3 ms·

At $3 profit per book sold, $15 retail, I can see why he is mad at the value suck industry(publishers/distributors).

tracker1 14y ago
That's $6 profit... He got $12000 for 4000 books, which is 50% of the profit, his cut. For a physical book, with distribution costs, and the likes of amazon are probably getting about a 20-30% cut.. so that's really more like $9 profit off a $15 book.. 3 for the author, 3 for the publisher and 2-3 for Amazon. bringing the cost of the book's printing to $6 or so... not bad. Also, the "best seller" was only for the one week, and 4000 books, of which most were probably during that one week isn't so bad.. the tail probably sucked though. Now, self-publishing as an e-Book on amazon, would have given him potentially a bit more.. say Amazon takes $4, that gives him $11, and if only 1/2 bought it (available in digital only), would gross him $22k, even with a price drop to say $10 for digital (amazon getting $3) would be $14k ... That's some food for thought. If you can write a book every two months, and sell 2K copies for a $10 digital version.. that's not a bad living. Bonus, if you become a little well known, people will order more of your back catalog.
- jld 14y ago
  Finishing a book every two months would be insane for a fiction writer.
  - graylights 14y ago
    But if you look at ebooks on amazon it's getting lot more common to have serials. Shorter books, cheaper price, fast turnaround. My favorite is Wool, which has done 8 books in last 20 months and is excellent.
    - dougk16 14y ago
      John Scalzi's "The Human Division" is another serial that Amazon has really been pushing me to buy that I can only assume is worth it. Second for Wool being excellent.
  - bproctor 14y ago
    Not really. Since my wife started writing she's averaging about 2 1/2 to 3 months. And that includes the 2-3 weeks waiting on the copy editor.
  - xtracto 14y ago
    Unless you are Isaac Asimov, and your writing produces about 8 books a year on average during your whole lifespan.
  - tracker1 14y ago
    I don't think it would be that hard.. also, once you have a back catalog, your newer books will raise interest in your older books until it becomes more self-sustaining... fewer sales of older books keeping a consistent income.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
  - tracker1 14y ago
    I don't think it would be that hard.. also, once you have a back catalog, your newer books will raise interest in your older books until it becomes more self-sustaining... fewer sales of older books keeping a consistent income.

That's $6 profit... He got $12000 for 4000 books, which is 50% of the profit, his cut. For a physical book, with distribution costs, and the likes of amazon are probably getting about a 20-30% cut.. so that's really more like $9 profit off a $15 book.. 3 for the author, 3 for the publisher and 2-3 for Amazon. bringing the cost of the book's printing to $6 or so... not bad. Also, the "best seller" was only for the one week, and 4000 books, of which most were probably during that one week isn't so bad.. the tail probably sucked though. Now, self-publishing as an e-Book on amazon, would have given him potentially a bit more.. say Amazon takes $4, that gives him $11, and if only 1/2 bought it (available in digital only), would gross him $22k, even with a price drop to say $10 for digital (amazon getting $3) would be $14k ... That's some food for thought. If you can write a book every two months, and sell 2K copies for a $10 digital version.. that's not a bad living. Bonus, if you become a little well known, people will order more of your back catalog.

jld 14y ago
Finishing a book every two months would be insane for a fiction writer.
- graylights 14y ago
  But if you look at ebooks on amazon it's getting lot more common to have serials. Shorter books, cheaper price, fast turnaround. My favorite is Wool, which has done 8 books in last 20 months and is excellent.
  - dougk16 14y ago
    John Scalzi's "The Human Division" is another serial that Amazon has really been pushing me to buy that I can only assume is worth it. Second for Wool being excellent.
- bproctor 14y ago
  Not really. Since my wife started writing she's averaging about 2 1/2 to 3 months. And that includes the 2-3 weeks waiting on the copy editor.
- xtracto 14y ago
  Unless you are Isaac Asimov, and your writing produces about 8 books a year on average during your whole lifespan.
- tracker1 14y ago
  I don't think it would be that hard.. also, once you have a back catalog, your newer books will raise interest in your older books until it becomes more self-sustaining... fewer sales of older books keeping a consistent income.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- tracker1 14y ago
  I don't think it would be that hard.. also, once you have a back catalog, your newer books will raise interest in your older books until it becomes more self-sustaining... fewer sales of older books keeping a consistent income.