What is the standard fee for a publisher? Is 20% too high?

Question

I am thinking of self publishing...... the only fee involved is 20% of each book sold..... is that a good deal?

Answer 1

It depends on what you think you're getting.

Let me tell you one thing you will NOT be getting that perhaps you think you might - literary credit. Unless something freakish occurs, no reviewer is going to review it, no paper is going to cover it, and few (if any) bookstores will carry it. The simple fact is that ANYONE can print up a book if they have money, so most professionals assume that if you can't convince someone else to risk money to print your book, then your book has no merit whatsoever.

This assumption may not be true, but that's just the way the industry lies right now. That's why self-publishing is also called 'vanity press'. So if you're hoping to get respect as an author, literary credits, reviews, fame, or any of that stuff you are simply not likely to get it in any way, shape, or form. If anything, vanity publishing will attach a stigma to you and put you further behind than doing nothing if you are after these things.

In this sense, if you are after these things, 20% is a rip-off.

This also begs the question, 20% of WHAT? Are they letting you have 80% of the PROFIT? That means if the book is unprofitable you get NOTHING. Are they keeping 20% of the COVER PRICE? Usually the cover price is AT LEAST twice what the publisher sells books to the bookstores for (which is how bookstores can so easily afford 50% discounts), so their '20%' may actually be more on the order of 40% or more. You might also want to scrutinize the contract for other non-book rights which can be critical these days... what if it becomes a movie? What about e-books? Some publishers have short-changed authors by including 'free' copies of one book to sell another - and since the publisher gets nothing neither does the author whose book has just been given away.

If you're sure this publisher isn't using any of these dirty tricks and you want to publish the book just to be able to distribute it yourself, then this actually sounds like a great deal. Go for it, if that's what you're after.

And keep writing! Congratulations!

Answer 2

For a self-publisher that's not bad at all-- many charge you hundreds up front instead. As long as that is the ONLY fee involved, its okay.

I'm not going POD/vanity/self-pub so i haven't done a lot of research but I've definitely heard worse. Have you checked out www.lulu.com?

Answer 3

Uh...in the event you self-post, you're the person who does the distribution. That's the complete "self" factor. If you desire a manufacturer to do it for you, you wish to have conventional publishing. And you know the way many copies the natural self-released guide sells, proper? Forty. Including the ones the writer and her loved ones and peers purchase.

Answer 4

Well, yes, if you have to only pay them at the back-end (after the sale). Usually, though, you pay a flat fee and then you can charge whatever you want. You are responsible for ads, promotion, distribution usually, although they might list it for sale on their website, too.
And no 20% is NOT too high. Be glad they are not charging more.

Answer 5

That's a great deal . . .standard royalties are around 15 percent to the author or less.

Answer 6

i would take the deal at that rate.