If I wanted to support authors instead of publishers and other middlemen, what would be the best edition of a book to buy (aside from special editions signed directly by them, etc.)?
And I suppose they get no money at all from used copies, right?
I imagine it varies from publisher to publisher. I was just talking about this with an old professor of mine who has written a few books for quasai-popular consumption through a university press. She says that the percentage she gets is higher for the e-books, but not significantly so. Definitely not as much as she imagines the publisher’s profit margin goes up. One other thing that I found interesting is that she has a couple of books that had very limited printings and are now out of print, but she still gets a semi-steady stream of e-book sales from them. One of them is even selling well enough as an e-book that they’re considering a second edition. So between that and the slightly higher royalties, she loves e-books.
As an author I want you to support publishers and other middlemen. They get books distributed. Authors keep thinking they can just post a book online and make money, but that’s not very likely. For every success there are 1000-10000 nothings.
The exact share of a book’s retail price varies tremendously, for a huge variety of reasons. There is no one factual answer to this.
As a very general generalization, though, let me say that hardbacks are best. Royalties are calculated as a percentage of the list price, no matter it actually sells for. Since hardbacks are most expensive, that gives the best return. Paperbacks, both trade and mass market, give a lower percentage on a lower list price. But the idea is to make it up in volume, since more people will pay the lower price.
E-books don’t have the set standards of print books yet, because the market is still exploring them. Royalty percentages tend to be higher, but list prices can be as much as a trade paperback or very cheap. There’s really no way of knowing in any individual instance what an author is getting.
Of course, most authors have some books that they sell directly through their own websites, in which case they make the most money. But you can’t count on that, especially for newer books.
What it comes down to is that if you want to support authors, buy their books in whatever way works best for you. A sale is a sale.
The absolute best way to support an author is to go into every one of your local book stores and ask if they stock the author’s books. You can special-order it and buy it there… but there mere act of asking is useful. Good bookstore buyers pay attention to what people are asking about and may stock it without you paying a dime. Many authors make money as long as the book gets sold to a retailer, whether or not anyone ever buys the book from there. More importantly, you’ll create the opportunity for other people to discover the author.
Next best: post reviews all over the place online.
Of course, these aren’t useful strategies if the author is already a best-seller, but most authors get virtually no marketing for their books and will benefit from any kind of publicity they can get. Back when I was self-publishing a book, there were a handful of motivated fans who were responsible for something like 30% of my sales through these kinds of techniques.
Print books are the best for the author. eBooks don’t earn them as much money, even if the percentage is higher.
According to David Hartwell of Tor Books, the eBook editions sell far fewer copies than the hardcovers and paperbacks (and don’t hurt hardcover sales).
dracoi is also right – bringing a book to the attention of the clerks at an independent bookstore is good for the author.