In The News: Amazon to Up Authors' Royalties--Drastically

Amazon is in the news. The thing is, though the major media is covering the story, they aren’t covering it from an author’s viewpoint. So here goes. My take for authors. In the smallest nutshell I could fit it into:

The LA Times business page headlines, “Amazon Ups the Ante for E-books.” Then comes a deck (fancy newspaper talk for a sort of subtitle) that says, “Juicy digital royalties could tempt authors to bypass traditional publishers altogether.”

So far they have it right.

As a quick review, the VP of Amazon says, “Today, authors receive royalties in the range of 7% to 15% of the list price that publishers set for their physical books . . . . “ Amazon just announced that they would pay a whopping 70% royalty to authors who publish their book(s) on Kindle.

Here are the advantages and disadvantages. You decide which, though you’ll usually be able to tell which side I’m on!

~Authors set their own price for the Kindle digital version of their book but it must be between $2.99 and $9.99. Sure Amazon is trying to maintain a low retail on all their Kindle books. Low prices attract buyers.

~The price the author sets must be at least 20% lower than the same book in its print edition.

~Authors are free to place their books with other readers or in other formats (like B&N’s Nook and Sony’s Reader), but they must set the Kindle price lower than or the same as the price they ask for in other digital formats.

~Authors must sign over some rights to Amazon including the ability to turn the book into speech and to allow Kindle to use the book on future iterations of the Kindle reader. This applies only to digital copies. not print.


From there most all the news outlets are focusing on the timing of Amazon’s announcement: That it coincides with an expected announcement that Apple will be making an e-reader of its own.

Or they’re focusing on the fact that this offer is not going to make traditional publishers happy. Well, duhhhh. They’re not happy about any of Amazon’s strong competitive stances on the pricing of books (and other perks). In the past several of the real big publishers started delaying the release of digital editions until long after hardcovers and paperbacks were released. That’s been sort of standard for publishers. They’ve also delayed the release of paperbacks some time after hardcovers. That policy only makes sense.

Articles in the business media are focusing on the influence Amazon has on the publishing world in terms of pricing. And about Amazon’s brute commercial power.

So, how will this specifically affect authors?

~It won’t mean much to those who are traditionally published other than that they might want to press for better royalties on Kindle sales when they sign their contracts. And, of course, the long term effect this move may have on publishing in general.

~To indie authors--self published or subsidy published--it means that having their books offered digitally will be more important than ever. It won’t just be about making their books available to readers the way they want to read them at a good price, it will be about making their books available at the only price some may feel they can afford. The price differential can make a difference but so will the rush by authors to have their books available on Kindle and the more books, the more choice, the more reading folks are going to like that.

~If more people are buying books because they’re cheaper, that broadens an author’s audience. The more people who read a good book, the better a book sells. Remember when Clinton said “It’s the economy, stupid!” Well, it’s the word-of-mouth, stupid.

~I like this last reason best (though there may be other I haven’t thought of). Here it is. Amazon, once again, is giving more power to the author. Even the new author, the emerging author. Treating us as if our pocketbooks are important. That’s a move in the right direction. With their clout, they may start a trend.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books for writers, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog.

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James Patterson and Chris Anderson Show Some Ways Bestsellers Are Made

Many aren't aware of this but one of the best things about technology--specifically the Net and the digital press--is that it can keep books from the shredding pile.

That's good for both readers and for authors.

Of course, even the Net and the ditital press can't keep a book alive and kicking unless someone is promoting it. promote it.

My novel This Is the Place is still selling. Usually it’s selling used for about $1.50 on Amazon’s New and Used feature but it can also still be found new on BN.com. New or used, what is important to me is that it’s still being read.

But there’s a couple of other models out there for utilizing older works. I’ve talked about using your blog to serialize an old novel or a novel that can’t seem to get published--maybe a first that is still lying fallow in the bowels of your computer. The idea, of course, is to introduce new readers to your work. Perhaps they will then buy your new novel or recommend your work to others.

That brings me to Chris Anderson. You’ve heard me talk about his Long Tail theory in my newsletter and on this blog. He has a new book out which I’ve also recommended for writers. It is FREE: The Future of a Radical Price. He expounds on a general concept I’ve been touting for a long time. That is: Giving things away free is one way to market and make a profit. I can’t remember who said it but someone did: “Google never met a loss leader it didn’t like.” And no one can argue that Google’s sales model is not successful.

What prodded me to talk about FREE again is a headline in the LA Times Calendar sections (Sat, Aug 8 p. D11): “Free titles top chart of Kindle bestsellers.” James Patterson’s latest bestseller isn’t new. It’s four years old. He says, I like the notion of introducing people to one book, while promoting the sales of another.” BTW, this man is a former principle of one of the nation’s largest advertising agencies.

By giving away The Angel Experiment on Kindle he hopes to gain new readers. And his promotion ploy is working! LA Times did an article on it, didn’t they? LOL. His publisher, Hachette, says, “It’s like priming the pump.” Another publisher notes they are especially interested in giving away books that are first of a series.

The trick here is not to overdo it. If you give away a full book as an e-book or as a serialized book on your blog, don’t repeat the process too soon or at all. That will be a hard temptation to resist--especially if the promotion works. Remember the department stores and their White Sales? Pretty soon people would wait until January to buy their linens and they would only buy their linens on sale.

The reason I do like this model, is that Patterson is offering a book that has mostly run its course. The only danger of doing this with a book that hasn’t been published is that you might not be putting your best work forward. If you should think about doing that ask yourself first: Does this book need editing or rewritten before putting it before the public? AND would this book work better for me published digitally or self published.

Oh, one other consideration. If you’re going to do it, maybe now is the time. If this catches on, a free book may have as much competition at zero dollars as a pay-for book at the going rate for books. The idea will eventually lose its new value, too. It would be fun to have your hometown newspaper cover your freebie offer, wouldn't it?

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books for writers, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog.

Q&A a la Ann Landers: Amazon's Mysterious Disappearing Books

Question:

Bruce Henrickson asks My novel, After the Floods, was available at both Amazon and Barnes&Noble.com--now it has been dropped from both. What do you suppose has happened and what can I do about it?


Answer:

Amazon has been not-so-quietly refusing to sell books that are published by POD presses other than those published by their own BookSurge. However, Amazon isn't aren't removing those renegade books from their site. Amazon is offering POD-published books from other companies through second-part booksellers or through their used book program. So that probably isn't what has happened to your book.

Perhaps your book is not POD published. Keeping your book prominently exposed on Amazon should be your publisher's job. Approach him or her first to see what's up. I sure wouldn't let them brush off my concerns lightly.

If you don't get satisfaction from your publisher or if your book is POD-published by someone other than BookSurge, become an Advantage member of Amazon on your own. Use the link you find on the home page of the Amazon site. Explore until you find the advantage program that suites your needs. You'll only have your own book(s) to worry about so you should choose a lower level program. Once a member, you can put your book on Amazon on your own.

Having your books on Amazon is more important than most new authors realize. Whatever Amazon does, other online stores follow suit. Online stores from Fat Brain to Harvard bookstore borrow listings from Amazon. Once a book is up on Amazon, it can magically appear on many other sites. Further, Amazon is one of the best places in all of bookdom for your book to be seen and considered for purchase. Someone once (famously) said, "It's the economy, stupid." Well, when it comes to selling books, it's the sheer number of eyeballs that see your book or hear about it.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure success. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal." Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com and AuthorsCoalition.blogspot.com, a blog that helps writers and publishers turn a ho-hum book fair booth into a sizzler.