TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: where to buy books From:"Eric J. Ray" <ejray -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 11 Jun 1997 06:16:41 -0600
About buying books...(this is a little tangential, but
somewhat relevant and very close to home)
>On 5 Jun 1997 22:54:37 -0500 Pam Owen <Nighthawk1 -at- mindspring -dot- com>
> said:
>>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.
At 10:32 PM 6/10/97 -0500, Cathy Krusberg wrote:
>This seemed a bit unlikely to me, given the difficulties involved
Interesting snippet supporting Cathy's position deleted.
Actually, in the world of computer books at least, Pam is right.
Big bookstore chains get enormous discounts from the
publisher because of the volume they buy. Most author
royalties are stepped -- rate 1 for books purchased by
the small stores at standard price, rate 1/x for books purchased
by big chains at a deep discount. Most of the books
sold -- at least on our royalty statements -- are sold to the
big chains.
If everyone buying our books bought them at small fry stores,
we'd do better.
Final selling price on the books is a function of how much
the bookstore paid, but doesn't affect what authors receive.
That is, we don't take a hit when the books
are remaindered. If they aren't returned to the publisher as unsold, they are
calculated into royalty statements.
Eric
**************************************************
Eric J. Ray ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com
TECHWR-L Listowner http://www.raycomm.com/
TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot- Send commands
to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/ or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html
