,
by leephillips 3y ago
A typical royalty is 10% of the retail price. If the book is $30 (cheap these days), then a million copies sold (an extremely rare feat, even for a best seller, but...) is $3 million dollars. How does this story add up? (Foreign rights are often a lump sum rather than royalties, but still...?)
- grecy 3y ago> A typical royalty is 10% of the retail price. For WHO? What publisher is offering 10%?? The best I've ever heard is a fraction of a cent per book, and you don't get a single cent until AFTER all the expenses have been earned back (advance, editing, promotion of the book, flying you all over the place, hotels, staff).
- leephillips 3y agoThe standard rate from reputable publishers is 10 to 15%. It's what I've gotten from three different publishers (Hachette, No Starch, Packt). The rates for paperback, discounted books, ebooks, audio books, are all a bit different, but that's the ballpark. All these publishers also paid me advances. That’s an advance on royalties. You start getting paid more when your earned royalties exceed the advance. There is no deduction for any other expense whatsoever. This thread is full of utter nonsense about the worlds of publishing and writing. [Edit: minus the 15% for your agent, if you're represented by one. But as your agent also made sure you got a good contract, you probably come out ahead.]
- dlx 3y agoOK I’ll bite. What is the utter nonsense in this thread?