Where Is The Money Made For Authors?
Discussion
A bit of a strange question here but I'll ask it anyway!
From what I'm led to understand, authors earn less from book sales through Kindle Store/iBook Store but I may well be wrong.
If books are discounted through supermarkets etc, is it publishers and retailers who lose out compared to selling at full price or does the author lose out as well?
From what I'm led to understand, authors earn less from book sales through Kindle Store/iBook Store but I may well be wrong.
If books are discounted through supermarkets etc, is it publishers and retailers who lose out compared to selling at full price or does the author lose out as well?
Both lose out ; Amazon tends to negotiate very discounted deals for book sales via its site and ebooks pay less too - but cost less too . Having had a couple of books published I am not driving a Ferrari - typically I get about £1.50 per book on £18 RRP.But nobody wants to buy books any more as they want them free from t'internet. Unless they are about slebs , cakes or both ....
Flip Martian said:
Like music, it doesn't pay well to be creative anymore (unless you're in the minute elite of high earners, and even then you can expect far less than a few years ago). Still, being creative has its rewards in other areas...
Maybe in the future, writers will do something on a tangent, in the same way musicians now make their money from tours instead of albums ?The book sales figures can be misleading - JK Rowling's detective books (not sour grapes but God they are AWFUL) might sell 50.000 a week but the no 10 bestseller might be selling 1000 and the average Joe's effort a few dozen if they are on a roll. I don't write for a living (as if ) - just because I enjoy it and writing itself is the big buzz. But seeing your book in a shop is something special , as is doing a reading or signing and meeting people who like your work . I write peripheral books about a specialist interest but even 7 years after my first book I still get emails and letters from people to say they have enjoyed reading my stuff- and you can't put a price on that.
coppice said:
The book sales figures can be misleading - JK Rowling's detective books (not sour grapes but God they are AWFUL) might sell 50.000 a week but the no 10 bestseller might be selling 1000 and the average Joe's effort a few dozen if they are on a roll. I don't write for a living (as if ) - just because I enjoy it and writing itself is the big buzz. But seeing your book in a shop is something special , as is doing a reading or signing and meeting people who like your work . I write peripheral books about a specialist interest but even 7 years after my first book I still get emails and letters from people to say they have enjoyed reading my stuff- and you can't put a price on that.
I can relate to that - I write music in my spare time. Finally got around to releasing some earlier this year and people actually bought it. Not earth shattering numbers but more than I expected. And the feedback I got from people who enjoyed it was worth more than the money I made. Mind you, if I sold a few hundred I might not say that, haha! 
GetCarter said:
Out of interest, the amount authors get in royalties as a percentage compared to composers is tiny. A good / well known author will get 10% or less, but composers often get 50%. I have never sold any of my work for less than 50%
Music artists signed to big labels get nowhere near 50%. However, there is far more awareness of being able to release music by yourself now - the tools are there. Promotion is more difficult though. I can't honestly see the advantage of being signed to a label when sales are at an all time low anyway. Far better to self release I would have thought.Flip Martian said:
GetCarter said:
Out of interest, the amount authors get in royalties as a percentage compared to composers is tiny. A good / well known author will get 10% or less, but composers often get 50%. I have never sold any of my work for less than 50%
Music artists signed to big labels get nowhere near 50%. However, there is far more awareness of being able to release music by yourself now - the tools are there. Promotion is more difficult though. I can't honestly see the advantage of being signed to a label when sales are at an all time low anyway. Far better to self release I would have thought.GetCarter said:
Out of interest, the amount authors get in royalties as a percentage compared to composers is tiny. A good / well known author will get 10% or less, but composers often get 50%. I have never sold any of my work for less than 50%
What about books that get made into films? Must be profitable surely?Pickled said:
GetCarter said:
Out of interest, the amount authors get in royalties as a percentage compared to composers is tiny. A good / well known author will get 10% or less, but composers often get 50%. I have never sold any of my work for less than 50%
What about books that get made into films? Must be profitable surely?Pickled said:
What about books that get made into films? Must be profitable surely?
That's a different kettle of fish entirely. The lady who wrote 50 Shades of Grey got about $5 million for the rights, if the internet is to be believed. For a musician, "selling out" and getting your song on a global advert for someone like Coca-Cola or Nike can be a seven figure number if you hold the publishing rights.
NathanJones said:
Film, surely if the author sells the rights then he receives nothing?, David Frost (RIP) bought the rights to The Dam Busters and Steven Fry has written then screen play, would Paul Brickhill's family receive anything if it became a blockbuster?
Can you "own the rights" to a true story? Paul Brickhill didn't think up the Dambusters, it really happened.davepoth said:
Pickled said:
What about books that get made into films? Must be profitable surely?
That's a different kettle of fish entirely. The lady who wrote 50 Shades of Grey got about $5 million for the rights, if the internet is to be believed. For a musician, "selling out" and getting your song on a global advert for someone like Coca-Cola or Nike can be a seven figure number if you hold the publishing rights.
I'm guessing J.K.Rowling's earnings are split quite evenly between book sales, film rights, and all the other Harry Potter branded tat.
I do know what she got paid/advanced for her post Potter books as she was signed by the company my mum worked for at the time.
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