«

"~misfit~" <> wrote in message
news:jh47l2$qi$...
> Somewhere on teh intarwebs Geopelia wrote:
>> "Dave Doe" <> wrote in message
>> news:...
>>> I'm looking for this one...
>>>
>>> http://www.amazon.com/Art-Instinct-Beauty-Pleasure-
>>> Evolution/dp/1608190552/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328763913&sr=8-1
>>>
>>> Dennis Dutton - The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human
>>> Evolution Can't seem to find an eBook version anywhere. Lodi? (yeah
>>> I've
>>> looked).
>>>
>>
>> Are these Amazon books real books sent through the mail, or just to
>> read on the computer like Gutenberg's free ones please?
>
> You can get either from Amazon. A hunk of tree or a spurt of data. I
> believe that it costs a bit more for the tree as they have to print and
> post it. However, most of the cost is the IP, the author's work.

When I worked for a publisher in the sixties, authors got 10% of the books'
sale price.

On Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:21:28 +1300, "Geopelia" <>
shouted from the highest rooftop:

>
>"~misfit~" <> wrote in message
>news:jh47l2$qi$...
>> Somewhere on teh intarwebs Geopelia wrote:
>>> "Dave Doe" <> wrote in message
>>> news:...
>>>> I'm looking for this one...
>>>>
>>>> http://www.amazon.com/Art-Instinct-Beauty-Pleasure-
>>>> Evolution/dp/1608190552/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328763913&sr=8-1
>>>>
>>>> Dennis Dutton - The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human
>>>> Evolution Can't seem to find an eBook version anywhere. Lodi? (yeah
>>>> I've
>>>> looked).
>>>>
>>>
>>> Are these Amazon books real books sent through the mail, or just to
>>> read on the computer like Gutenberg's free ones please?
>>
>> You can get either from Amazon. A hunk of tree or a spurt of data. I
>> believe that it costs a bit more for the tree as they have to print and
>> post it. However, most of the cost is the IP, the author's work.
>
>When I worked for a publisher in the sixties, authors got 10% of the books'
>sale price.

In 1989 when I wrote my first book the cartoonist and I shared a 15%
royalty on sales and our advance was taken against those royalties.
When the book was revised and expanded in the late-90s and republished
in 2003 we got around the same.

Neither of got rich on the sales, but those royalty cheques were
welcomed every six months and we enjoyed making several thousand
dollars a year up until about five years ago when the books simply
stopped selling.

Basically, it was the publisher and printer who made the lion's share,
but we still own the copyright and are thinking of doing an e-book.

Somewhere on teh intarwebs Geopelia wrote:
> "~misfit~" <> wrote in message
> news:jh47l2$qi$...
>> Somewhere on teh intarwebs Geopelia wrote:
>>> "Dave Doe" <> wrote in message
>>> news:...
>>>> I'm looking for this one...
>>>>
>>>> http://www.amazon.com/Art-Instinct-Beauty-Pleasure-
>>>> Evolution/dp/1608190552/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328763913&sr=8-1
>>>>
>>>> Dennis Dutton - The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human
>>>> Evolution Can't seem to find an eBook version anywhere. Lodi?
>>>> (yeah I've
>>>> looked).
>>>>
>>>
>>> Are these Amazon books real books sent through the mail, or just to
>>> read on the computer like Gutenberg's free ones please?
>>
>> You can get either from Amazon. A hunk of tree or a spurt of data. I
>> believe that it costs a bit more for the tree as they have to print
>> and post it. However, most of the cost is the IP, the author's work.
>
> When I worked for a publisher in the sixties, authors got 10% of the
> books' sale price.

The beauty of the 'internet age' is that the author can take a higher
percentage of the sale price. However, in truth it probably isn't *that*
much higher. There are always vultures to be fed, regardless of the way the
'food' is delivered.

At least with eBooks, self-publishing is a much cheaper option than it used
to be with paper books. However, it's all about getting word out. Nobody
will buy something about which they know nothing... I guess those vultures
might earn /some/ of their carrion.
--
Shaun.

"Humans will have advanced a long, long, way when religious belief has a
cozy little classification in the DSM."
David Melville (in r.a.s.f1)

On 12/02/12 14:05, ~misfit~ wrote:
>
> At least with eBooks, self-publishing is a much cheaper option than it used
> to be with paper books.
>
Most free e-books which are self-published are rubbish. Of course they
can't *all* be rubbish, but I don't know of any reliable way of
extracting the gold from the dross. 8-(

Cheers,

Cliff

--

The ends justifies the means - Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli.

The end excuses any evil - Sophocles

In article <jh47l2$qi$>, "~misfit~" <> wrote:
>Somewhere on teh intarwebs Geopelia wrote:
>> "Dave Doe" <> wrote in message
>> news:...
>>> I'm looking for this one...
>>> http://www.amazon.com/Art-Instinct-Beauty-Pleasure-
>>> Evolution/dp/1608190552/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328763913&sr=8-1
>>> Dennis Dutton - The Art Instinct: Beauty, Pleasure, and Human
>>> Evolution Can't seem to find an eBook version anywhere. Lodi? (yeah
>>> I've
>>> looked).
>>
>> Are these Amazon books real books sent through the mail, or just to
>> read on the computer like Gutenberg's free ones please?
>
>You can get either from Amazon. A hunk of tree or a spurt of data. I believe
>that it costs a bit more for the tree as they have to print and post it.
>However, most of the cost is the IP, the author's work.

... except, the actual authors get sod all of the cost as I understand it.
Hmmm ... wonder where all the dosh is going then ... ?

In article <jh4qcc$o78$>, "Geopelia" <> wrote:
(snip)
>>> Are these Amazon books real books sent through the mail, or just to
>>> read on the computer like Gutenberg's free ones please?
>>
>> You can get either from Amazon. A hunk of tree or a spurt of data. I
>> believe that it costs a bit more for the tree as they have to print and
>> post it. However, most of the cost is the IP, the author's work.
>
>When I worked for a publisher in the sixties, authors got 10% of the books'
>sale price.

... I thought it was usually a lot less than this ... but you have actual
data.

Thanks.

"Bruce Sinclair" < > wrote
in message news:jh9fn9$dfh$...
> In article <jh4qcc$o78$>, "Geopelia" <>
> wrote:
> (snip)
>>>> Are these Amazon books real books sent through the mail, or just to
>>>> read on the computer like Gutenberg's free ones please?
>>>
>>> You can get either from Amazon. A hunk of tree or a spurt of data. I
>>> believe that it costs a bit more for the tree as they have to print and
>>> post it. However, most of the cost is the IP, the author's work.
>>
>>When I worked for a publisher in the sixties, authors got 10% of the
>>books'
>>sale price.
>
> .. I thought it was usually a lot less than this ... but you have actual
> data.
>
> Thanks.
>

It may be different now, and of course they pay tax.

And it is unlikely that an unknown writer of fiction sending in an
unsolicited manuscript will even get it published.
(It may not even be read).
The publisher must expect a certain number of sales to make the exercise
feasible.

Want to make money from writing? Write a school textbook that will be used
for years!