Ninety-Nine Cents

Ninety-Nine Cents

The book industry has some very good writers as well as authors.  Yes, there is a difference between the two.  I’ll break it down for you.

A writer is someone who has written a story or an article, whether for publication or not.  An author is someone who has put their name to a story or an article.  A writer can be a freelance writer, a ghost writer, and even an author.  An author is the one who gets all the credit for the writing of a story or an article.

The question of the day is, “Why would an author sell their published works for $0.99 cents?  Is there work not of value?  Why belittle the writer and the author?  Would you allow your employer to pay you $0.99 an hour for an eight hour day of work or even $0.15 cents a day?  No, you would not…that would be an insult to your knowledge and your intelligence.  Then why would you allow you to pay yourself so little?”

Now let’s touch on FREE for a moment.  Giving your book away for free for a limited time (1-2 days) or even a promotion or in a contest (5-10 readers) is not a bad thing.  It gets your book seen.  However, if you’re advertising your book for free on a consent basis, you are definitely not going to make any money.   We all know that most of us are in the writing slash authoring business to make money.

It’s time to do a little math.  Amazon pays authors 35% or 70% royalties for published eBooks.  Authors make the choice on which they prefer between the two.  If the author chooses the 35% route, Amazon will receive the remainder thus giving the author 35%.  If there is a publisher involved in that eBook, meaning, the publisher uploaded the book, the publisher and author may split the 35% thus leaving the author with $0.18 on that eBook.  In order to make even $180.00, the author would have to sell 1,000 eBooks.  That means 1,000 downloads and heaven forbid if the reader returns the eBook.  We’ll touch on that in a moment.

Let’s look at the larger scenario.  If the author chooses the 70% route, Amazon will receive the remainder thus giving the 70%.  If there is a publisher involved in that eBook, meaning, the publisher uploaded the book, the publisher and author may split the 70% thus leaving the author with $0.35 on that eBook.  In order to make even $350.00, the author would have to sell 1000 eBooks.  Again, that means 1000 downloads and heaven forbids if the reader returns the eBook. 

Amazon has a policy that a reader is able to return an eBook within a seven day period.  Once that book is returned whether it has been read or not, the author will lose his or hers royalty for that book.  It doesn’t matter if the book is $0.99 or $9.99, the loss of that royalty does hurt the author.  Royalties add up, thus making up the authors self-employment paycheck.  Barnes and Noble does not have a return policy on eBooks…Amazon should adapt that same policy.

In order to receive the royalties of 70%, your book has to be$ 2.99 or above.  If you choose to price your books at $0.99 to $1.99, you will only receive the royalties of 30%. 

In viewing both of the charts below, why would you not want to place value on your work?  Why do you choose to work harder and not smarter?  From the charts below, you can see why authors have chosen to go the self-published route opposed to the publisher route.  Being self-published the author stands to make more money, but that author has to be willing to put in the work for that said money.
Before the royalties reach the author with a publisher, that money has to go through two hands and then to the author.  Hopefully, the author is able to make enough money to recoup the cost of the editor and the cover designer, along with the purchase of at least 50-100 books to have on hand.  If not, the author is losing money and should re-evaluate their marketing strategy.

The bottom line is this, “If you do not value your craft, how do you expect others to value your craft?”  You put in blood, sweat, tears, and countless hours, days, nights, weeks, months, and maybe some years into writing your book to get it to the place of being published, don’t discount yourself.  You and your craft are worth more than you devalue both to be.

Chart One: Royalties
Price of eBook
$0.99
$1.99
$2.99
$3.99
$4.99
$5.99
$6.99
$7.99
$8.99
$9.99
Amazon
/Barnes&Noble
 @ 35%
$0.35
$0.70
$1.05
$1.40
$1.75
$2.10
$2.45
$2.80
$3.15
$3.50
Author
/Barnes&Noble
@ 35%
$0.35
$0.70
$1.05
$1.40
$1.75
$2.10
$2.45
$2.80
$3.15
$3.50
Amazon
/Barnes&Noble
@ 70%
$0.00
$0.00
$2.06
$2.76
$3.46
$4.16
$4.86
$5.56
$6.26
$6.96
Author
/Barnes&Noble
@ 70%
$0.00
$0.00
$2.06
$2.76
$3.46
$4.16
$4.86
$5.56
$6.26
$6.96
Publisher
@ 50% of 35%
$0.18
$0.35
$0.53
$0.70
$0.88
$1.05
$1.23
$1.40
$1.58
$1.75
Author
@ 50% of 35%
$0.18
$0.35
$0.53
$0.70
$0.88
$1.05
$1.23
$1.40
$1.58
$1.75
Publish
@ 50% of 70%
$0.00
$0.00
$1.03
$1.38
$1.73
$2.08
$2.43
$2.78
$3.13
$3.48
Author
@ 50% of 70%
$0.00
$0.00
$1.03
$1.38
$1.73
$2.08
$2.43
$2.78
$3.13
$3.48

Chart Two: # of Downloads
# of Downloads
1000
@
$0.99
1000
@
$1.99
1000
@
$2.99
1000
@
$3.99
1000
@
$4.99
1000
@
$5.99
1000
@
$6.99
1000
@
 $7.99
1000 @ $8.99
1000
@
$9.99
Author Royalty from Amazon
/Barnes&Noble
@ 35%
$990
$347
Split
$1990
$697
Split
$2990
$1047
Split
$3990
$1397
Split
$4990
$1747
Split
$5990
$2097
Split
$6990
$2447
Split
$7990
$2797
Split
$8990
$3147
Split
$9990
$3497
Split
Author Royalty from Amazon
/Barnes&Noble
@ 70%
$990
$693
Split
$1990
$1393
Split
$2990
$2093
Split
$3990
$2793
Split
$4990
$3493
Split
$5990
$4193
Split
$6990
$4893
Split
$7990
$5593
Split
$8990
$6293
Split
$9990
$6993
Split
Author Royalty from Publisher
@ 50% of 35%
$174
$87
Split
$349
$174
Split
$524
$262 Split
$699
$349
Split
$874
$437
Split
$1049
$524
Split
$1224
$612
Split
$1399
$699
Split
$1574
$787
Split
$1749
$874
Split
Author Royalty from Publisher
@50% of 70%
$347
$173
Split
$697
$348
Split
$1047
$523
Split
$1397
$698
Split
$1747
$873
Split
$2097
$1048
Split
$2447
$1223
Split
$2797
$1398
Split
$3147
$1573
Split
$3497
$1748
Split


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