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Where does your money actually go?
For author-supported titles, most of what you pay normally never reaches the person who
wrote it. Here's the difference we are building toward.
Traditional publishing
Example: a $20 paperback on a major retailer,
under a standard publishing contract.
Author royalty: typically ~10–15% → about $2–$3
The other ~85% is split between the publisher, the printer/distributor,
and the retailer.
Author keeps ≈ $2–$3
On Better Bookshelves
We deduct only the two unavoidable costs:
Payment processing (≈ 2.9% + $0.30)
Printing & shipping (paperbacks only; ebooks have none)
Then 100% of the remaining revenue goes to the author. On a $20
paperback that's roughly $13–$14 to the author; on an ebook, nearly
the entire price.
Author keeps 100% of net
* About “100% of net revenues go to authors”:
this applies to our author-supported original titles. Our catalog also
includes public-domain classics — works whose copyright has expired, so there
is no living rights-holder to pay; revenue from those titles instead supports the
operation and growth of the bookstore. In all cases “net” means after payment
processing and any printing/shipping costs. Figures are illustrative; exact costs vary
by order.