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Tuesday 26 May 2015

Self-published authors hit by Amazon online royalties cut

Specialist and minor authors are being damaged by Amazon’s online royalties scheme that punishes those who do not want to sell their books at knock-down prices, critics warned.

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If authors sell their books directly through Amazon’s Kindle site the company will hand over 70pc of all sales, providing the cover price is between $2.99 and $9.99 (£1.98 and £6.60). Any books priced above that will be given only 35pc royalties. 

Writers who are likely to have a small readership, particularly in niche markets, are being penalised if they want to sell their books at a high price.

If authors sell their books directly through Amazon’s Kindle site the company will hand over 70pc of all sales, providing the cover price is between $2.99 and $9.99 (£1.98 and £6.60).

Any books priced above that will be given only 35pc royalties. Critics say the move is designed to keep the price of books down on Kindle to make it more attractive in an increasingly competitive online market.

But it is feared the move is preventing small time or specialist authors from earning even a modest income from their efforts and could drive some small independent publishers to the wall.

Around one in four of the 1.8m books for sale for the Kindle on Amazon is priced above £6.60 but it is not known how many of those are self-published, for which the royalties scheme applies. Other books will be sold via publishing houses, which arrange their own royalties with the writer.

Richard Fitt, editor of Authors Online, which specialises in supporting self-publishers, said: “Amazon is proving very detrimental to the niche author.

To the public they are wonderful because they sell books cheaply but for anyone that has to deal with them they are a nightmare. All they are concerned with is driving the prices down. ”

Kate Pool, deputy chief executive of the Society of Authors, said that with Amazon taking an increasing hold on the online market many writers will be left facing lower cover prices or lower royalties.

“Our concern is the increasing dominance that Amazon is having,” she said. “It is starting to change the perception of books entirely and the danger is people will start to see them in terms of cheap items rather than the price reflecting the time and research that has gone in to it.”

It emerged last year that Amazon plans to publish original physical books in Europe under its own publishing wing.

Self-publishing American author Bob Baker, who provides online advice to authors, said: “I think it’s a bit over dramatic to say that the Amazon Kindle store system could kill off the small, specialist author, although it’s true that nonfiction authors in particular, with specialised, niche information, can and should sell their info-products for more than $9.95.”

He suggested writers spread their sales across different media.

Business book writer Richard Gandon, whose publication Writing Business Processes is one of the titles affected by Amazon’s royalties policy, said: “It is grossly unfair that a giant company like Amazon should be exploiting small authors like this. It really does feel like a David versus Goliath situation.

Trying to earn a living as a writer is hard enough without a multi-billion pound behemoth ripping you off at the same time”.

Despite being contacted several times, Amazon failed to respond.

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