Galnemer's conquest of the publishing world continues apace...

[Asher]

Also, Guy: I can't remember if someone else already asked this, but my mom got a Kindle also for Christmas. Do authors make more money from Kindle sales or paperback sales?

[DaShi]

I imagine they make the same amount regardless. It's the seller that probably reaps the profits from the difference in price. Also, ebooks are far too expensive.

[Asher]

I recall reading somewhere that the slice of the pie is much larger for Kindle. Not sure though.

[Guynemer]

It all depends on the contract, and it's not a gigantic difference, but I believe she makes slightly more from ebook sales than conventional book sales. Overall, though, the entire publishing industry is in a general freakout about what to do about ebooks.

[Lorizael]

Yeah. For some reason the prospect of a new, cheap revenue source is frightening to them.

[onodera]

Yeah. For some reason the prospect of a new, cheap revenue source is frightening to them.

Yep, it's the publishing industry that is frightened, not the writing industry. If Amazon ever goes into "publishing" (i.e., working with writers directly), they can pay writers the same royalties but charge much less for their books. Right now Amazon charges more for a Kindle version of Galnemer's Sparks than for a paperback, which is completely ridiculous.
Guynemer, I hope this is not a rude personal question, but how much high are the royalties your wife gets from one book? Around 7% of the list price?

[DaShi]

It all depends on the contract, and it's not a gigantic difference, but I believe she makes slightly more from ebook sales than conventional book sales. Overall, though, the entire publishing industry is in a general freakout about what to do about ebooks.

Lower the price!

[DaShi]

Yep, it's the publishing industry that is frightened, not the writing industry. If Amazon ever goes into "publishing" (i.e., working with writers directly), they can pay writers the same royalties but charge much less for their books. Right now Amazon charges more for a Kindle version of Galnemer's Sparks than for a paperback, which is completely ridiculous.
Guynemer, I hope this is not a rude personal question, but how much high are the royalties your wife gets from one book? Around 7% of the list price?

Exactly. Could I buy her book used for 99 cents then download the ebook off a torrent?

[Cort Haus]

It all depends on the contract, and it's not a gigantic difference, but I believe she makes slightly more from ebook sales than conventional book sales. Overall, though, the entire publishing industry is in a general freakout about what to do about ebooks.

This links back into the copyright debate about music & video. From the premise that the content creator deserves to get paid, which I know we agree on, the creator should theoretically be able to get much more of the pie while the consumer should be able to get a lower price. The losers should be the publishers, which is fair enough as they've basically been making all their money selling paper and plastic all these years, which are no longer as necessary, while the content is just as important. The missing element here is promotion/marketing, which is the part that needs a new business model. It should certainly involve a smaller royalty than the content producer, if not a fixed fee.

[Guynemer]

Yep, it's the publishing industry that is frightened, not the writing industry. If Amazon ever goes into "publishing" (i.e., working with writers directly), they can pay writers the same royalties but charge much less for their books. Right now Amazon charges more for a Kindle version of Galnemer's Sparks than for a paperback, which is completely ridiculous.
Guynemer, I hope this is not a rude personal question, but how much high are the royalties your wife gets from one book? Around 7% of the list price?

7%.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

I do wonder however why KH, Laz and others haven't flooded this thread accusing you of being a spammer for promoting your wife's book. I guess they are just *******s who have it out for me for some inexplicable reason.

At a guess it's because Guy's not trying to present self-serving aims as "helping a good cause", not breaking competition rules, and not accusing all other novelists of cheating, then getting strangely coy about backing the claims up. Happy to help.

[DaShi]

If only he was. That would make this thread much more interesting.

[Guynemer]

Hmmm. I could give it a whirl, if you'd like.

[Wezil]

You should just say something outrageous. We need some good Guynemer sig material.

[Guynemer]

Being one of the more levelheaded and eventempered Polytubbies has nearly become a point of pride for me. Heaven knows I wasn't always this unflappable.