Many eyes read what Carla Calvi wrote at 14:45 -0400 on 020621 >Here's a slightly silly question. But it occurred to me that there >were quite a few authors amongst us (including our list mom), plus >the book in question is fiber related :-). Lets say I want to order >a book. I can order it from the author or from a distributor. Would >the author get more money for the book if I ordered directly from >her/him, or am I only giving them more work?
As with most things - it depends. For an ordinary trade book - i.e. not a cheap paperback, school textbook, or highly specialized book from a university or organization press - the author gets about 5-7 percent of the cover price as royalty. The author has the option to buy books from the publisher and resell them if desired. The author is given a discount of 20-40 percent, but of course must pay for shipping, and will have money tied up in unsold books. With my latest version of The Sheep Book I would get 40% wholesale discount, but Amazon sells the book at a 30% retail discount, so they would be hard to compete with, even if I lived in the US instead of Sweden. I don't sell books, but some authors do. Some authors publish their own books, and then of course sell them direct as well as through dealers. I guess my answer is - ask the author. Ron mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] The revised The Sheep Book is on line. http://hem.bredband.net/ronpar/tsb.html To stop mail temporarily mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: set nomail To restore send: set mail
