There’s a small publishing company in my hometown that provides a venue for some excellent writers who are not best-sellers and whose novels have gone out of print. While checking out their website, I noticed that buying directly from them is a bit more expensive than buying through amazon.com. But does that little extra bit of cash actually help them out? Does the author get a few dimes more? Or is it better to order through amazon or one of the big chains in hopes that they will be able to pre-sell more future titles?
It’s doubtful that the press pays the author more money for sales directly from their site. Virtually all book contracts grant authors a percentage of the cover price, not the price the book is actually sold for.
It’s possible that a specialty press like the one you describe might have a different arrangement, but as I said, doubtful. Very doubtful.
However, those extra few dimes may very well help the press to survive and that way it can bring additional worthy books into print. That alone may be enough of an incentive for you.
What’s the name of the press, BTW?
What Exapno said.
I asked on a writers’ board about the benefit to the publisher, and they said the publisher benefits most when you buy from them and pay full price. When they sell to Amazon or one of the other chains, there’s a discount.
And yeah, what’s the name of the press?
Another response, this time from a bookseller:
“But if Amazon is offering it cheaper, they should buy from Amazon – or let the publisher know they’re going to buy from Amazon unless the publisher can match the discount. Even at the matched discount, the publisher still makes out a lot better, since they’re giving Amazon (most of the time) quite a huge discount even above what Amazon is giving the customer.”
Now I wonder what this bookseller is going to say when I ask him to match the Amazon discount. 
The standard wholesale discount for a book is 40% off cover price. The big chains and maybe Amazon may get a 50% discount. But I doubt that they can do this for all books. The larger publishers can afford this for their bestsellers, but even they can’t do it for every book. And smaller presses can’t afford to do it at all. Check the discounts that Amazon gives and you’ll see that they are proportional to this rule of thumb.
Amazon takes a smaller per book profit and makes up for that with volume. Not much different from Wal-Mart.
No individual bookseller or publisher can afford this because the volume just isn’t there.
Booksellers can’t stay in business if they match all Amazon’s discounts. They have to compensate for the higher prices with better service or other incentives. Asking a small bookseller to match Amazon’s discount is essentially telling them to get out of the business. You can, of course: they don’t have to be in business. But why not then just buy the book at Amazon in the first place and let them stay in business for those who do care?
That’s what this bookseller does. He stays on top of the market, for one thing. He ships everything priority mail (boxes) with layers of bubblewrap. Shipping is free. In addition to the standard stuff, he sells signed/numbered/limited editions that usually sell out before Amazon even gets a crack at them. His website is up to date and monitored 24/7. Definitely customer-oriented.
I’m sympathetic to small publishers, and I’ve bought hundreds of full-price books over the years. The publishers did everything right. They got the word out, provided great service and quality, but most of them are out of business.
Thanks for the input so far, guys. 
The publisher I’m talking about is Meisha Merlin Publishing. They specialize in Scifi, Fantasy and Horror. They first came to my attention when they re-released a copendium of Barry Hughart’s wonderful novels, long out of print at that time. They also released a two-in one volume of P.C. Hodgell’s first two books, then went on to publish her next two. Hodgell is an excellent writer, but she has not been prolific.
Meisha Merlin seems to me to be looking for both new talent and writers who have a solid fan base, but not one large enough to appeal to someone out to make a lot of money.
Oh my. I’ve heard of them. They did fabulous editions of George R. R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire books, at $1250 a pop, I believe. Sigh. I’ve never seen one, but I’ve heard they’re gorgeous.
Whoops. I was mistaken about the Hughart book. That was released by The Stars Our Destination Press.