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So, is Macmillan losing money on Dominion?
Feb. 4th, 2010 10:34 pmDominion, by Fred Saberhagen, is a direct-to-paperback release from Macmillan, under the Tor imprint. The price is $6.99. Serpent Moon by C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp , is another direct-to-paperback release from Tor, for $6.99. Both were released February 3rd, 2010.
That sure looks like proof that Macmillan can, in fact, currently edit, typeset, and otherwise prepare a book, then sell it for a profit at a retail price of $6.99. Which would pretty strongly suggest that they could edit, typeset, and otherwise prepare an ebook, and then sell it at a profit for a retail price of $6.99. It's not like an ebook has any of the printing, warehousing, and distributing costs of the paperback; surely it isn't more expensive to make than a paperback?
Maybe, of course, the author royalty on the book is razor-thin. So we then could, say, add an additional $3.00 to the price, to represent a compensation to the author equivalent to a 12%-of-retail-price royalty on a $25 hardcover. That would bring us to a price of $9.99 for the ebook as high enough to make a profit for Macmillan and definitely reward the author.
Interestingly, ten bucks is the same price Amazon was using as a standard, and that Macmillan is saying was way, way too low for an ebook.
Oh, well. I'm sure on the $12.99 ebook sales they're paying authors a royalty in excess of $3 a copy, right? Right?
That sure looks like proof that Macmillan can, in fact, currently edit, typeset, and otherwise prepare a book, then sell it for a profit at a retail price of $6.99. Which would pretty strongly suggest that they could edit, typeset, and otherwise prepare an ebook, and then sell it at a profit for a retail price of $6.99. It's not like an ebook has any of the printing, warehousing, and distributing costs of the paperback; surely it isn't more expensive to make than a paperback?
Maybe, of course, the author royalty on the book is razor-thin. So we then could, say, add an additional $3.00 to the price, to represent a compensation to the author equivalent to a 12%-of-retail-price royalty on a $25 hardcover. That would bring us to a price of $9.99 for the ebook as high enough to make a profit for Macmillan and definitely reward the author.
Interestingly, ten bucks is the same price Amazon was using as a standard, and that Macmillan is saying was way, way too low for an ebook.
Oh, well. I'm sure on the $12.99 ebook sales they're paying authors a royalty in excess of $3 a copy, right? Right?
