Are Trek Authors feeling the squeeze of less books?
- Thread starter Nathan
- Start date
But I would think eBooks would bring in more royalties where the paperback is no longer in print.
^ In theory, but the numbers are still so small that ebook royalties don't add up to much yet. 2% of maybe 50 or so ebook sales is not even going to pay for dinner at a fancy restaurant. It's better than nothing, granted, and it's great to have old books available somehow, but ebooks don't pay the rent.
The whole battle about ebook royalties is about the future. Everybody wants a piece of the action because the expectation is that someday, maybe soon, ebooks will actually sell more than a few dozen copies apiece. But right now they probably sell less than the book club edition . . . .
Plus, you have to remember: most books, even STAR TREK books, never earn out their advances, which means they never generate royalties. A couple of ebook sales for an old backlist title is not enough to make a difference.
I'm not griping here, or trying to be negative, but I find that people often have inflated ideas regarding how much royalties bring in. We're not talking big money here, just an occasional check for $20 or so.
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Sounds like you guys needed to go on strike once in a while.
No kidding. What about S&S? Anyone know how much money they make? Books at $15 feel kind of overpriced to me to be honest, and its pretty disheartening to hear that most of that money isn't going to the author. Anyone have a break down of where the money goes?
This implies that the publishing industry is lucrative enough that it would be possible for the authors to be making more money than they are but that publishers are deliberately crafting contracts to avoid giving the authors fair compensation.
What makes you think that writers aren't already earning as much money as they possibly could without the publishing industry ceasing to be functional? What makes you think the publishing industry is lucrative enough for any position in the business to have an industry-wide pay upgrade? Everything I always hear indicates that the publishing industry is eternally on the edge of being non-viable.
Very little of the cost of a book goes to the author. Most of it goes on printing, paper, ink, cover design, layout, warehousing, distribution, freight, advertising, editorial wages, publisher profit (if any), etc. Consider that many books make no profit at all, with the publisher gambling that a few blockbuster titles will permit them to publish sleeper hits and more obscure titles. IIRC, the largest chunk goes to the retailer.
How much money does the editor get compared to the writer?
The editor doesn't actually get any sort of royalties. They're salaried employees, working for a weekly paycheck for the publisher. It's like most any other job. If the books you edit make money, your boss is happy and maybe you'll get a raise or promotion somewhere down the road. If your books consistently lose money, you'd better sign up a bestseller soon!
Are there any people optimistic that ebooks will change any of this? Obviously the author, editor, cover designer, etc, doesn't change, but the warehousing and freight disappear pretty much. Do you think this will make more authors likely to get published or for the existing authors to get paid more? No ST specifically I mean the whole industry
why not allow more books to be published in ebook format, certainly it can not be as expensive and would allow more content, even if not in paperback form.
I don't understand the question. It's not either-or; Trek books are routinely published in eBook as well as paper form. If you're referring to books published exclusively in eBook form, like the SCE/Corps of Engineers series, those simply don't sell well enough yet to be profitable.
And it's a common mistake to assume that eBooks would be less expensive than paper books. Very little of the cost of a physical book goes to printing and distribution. Most of it is for compensating the author and cover artist, paying the salaries of the editor and other publishing-company employees involved with the book, paying the licensing fees for tie-in novels, etc. Those costs are the same regardless of what format the book ends up in. By the same token, the amount of content isn't a function of the format; a longer book requires more time to write, edit, proofread, etc.
Why do Pocket have to pay licensee fees if they are owned by CBS?
I can't speak for Pocket, but I know that when I bought the American rights to a book from Pan in London, I still had to pay them an advance, even though both Tor and Pan were owned by Macmillan, which is owned by Holtzbrinck . . . .
Heck, I once paid for the rights to reprint a novel from St. Martin's Press . . . even though they're just one floor down. And we share the same sales force and accounting department!
Different companies, different budgets.
Heck, I once paid for the rights to reprint a novel from St. Martin's Press . . . even though they're just one floor down. And we share the same sales force and accounting department!
Different companies, different budgets.
Greg, I'm going to be very vague in my question here; that is somewhat on that same note.
There is a London publishing company that puts out reprints of a book (based on a certain character which spawned a couple of films in the 70s, and one a couple of years ago) and it has in their reprint that 'every attempt has been made to contact the copyright holder.'
The author passed away in the early 80s, but I believe the widow is still alive...(under a different name). Granted she, if she even knows she does/doesn't have the rights will probably talk with a literary attorney.
Of course, I was looking of attaining those rights, especially as those novels (which get very terrible with each sequel) will probably never see the light of day. However, for my purposes in the future, it would be good to have those rights.
I guess my question is:
Would I be able to follow this company and reprint some of those books on my own?
I think I contacted this British company twice via email, and the second time they told me to get hold of the original publisher. However, the original publisher doesn't even have those books listed in their catalogs...
Again, those books are very obscure; and, again, the writing is atrocious. Out of the series, probably two or three or worth reading....but I would still like to have those reprinted if possible.
I know this is a bit vague, but I am putting this out in the open, and this is the internet....
Okay, speaking vaguely and hypothetically, this other company is just publishing the books without any arrangement with the author? That has me scratching my head a little. Unless we're talking some ancient book that's fallen into public domain, I'm not sure I'd do that.
True story: there was an old book from the seventies I wanted to reprint a few years back. But, despite repeated efforts, I could not track down the original author or his estate . . . and the original publisher had long since lost track of any records concerning the book.
Eventually, I gave up.
I'm no lawyer, but I wouldn't be comfortable reprinting a book or series that I didn't have the rights to.
True story: there was an old book from the seventies I wanted to reprint a few years back. But, despite repeated efforts, I could not track down the original author or his estate . . . and the original publisher had long since lost track of any records concerning the book.
Eventually, I gave up.
I'm no lawyer, but I wouldn't be comfortable reprinting a book or series that I didn't have the rights to.
Greg, I'm going to be very vague in my question here; that is somewhat on that same note.
There is a London publishing company that puts out reprints of a book (based on a certain character which spawned a couple of films in the 70s, and one a couple of years ago) and it has in their reprint that 'every attempt has been made to contact the copyright holder.'
The author passed away in the early 80s, but I believe the widow is still alive...(under a different name). Granted she, if she even knows she does/doesn't have the rights will probably talk with a literary attorney.
Of course, I was looking of attaining those rights, especially as those novels (which get very terrible with each sequel) will probably never see the light of day. However, for my purposes in the future, it would be good to have those rights.
I guess my question is:
Would I be able to follow this company and reprint some of those books on my own?
I think I contacted this British company twice via email, and the second time they told me to get hold of the original publisher. However, the original publisher doesn't even have those books listed in their catalogs...
Again, those books are very obscure; and, again, the writing is atrocious. Out of the series, probably two or three or worth reading....but I would still like to have those reprinted if possible.
Are you the copyright owner? No?
Are you working for the owner's estate? No?
Do you have a deal in place with the copyright owner or his/her estate? No?
Then you have no legal right to publish the book. Period. Doing so would be theft of intellectual property. Period.
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