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Subject:where to buy books From:Cathy Krusberg <ckberg -at- IX -dot- NETCOM -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 10 Jun 1997 22:32:37 -0500
On 5 Jun 1997 22:54:37 -0500 Pam Owen <Nighthawk1 -at- mindspring -dot- com>
said:
>Just thought I'd add another consideration to buying on the cheap.
>I'm not sure about the online bookstores, but when you buy a book
>from a big discount store in the real world, the writer gets less
>royalty money than if you paid full price. It's hard to balance
>economic considerations for yourself and your family with consideration
>for our fellow writers, but for those of you aspiring to being
>published, this might hit a little close to home.
This seemed a bit unlikely to me, given the difficulties involved
in keeping up with where a particular copy of a book is sold.
The following response from misc.writing is forwarded with
the poster's permission.
From: iceberg -at- iw3p -dot- com (W. T. Quick)
Newsgroups: misc.writing
Subject: Re: Royalties and discount stores
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 06:53:06 GMT
Organization: Iceberg Productions
Message-ID: <339cf86a -dot- 32434565 -at- news -dot- slip -dot- net>
On 10 Jun 1997 04:17:17 GMT, ckberg -at- ix -dot- netcom -dot- com(Cathy Krusberg)
wrote:
>Recently saw this posted on a discussion list:
>
>>when you buy a book from a big discount store in the real
>>world, the writer gets less royalty money than if you paid
>>full price.
>
>Is this true? While I can understand how publishers would
>want it to work this way, it seems to me it would cause
>dreadful bookkeeping headaches. Is it economical for
>publishers to keep such close track of where their books
>are sold (and coordinate with the powers in charge of paying
>royalties)?
>
>Cathy Krusberg
No, Cathy, it isn't true unless the book has been remaindered.
Remaindered basically means "dumped by the publisher for whatever
small price they can get." These are the books you find in bins for
2-6 bux at Crown, B. Dalton, etc.
If the books are sold otherwise, the author receives the full royalty.
I love seeing something I've written on sale for, say, 16.95 rather
than the cover 21.95. Means the book will sell more copies, and earn
more royalties for moi.
Cathy Krusberg
Internet: ckberg -at- ix -dot- netcom -dot- com
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