the business arguments going around

[kaigou]

anghara has posted a response to mistborn's comments about authors, royalties, and the importance of purchasing hardbacks. I get all this, honestly I do; I used to look at hardbacks and think, okay, 40% from the cover price of a $20 book goes to me, and that's a lot more than 40% off the cover price of a $10 book or $5 book...

However, I just couldn't let that sit. I get that the royalties are quicker to earn out if you make more money off the hardback, but I'm also thinking of my own wallet, and how much money I have, and how far it goes. So I ran a few numbers, based on Alma's explanation of her own contracts (which, I might add, are probably still far better than the usual peons, seeing how she's got a long publishing history and more clout than she'll admit, because she's like that). So I went looking for the break-even points between the three options.

A hardback book, at $25, will earn the author:
$12,500 for the 1st 5K sold, at 10% royalties
$15,625 for the 2nd 5K sold, at 12.5% royalties
at 10K sold: author earns $28,125; avg $2.81 per
total spent by readers: $250,000.

A trade paperback, at $16, will earn the author:
$9,375 for 1st 5K sold, at 7.5% royalties
$9,375 for 2nd 5K sold, at 7.5% royalties
$9,375 for 3rd 5K sold, at 7.5% royalties
at 15K sold: author earns $28,125; $1.20 per
total spent by readers: $240,000.

A mass market, at $7, will earn the author:
$2,800 for the 1st 5K sold, at 8% royalties
$2,800 for the 2nd 5K sold, at 8% royalties
...and so on up to:
$2,800 for the 10th 5K sold, at 8% royalties
at 50,215 sold, author earns $28,120; $0.56 per
total spent by readers: $351,505.

Feel free to draw your own conclusions. I know what I'm thinking.

Comments

[muffiewrites.livejournal.com]

Most of the people I know would probably think that a writer should consider him or herself lucky if they purchased the paperback version from a new book retailer instead of a garage sale. My sister-in-law hasn't spent more than two bucks on a book in three decades, and that's only because the used book store she frequents put the minimum price at two bucks with trade-in credit.

I'm thinking that practical advice for the new author is, don't quit your day job.