There’s no lack of controversy and debate when the topic of ePublishing comes up. So I’m going to try and shed some light on the financial realities of ePublishing.
First off, in my opinion, the sales of an eBook from a NY publisher can’t be compared to the ones from an ePublisher. I’m basing this opinion on the differences in my statements from Kensington and Berkley, and Samhain. Samhain sells way more downloads of my books than either of my NY piublishers have of the ones they’ve made available. So, for the authors out there that write for big New York Publishing houses that have made their books available as eBooks and then see their low numbers and think “No way are little internet based publishers selling more than this. Those authors who say they make enough to live off are lying.” I suggest you educate yourself better on what electronic based publishers sales numbers are really like before you speak.
In my mind there are two huge factors that effect sales of Ebooks as compared to print.
1) The internet is open 24/7, and is worldwide.
2) Ebooks don’t go out of stock after a month, or even 6. Titles are still available for minimum a year. (I’ve never heard of an ePublisher contracting for less than a year)
Now another big plus in the ePublishing column is that some ePublishers pay royalties monthly. And let me tell you, that monthly check (as opposed to twice a year) is a huge thing.
I was going to put up a royalty statement for proof, but honestly, I can’t figure out which one to put up. have 4 years worth of statements, and I haven’t had a new release with an ePublisher in at least a year. I figure I’ll just share my numbers, and if you don’t want to believe me, then don’t. I will promise that when I have a statement from a fresh eBook release, I’ll post it.
In 2006 I re-released a story with Samhain publishing. GYPSY HEART had been previously available from a different ePublisher for the period of one year. In that one year, I made just over $500, $380.00 of it in the first quarter. After that it went downhill fast. I had royalty statements as low as $10.00 for a three month time span. Since that publisher wasn’t willing to put the story into print, when the contract came up, I pulled it.
By then I’d sold to NY and was concentrating on writing my single titles for Berkley and Kensington. I wasn’t concentrating on eBooks because to me, at that point in time, it wasn’t worth it. I’d heard from many of my friends that they were making a lot more than I had, but they also had bigger backlists. However, I admit it drives me absolutely nuts to have a story sitting on my computer when it could possibly be earning me money, so I re-subbed that same story to a new Kid on the Block. Samhain Publishing.
They bought it, and the gave me an advance! Yes, an ePublisher who pays advances. Sure it was only $100, but hey…money is money. We did a few touch ups on grammar, and re-released the book. A month later I’d made my advance back. 6 months later I’d made more with that book than I had in the whole year with the first ePublisher – and it was releasing in Print.
That was early 2006, and I STILL get monthly checks from them for that book. (not counting the bump from print sales) To me, it’s never a bad thing when I can collect money on a story I wrote 5 years ago, and I do nothing to promote.
Some say having a backlist makes a difference, and I’m sure it does. However, I have experience with that as well. I used to have some short stories with another ePublisher, Amber Quill Press. I loved that publisher because I love to write short, and hot, and they encouraged me to try other sub-genres like sci-fi. I had 4 short stories with them-each one for 2 years- and sad to say, the money was pretty pitiful. Again, they paid quarterly, and I think my biggest check ever from them was maybe just over $100. The smallest was $11. Yes, I got a royalty check for $11 for three months worth of book sales.
Keep in mind I did not promote much aside from my own blog, and they were only 5 k stories, but I beleive situations like that are why some people have such a hard time beleiveing an author can make a living with eBooks.
I’m going to have a new release in from an ePublisher soon because a friend of mine shared her recent royalty statement with me, and I want to make money like her. Anytime I might be able to make a couple of thousand – yes, a couple of thousand - dollars in a month from one short story…you can bet your butt I’m gonna write a short story fast.
Now, this goes to show that there are both ends of the scale. How much you make, on an eBook depends on many factors. The publisher, the genre and sub-genre of the story, and name recognition of an author are just a few.
Since I was able to, I sent off a quick email to Angela James, executive editor at Samhain Publishing, and asked her opinion on a few things. (She’s much more eloquent than me – plus, like I said, it;s been a while since I’ve had a new e-release, so I needed fresh facts)
So, Angie, do you think the money an author can make with an ePublisher depends on genre? Story length? Do some Genes sell better than others?
“Yes, of course it depends. It depends on not just the genre, but the genre at which company. For instance, EC reports sales of m/m on the decline. Loose Id specializes, one could say, in m/m and reports the opposite, as does Samhain. Erotic romance in general does sell better than non-erotic, but we have had books from both new and established authors alike, that are non-erotic and have gone to the top of the MBaM bestseller chart and been the top selling book for the month. Today’s #1 book is Silent Blade by Ilona Andrews (not erotic at all, but of course this leads to your next question of name recognition…)”
How important is author name recognition?
“Name recognition is important. Most readers/customers are more likely to buy a book if they’ve heard of the author in some context (even if they cannot always remember the context). In fact, I believe name recognition should be the point of promo, not the direct sale of books. Because name recognition will sell books. It’s also why backlist is so important. As you build your backlist, you build your name recognition. And as your frontlist goes on sale, your backlist will see a bump in sales (which is why it’s nice that ebooks don’t have to go out of print or have a limited shelf life)”
Do you feel that a large or small majority of buyers at Samhain are repeat buyers, no matter who the author? Or do they go to the website to browse and shop the same why readers go to a brick and mortar store to browse?
“Both. I think it depends on the publisher. In epublishing especially, you have two brands: the publisher brand and the author brand. If the publisher has built a brand that readers trust, they are more likely to buy books from that publisher while browsing, even if they’ve not heard of the author. Harlequin is a good example of this in the print world because they probably have the most recognizable publisher brand where readers buy books regardless of whether they know the author, because they trust Harlequin to live up to their brand. But because of the bad quality rap that epublishing has gotten (and deservedly so in some cases), epublishers have also had to build their brands. When Samhain opened its doors, I was determined that readers would come to believe our brand meant a good quality book, and I think we’ve succeeded, so I think people will browse our books and buy even unfamiliar authors.”
So, there you have it. My opinion on the realties of ePublishing, and some of my numbers from the past, as well as the very informed opinion of woman-in-the-know Angela James.
