At those numbers, you begin to ear around $30,000 for the run. It’s not uncommon for a book in the mid-lists to sell around 10k copies in hardcover for an epic fantasy. So, a hardback of $25 will earn $2.50 on the first 5k, around $3.15 on the next 5k, and $3.75 per book after that. And, since the book costs far more, those percentages deliver a lot more in return. I’ve seen an average royalty being 10% on the first five thousand hardbacks, 12.5% on the next five, and 15% there after. Hardback royalties are much better than paperback ones. The author will make residuals over quite a long time.) Paperbacks have a long shelf life, and people buy them for a long time. Sure, 10k isn’t enough to live on, but these sales will continue over years and years. Let’s say that author does fairly well with the paperback and sells around 20,000 copies in the first couple years of release. (However, I’m sure other authors have lower break points-and other others sell far more paperbacks than I do.)Īnyway, if an author’s book sells for eight bucks (average for a big fantasy paperback) and they get 6%, That gives them around 48 cents per copy sold. (Meaning I get 6% off the first 75k, 7% off the next 75k, and 8% after that.) But, since the print run for Elantris was well below 75k, it will be a long, long time before I hit a break point.
For instance, on Elantris, my break point is 75,000 books. These ‘break points’ tend to be rather high, in my experience. Usually, the percentage is scaled-authors earn 6% off of the first group of paperbacks sold, 7% off of the next group, then 8% off the next group. Easy, because I can throw some hard numbers at you.įrom what I’ve been able to see, most authors get between 6% and 8% on a paperback sale. Hard, because it depends on the book and the number off sales. First, “How much do you earn off of a book?” That one is both hard and easy to answer. So, let’s address the questions people have asked me. I’m not angry when people buy my books in paperback! I’m excited to hear that they took the time to read my work.
#Hardcover books for sale free#
I’m a proponent of digital distribution and free content, going so far as to give away a complete ebook of Warbreaker. I found this frustrating, since I love it when people read my books-whatever the format.
However, despite my best efforts, some people interpreted the essay as me chastising people for buying paperbacks. When I read it over the next day, I felt the tone was off, and soon did a revision. The first time I wrote this essay it sounded uncomfortably like I was begging readers to buy my books in hardback. The desire to write this essay came when I received a clump of emails from readers who asked variations of the following questions: “Why are hardbacks so expensive?” “How much do you make off of a book?” and “If I could buy two or three of your paperbacks, or one of your hardbacks, which would you like me to buy?”
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