UK Study Shows Precipitous Decline in Authors' Incomes

Torgo · Jul 11, 2014

Beachgirl said:
My terms are five years, but maybe that's something that is more common to the genre? And since most of the digital first publishers in my genre don't do advances, that probably plays into the higher royalty percentages.

I could see it being different in that kind of market, sure. I think it's one of the problems of this kind of discussion that different publishing demands different economics. Hell, a big publisher's list is going to have various different categories of books making money in different ways. It's hard to talk about this stuff sometimes without going at cross-purposes.

Beachgirl · Jul 11, 2014

Torgo said:
I could see it being different in that kind of market, sure. I think it's one of the problems of this kind of discussion that different publishing demands different economics. Hell, a big publisher's list is going to have various different categories of books making money in different ways. It's hard to talk about this stuff sometimes without going at cross-purposes.

Or going cross-eyed.

shadowwalker · Jul 11, 2014

So, this Society of Authors is a union for authors? Does that mean they're basically one huge group acting in place of agents (which it appears from their website)? If so, then I don't doubt they would find publishers lacking when it comes to sharing the wealth. But I don't have the slightest inkling how things work over in GB ... :Huh:

Liosse de Velishaf · Jul 11, 2014

Beachgirl said:
Yeah, I see several problematic statements in that article. Such as:

I get 40% of list price on eBooks sold on my publisher's site and 50% of net from 3rd party retailers ("net" defined in my contracts as the amount my publisher receives from the 3rd party retailers). That's not a "small percentage," IMO.

And:

Seriously? If I were presented a contract with those terms I would RUN AWAY! Any contract that gives the author less than 10% of eBook list price and demands lifetime rights is a pathetic contract not worth the time it would take to read it.

Unfortunately, many people will read these claims in the article (and those like it) and accept those statements as truth.

Torgo said:
On ebook royalty rates: the percentage of net receipts we're talking about it typically 25%. The publisher is eating the sales tax of 20% in the EU, and also giving up god knows how much of the RRP to Amazon. It's not the huge cash pile it might appear.

Furthermore, it's totally fine for publishers to acquire term-of-copyright publishing rights - so long as there's a reasonable reversion clause. It works fine so long as when the publisher is no longer selling a reasonable number of copies, you can just request your rights back. Otherwise, what would a reasonable limit be for term of publishing rights, and what would that do to advances?

Torgo said:
I could see it being different in that kind of market, sure. I think it's one of the problems of this kind of discussion that different publishing demands different economics. Hell, a big publisher's list is going to have various different categories of books making money in different ways. It's hard to talk about this stuff sometimes without going at cross-purposes.

It seems like the writer of the article doesn't know all that much about how contracts work in publishing. Several things they mention are probably on boilerplate contracts from various publishers, but as Torgo mentions, they're counter-acted by having a good agent/attorney, and also by other clauses, such as reversion clauses. Plus there's behind the scenes economics behind it that these articles never mention, such as how much of list price actually goes to the publisher, and what the net profit is before royalties. So they seem reasonable at first glance, but when you actually think about how this stuff works, you realize it's not that crazy.

Old Hack · Jul 12, 2014

shadowwalker said:
So, this Society of Authors is a union for authors? Does that mean they're basically one huge group acting in place of agents (which it appears from their website)? If so, then I don't doubt they would find publishers lacking when it comes to sharing the wealth. But I don't have the slightest inkling how things work over in GB ...

The SoA is a sort of union for writers: but no, it doesn't (and couldn't) do the sort of work that agents do for their author-clients. For example, they do provide their members with free legal advice on contracts; but they don't find those contracts or negotiate them on behalf of their members.

aruna · Jul 12, 2014

What OH said. I'm a member, and they advisid me on various contracts I was offered. They are also representing me in a dispute I'm in with HarperCollins, which is fantastic.
There are certain requiements for membership, and they also accept self-published authors.

UK Study Shows Precipitous Decline in Authors' Incomes

Torgo

Formerly Phantom of Krankor.

Beachgirl

Not easily managed

shadowwalker

empty-nester!

Liosse de Velishaf

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman

aruna

On a wing and a prayer