E-book rates

My publisher has come back on my query regarding the flat 10% rate they pay on e-books. This is their reply which obviously includes a liberal dose of snake oil. How do you think I should respond?


"Whilst e-book production & distribution costs are cheaper in the long run, we have to incur significant set up costs to convert books into various e-formats. Also in the future there will come a point where e-book sales increase in volume to such an extent where we have to reduce our physical print runs which in turn means higher unit production costs.
At present e-books have been treated as rights income as we have licensed content to "digital aggregators" who provide digital content to libraries, and we are in turn paid income based on the number of downloads of books or chapters, so this would not directly link to sales of full hard copy books."

While I cannot reveal contractual information, I can assure you that 10% is far below what is paid for ebooks by my indie publisher and I think many others. The very fact that the statement started with "whilst" is a warning to me :-)

You'd be better to get your ebook rights and set up your own at Kindle and Smashwords....maybe...

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"Whilst e-book production & distribution costs are cheaper in the
long run, we have to incur significant set up costs to convert books
into various e-formats. Also in the future there will come a point
where e-book sales increase in volume to such an extent where we have
to reduce our physical print runs which in turn means higher unit
production costs.
At present e-books have been treated as rights
income as we have licensed content to "digital aggregators" who provide
digital content to libraries, and we are in turn paid income based on
the number of downloads of books or chapters, so this would not
directly link to sales of full hard copy books."

No snake oil about it. That is pure elixir of the bulls.

Hard to say, Mike. From what I can tell, the pubs that give 45% and such to their authors for ebooks basically only put out ebooks, they don't have real books on shelves, or they're POD. Customers have to find the pub's website to know about them (or the author has to spam the world). My nonfic pub -a paper books on shelves pub- has my book on Kindle and my cut is the same as the paper version, a flat 10% of net. Maybe that makes a difference. Maybe not. I don't know.

My small press book, Ghost Orchid, has been vetted by Barnes and Noble New York Small Press Department and is purchased by them of their own volition and shelved with no additional effort from me. It is a book of regional appeal and is, therefore, in regional B&N stores - lots of them.

My publisher published primarily print books; but in light of the change in the marketplace now publishes the print and ebook at the same time. Their books are in all distribution outlets, particularly heavy in the ebook distribution. Their books are easily found online; in fact, one listing of my book at Borders went on to list all other books by my publisher. They do not, however push for shelf placement in chain bookstores; their market is more specialized and as a small press, they are not going to pay the chain bookstores to shelve and promote their books. Nor do they wish to receive the returns for unsold books. Their authors have a major presence on the Internet.

Making summary judgments based on one's annecdotal experience is risky. I only know my publisher who may be more generous than others because they are very savvy to what's happening in publishing today and make changes to the benefit of their authors and themselves. Other indie publishers have their own contracts and style; I cannot speak for them.

I make no claims to fame; I at least am not embarassed to let the world know what books and short stories I have published and that I wish all readers as much enjoyment in their reading as I have had in the writing. My only experience is my own and through the experiences of colleagues. I do see the handwriting on the wall however: unless they change their business model, the big six publishers are in trouble and so are the big box bookstores. Print books are dinosaurs.

I have written two texts, one interactive text to teach Vocational Education - Current Events, a required course for Vocational Education Master's Degree and Phd. majors. I also created a series of texts for the State of Florida - Careers in the 21st Century - that was implemented in grades K-12 throughout the State. I was paid a salary so the rights remained with the University of South Florida in one instance and the State of Florida in another.

I also wrote a technical manual for the State of Florida to implement database management of a demographic collection MIS used for technical training statewide. Again, I was under contract and did not retain the rights.

I wrote a database and training manual for the State of Idaho. Under contract to them, I did not retain the rights. However, another person who attended one of my national presentations on the database took excellent notes. She sold her barely revised copies to not only one state but several, at astronomical figures. I only found out because I moved to one of those states and was asked to revise the system and the manual, only to discover it was my own. I didn't have the "commercial" mentality that I have had to develop as a fiction writer. When I met the lady again, she practically made fun of my innocence.

The two types of writing have nothing in common. Fortunately, my first love is fiction and the "other" was to earn a living that was steady and reliable. The transition was no transition as far as writing goes. The "commercial" thinking has been the challenge.

Lin is right on in much of what he says regarding texts, just a little harsh in his presentation. Once you are established as a writer of textbooks, you pretty much have a groove to follow and "they will come." If my venture into fiction slows instead of speeding up, I may return to the staid and secure; however, my emphasis will be interactive, multi-media electronic texts, not print. And I will be smarter about retaining the rights - and the royalties.

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Once you are established as a writer of textbooks, you pretty much have a groove to follow and "they will come."

I wasn't referencing my texts, but rather, my trade nonfic, which is published by a small press and in print for 21 years. When they put it on the Kindle, I was sent a notice and receive the same cut as for the print version.

