IN THE last blog post I explained about
what authors can expect to get in terms of royalties from a couple of major
eBook retailers: Amazon and Smashwords. Basically Australian authors will
not get less than 34% of the sale price no matter where the purchaser is
located. If someone from North America or Europe purchases your eBook then it
will be between 50%-85% of the sale price.
Now these numbers may change if Amazon
sets up a local presence in Australia, as is rumoured, and then Australian
authors may get 70% of the list price when Australians purchase their works
from Amazon. We’ll see.
But in this blog post I’ll talk a
little bit about what traditional publishers are typically offering to
Australian authors in their print and eBook publishing contracts. My
father, Robert Macklin, a distinguished
Australian author, has let me check out a few of his recent publishing
contracts. They don’t make great reading from the perspective of the
author.
The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) crafted a free information sheet a few years ago outlining what local authors should seek when
negotiating their print/eBook publishing contracts.
The ASA suggests that a good deal for
an author is 35% of net receipts of a 60/40 (publisher/retailer) split. Let me
break that down. So if an eBook has a list price of $20.00, the retailer will
take $8.00, the publisher will take $12.00 and out of the $12.00 the publisher
gets, the author will get $4.20. So the author will receive 21% of the list
price.
Just to remind you of the previous blog analysis, when you publish
directly to Amazon or Smashwords (BWM Books will of course help you) , you will
never receive less than 34% of the list price.
Commonly, however, authors are getting
between 15% and 25% of net receipts from their traditional publishers.
Furthermore, I’ve seen some tricky legal clauses which make it very
difficult for authors to ever get back the rights to publish their eBooks
themselves or at least to review eBook rights after a period of time.
When negotiating a contract the ASA
recommends 10 tips. I’ve pulled out what I think are the most important.
1. Retaining e-book rights. You don’t have to
absolutely and in all instances bundle e-book rights in with print book rights.
Authors are now, like never before, able to self-publish or utilise service
providers such as BWM Books to publish, market and promote their eBook titles.
This is a strong negotiating position to be in. However, if you sign a contract
for a print book only, also make sure that any Competing Edition rights clause
doesn’t prevent you from signing an e-book separately.
2. Argue for a
limited electronic rights term. It is inadvisable to sign a publishing
contract with ‘all-time’ implications for the e-book. Argue for a limited
electronic rights term of, say, three years, with a periodic review at 12
months, and stress the fact of uncertain publishing and market conditions
surrounding e-books.
3. What are you getting per book? If you are offered an
e-book royalty of 25% of net receipts – a common offer – or something else,
you’re entitled as a matter of ordinary commercial courtesy to know what it
means in dollar terms per unit sold. What will you earn per copy/download? If
the offered contract doesn’t tell you, ask the publisher. If the publisher
can’t or won’t tell you, don’t sign. Furthermore, ask when and where your eBook
is going to be published.
4. No ‘subsidiary’ rights. In terms of
publishing agreements and licensing of rights, you should assert that full
e-book royalties are a primary right, alongside standard royalties for print
books. They are not ‘subsidiary’ rights. Not a kind of ‘sub-license’.
5. Territorial rights. If your
publisher contracts for a print book and also wants world rights for an e-book,
ask them why, and how exactly they intend to stage publication so as to exploit
these rights to your advantage.
6. Seek advice from someone who will
put your commercial interests first.
