People who can’t compete desire socialism to keep their failed business practices afloat. I am a self-publisher, so I do have a dog in this fight, and let me explain what the fight is about:
How much of a customer’s money goes to who.
Before Amazon and their opening of Kindle Direct Publishing, if a customer bought a book, the profits from that purchase were split between the retail store, the publisher, and the author.
The publisher had to pay their editorial staff, their cover designers, their formatters, the cost of printing, and the author. Often authors received contracts where they would be given a stipend (called an advance in the industry) that would be payed off their royalties. Once an author had “earned out” their advance, they would be given royalty checks based upon further sales.
Most of the time an author did not earn out their advance because their royalties were often 5 to 15% of the net profit of the publishing house. When you realize that agents were required and they took 15% off the top of any advance or royalty from an author, you can see why many authors wrote as much as they could around their full time job.
Enter self-publishing. Now I pay my editor, my cover designers, and my formatters. Some of the work I do for myself (like formatting), other work I can trade out or hire for a competitive price.
I get 70% of books sold at $2.99 or more, and Amazon gets 30%.
What does this mean for consumers? Cheaper books.
What does this mean for authors? More profit.
What does this mean for editors and cover designers? More customers (as more people can self-publish than publishing houses would, or could, take on.)
Who are the only losers in this system? Publishers who have not changed their business models and agents who are not needed to arrange for contracts between authors and publishers.
So who is screaming for socialism over capitalism? Publishing houses, agents, and authors who cling to the old system because it kept them at the top of the heap.
My latest book is killing most of the just released big 5 books in the Amazon rankings.
Why? Because for just a few dollars I am getting people a great read. And you know how many people look for a publishers mark before they buy a new book? None.
How did you get this deal from Amazon....?
I am in Amazon Advantage and Amazon takes 45% leaving me with 55%....my retail price is $17.95.
” their royalties were often 5 to 15% of the net profit of the publishing house. When you realize that agents were required and they took 15% off the top of any advance or royalty from an author”
Okay I didn’t know royalties to the author were 15% of NET and then the agent took 15% of that! I attended a talk by a NYT best selling author (non-fiction) wherein she said that she spent 30% of every work day promoting her book because the publisher doesn’t do any of that any more. She ruefully said she made “cents on the dollar” and when a self published author asked her a question she pointed to him and said “Look! He’s getting 70% of every dollar and I’m getting pennies of every dollar AND spending 30% of every work day pushing her books to make those pennies.
I read somewhere - about 2 years ago that the Big 5 were in a state of collapse and as it all falls down around them, they are racing to “secure” publishing from authors (i.e., they’ll own the rights even after all pretenses of “helping” the author market etc. have ended).