I'm sorry; I forgot that it's very difficult for a writer who is open with their name, the name of their published works and their information in general to have an open conversation with someone without a name, without a named publication and with remarks that are often intended to express an air of superiority to demean other people.

I am but a learner on this earth and in this forum; my opinions are from my own experiences and what I read or hear from my colleagues. Every day my eyes are opened by people I respect for their talent and their willingness to share themselves and their knowledge with me.

I was trying to share my little bit of knowledge with someone who asked questions, not defend anything or anyone. I am going to try and remember not to get caught in a web by someone without identification or credentials, a voice in the wilderness.

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I forgot that it's very difficult for a writer who is open with their
name, the name of their published works and their information in
general to have an open conversation with someone without a name,
without a named publication and with remarks that are often intended to
express an air of superiority to demean other people.

Oh, she doesn't let you forget for long. Careful or she'll start posting pictures of checks with all the names blocked out.

dkchristi wrote:

I was trying to share my little bit of knowledge with someone who asked questions, not defend anything or anyone. I am going to try and remember not to get caught in a web by someone without identification or credentials, a voice in the wilderness.

Now you sound as pissy as lin. You mentioned that textbooks are easy sell once you're known. I have no idea and dont' know why you were addressing that subject with me. I was telling Mike my experience with a trade nonfiction book that was in print first, same as his. Oh well, I need to try and remember that some people like to get their back up about anything.

I don’t need to know what someone have published or what their real name is to decide if their comments are of interest. I’m a bit in between. I post under my real name but don’t bother people with links to or a listing of my work. If anyone cares they only have to search my name and it’s all there. I prefer to leave championing to the marketing department of my publisher (Kogan Page) but I don’t think that should be held against me or anyone else who prefers not to name their titles or their identity for that matter.

I am unhappy with a flat 10% on e-books. It means that for many titles I get a lower % for an e-book sale than paper. 10% of the lower e-books receipts does not produce a viable wage.

In the reply they say they are treating e-book sales as rights – well if that is the case then perhaps I should get 50% because that’s the rights deal that I have. I will need to re-read my contracts. Many of the contracts go back before E-books and the earlier ones do not explicitly address the issue of e-book rights. Who knows if they don’t agree a reasonable rate I might be able claim the e-book rights and take them elsewhere.

Mike -I know you don't think it's worthwhile giving an agent a percentage for such things (neither do I), but you might consider a literary lawyer, since they just take a one-time fee. Lennie Literary Agency is the guy who hangs out at the TAA, he's the only one I know of, but his contributions on the listserve and other resources there seem good. FWIW.

This from the Society of Authors might be of interest, Mike:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Great link thanks Shelagh.

There is a solid reason to maintain anonymity on a public forum dedicated to topics related to your career.

(I offer this advice from personal experience.)

As a public persona, you have a constituency. These are the people who buy your works and pay your bills.

If you are by nature a dick, your public postings reveal that side of your personality. It might have nothing to do with your work, but your constituency abandons you because they don't like you. Your income is affected.

So, if you are a dick, be a nameless dick.

Latest from my publisher is that E-book and POD book sales should count towards the escalator totals, and should be paid at the higher rate in the case of qualifying titles.

The problem is they don’t. One problem arises because they offer the books as a subscription based service to academic and corporate libraries. For example one of my titles was accessed 860 times in three months as paid for viewing within a database. They are selling the right to view it and won’t add these viewings to a sales total. Nor pay more than 10% of receipts.

I am negotiating a way forward and will let you know what is eventually agreed.

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They are selling the right to view it and won’t add these viewings to a sales total.

Mike -Cengage owns part of Chegg, the largest textbook rental site. They sell books to Chegg (probably heavily discounted, resulting in a negligible royalty) and Chegg rents them out. Amount to author: nothing.

What can ya do.

My publisher has agreed to a review of my e-book royalty rate in two years time. By then they will be selling e-books themselves, have completed the bulk of the work formatting the backlist, and we both will have a better idea of the size of the market.

e-books are great for fiction, biographies, memoirs, poetry, etc., but they are not particularly good for reference books. I've published one so far and am well into the 2nd one. Here are some of the problems I found with writing reference e-books.

• Formatting: Formats (margins, fonts, etc.) on most e-reader platforms are designed to suit the platform, and do not easily accomodate formulas, computer code, tables, sidebars, etc.
  
• Index: Typically no index. There are no page numbers in an e-book, so no places for an index to point. Unless you painstakingly insert anchors in the text and links in the index. Given a good search function in the e-reader, index entries that list words and phrases in the text are not needed. But it's those other index features -- subheadings, "See...", etc., that you miss.
  
• Page-flipping: Researchers typically flip around in a book and do not read it cover to cover. E-book readers are not very good at that.
  
• Footnotes: Forget it. There are no pages, so there are no bottoms of pages for footnotes. Everything has to be end notes.
  

I should explain something for those folks who have not used an e-reader. The reason there are no pages is that the user can reorient the display in ways that change where pages break. Portrait to landscape viewing, larger fonts, etc.