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January 21 – January 28, 2010 Edition Amazon Ups Author Royalties on Some Kindle Books
NEW YORK, NY/AUTHORLINK NEWS/January 20, 2010Amazon.com announced this week that it will increase royalties for authors and publishers for books sold on the Kindle e-book reader. Effective June 30, authors and publishers will earn 70 percent of a books list price, less delivery costs. The new royalty rate is limited to e-books priced between $2.99 and $9.99 and to those titles whose list price is 20 percent below the lowest price for the physical book.
The popular Kindle reader faces increasing competition from Barnes & Nobles and Sonys e-reader devices.
Authors usually earn about 25 percent of net revenues from digital sales and about 7 to 15 percent of the suggested retail price of a printed book. Amazon did not reveal its current royalty rates for books considered for its new program, but the new rate appears to be well above current royalty earnings, and more attractive than most other online retailers offer.
