an author might get a 50,000 dollar advance. he might sell 5000 copies of his first (and last?) book but after that he'll get say 1-2 dollars for each additional copy if he does sell anymore. so you're looking at about two dollars a book going to a writer who sells 50,000 copies. a lot of that goes to his lawyers, managers etc (around 40%) while the lions share of the cover price goes to the house and store and printers.
a hardcover author is happy to clear $1 a copy for his work when the average hardcover now sells for 25 - 35 dollars. the same goes for paperbacks, where the author gets much less.
soon he might sell his books on the net for say $4.95 for his latest and 1.95 after a few years and keep all the money. he'll net 3 or 4 times what he’s doing now and the books will sell for less than a third of today's price.
are they overpriced? in light of these new economics absolutely. the internet changed everything in that regard.
- js.
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