Ebook publishers really vary on their terms and royalty percentages, though in general, smaller ebook publishers seem to be more flexible and many offer higher royalties.
Here are a couple of examples:
eHarlequin - (x) On copies of English language electronic editions of Publisher or its Related Licensees sold in North America:
. on the first 100,000 copies of each such edition, six percent (6%) of the Cover Price;
. on the next 100,000 copies of each such edition, seven percent (7%) of the Cover Price;
. on the next 100,000 copies of each such edition, eight percent (8%) of the Cover Price;
. on the next 100,000 copies of each such edition, nine percent (9%) of the Cover Price;
. on all such copies of each such edition thereafter, ten percent (10%) of the Cover Price;
(x) On copies of English language electronic editions of Publisher or its Related Licensees: four percent (4%) of the Cover Price in any country outside of North America.
(x) On copies sold of non-English language electronic editions of Publisher or its Related Licensees: two percent (2%) of Cover Price in any country.
Double-Dragon eBooks - 30 % of the cover price less credit card processing fees for eBooks sold from our site, 30 % of the amount received from a reseller, and 8 % of the retail price for POD print books.
Ellora's Cave - Royalties: 37.5% for digital releases; 7.5 % for print books.
Length of grant of publishing rights: Life of copyright
Includes digital, print, audio, translation, and secondary/subsidiary rights.
Wild Child Publishing - 40% of sales
Wolfsinger Publications - 75% of sales less charges for any handling costs, service fees, or discounts when paid in full by the distributor, bookstore, vendor, organization.
Imajin Books - 50% of sales collected, no charges; term - 5 years.
These are just a few examples of how widely varied author royalties are, and one thing I do advise is to check the other terms very carefully.
2 comments:
Cheryl, Thanks for sharing this - very valuable indeed & interesting to see. Here's some more data points I gathered at a recent book expo from several of the authors.. RE: some vanity publishers: Xilbris, iUniverse, and Morgan James all keep 50%, and Tate keeps 60% on every ebook sale. Other authors I spoke with who work with smaller presses are reporting up to a 50% share in ebook sales if the publisher covers the cost of the conversion (I've yet to hear any publisher paying more than 50%). So I've been encouraging other authors who have had their titles back listed with their publisher to try and obtain the original digital files (& request digital rights) to then publish digitally themselves.. and in those cases, the authors are retain 100% of their ebook profit (minus any initial cost up front for the digital conversion).
Thank you so much for sharing that data! It's very helpful to have a wide range of stats on what publishers are paying out.
My biggest issue with the subsidy publishers you listed is that an author has to pay a large lump sum up front.
Like you, I encourage authors to consider publishing themselves. However, I know there are some writers who are still holding onto the dream of having a traditional publisher publish their works.
Or they aren't very computer literate and don't want to tackle formatting for each of the retailers or hire someone else to do it for them.
To these authors, it is in their best interests to read offered contracts very carefully and ensure they understand all the terms, including royalties.
Post a Comment