What Percentage of Publishing Revenues are Going "Up the Chimney of Waste"?
Mark Graban
I help organizations and leaders drive continuous improvement and spark innovation through Lean management, building a culture of learning from mistakes, and fostering psychological safety. 3 Shingo Book Awards.
I have published two books through a traditional publisher (Lean Hospitals and Healthcare Kaizen). I have also experimented with some self-published eBooks through a startup called LeanPub.com and I helped a friend self publish a book to Amazon Kindle and other formats.
Today, the traditional publishing model still gives authors, at best, a 15% royalty on book sales. If the publisher sells a book directly, they keep the rest. If they sell it through a retailer, it's probably fair to assume the retailer takes 50%, leaving 35% for the publisher, and still 15% for the author.
This revenue split possibly made sense in the old days when publishers literally owned the printing presses and authors NEEDED publishers. Now, publishers outsource the printing (along with other functions, like editing).
The world has shifted -- publishers now need authors. Without authors, there is no content and there is nothing to publish, meaning no revenue or profit for the publishers. Today, authors have many options... yet authors still get 15%. This has to change.
Well, it is changing... at least in some circles.
If I were to self publish through Amazon Kindle, I can get as much as 70% royalty (if I set a price between $2.99 and $9.99 and other conditions are met).
If I were to publish through LeanPub.com, I get a shockingly high royalty 90% royalty (minus a flat 50 cents per sale).
Now, to be fair, Amazon and LeanPub.com don't offer services like cover design and editing. Publishers, depending on their size and market pull, can help with marketing and publicity. Publishers also don't make an author front any money to get their book into production, so the publishers are admittedly taking on all of the risk (except for the risk that you, as an author, waste time writing a book that nobody buys).
But, authors can now hire all of those editing, design, and marketing functions as contractors. Or, an author can hire a company to play the role of "general contractor" for your book, which might cost a few thousand bucks.
It only seems fair (or necessary) that traditional publishers will have to start offering more than 15% royalty. Has anybody seen this happening?
An author friend of mine (who will remain unnamed) recently compared her next self-publishing experience with her previous traditional publishing experiences.:
If I self-publish through Amazon, I'll need to sell 200 to break even, but then my royalty will be about $4 per book, which is about what I get for [redacted traditionally published book]. Oh yeah... [redacted] costs $40; my new book of comparable length will sell for $10.
What do the publishers do with all that money, Mark? I don't think anyone is getting rich. I think it goes up the chimney of waste. Just a thought.
That's a brilliant phrase - "the chimney of waste." How many books are being physically printed that then get returned by retailers to be destroyed? How much money is wasted due to editing errors and production problems? Like many inefficient businesses (including hospitals), they are just burning money.
If publishers (even publishers of books on the Lean methodology) can work to reduce waste, they will be able to pay a higher royalty to authors while maintaining (or increasing) their own profits. Is anybody in this struggling industry trying anything radically different? Or are they just hoping to merge their way to success?
Mark Graban is a consultant, author, blogger, and speaker in the “lean healthcare” methodology. Mark is author of the Shingo Award-winning book Lean Hospitals and Healthcare Kaizen. Learn more about Mark’s on-site and public workshops. He is also the Chief Improvement Officer for KaiNexus.
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12 年Maria Scors Meet me at: www.mariascors.kwrealty.com
Director at Museum Editions Publishing for 3D Pop Artist Charles Fazzino
12 年YES!
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12 年I go through Printer's Ink to make sure I have a bookstore quality paperback and hardcover. I turn that file into an e-book. <> The key for me is developing a great product that gives a great reader experience. I don't think there is a substitute for an experienced person working with you. If the reader enjoys and finds value in your book, it can sell even without a traditional publishing house. My fulfillment is handled through Amazon for paperback and hardcover. Accompanying e-books are both Kindle and Nook.
Owner at ADVANCED CHIROPRACTIC CENTERS
12 年GREAT POST
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12 年Great post, Mark. Great comments as well. I published 2 books in December last year. One, "Achieving Lean Changeover: Putting SMED to Work" was by Productivity Press. No complaints about the process or the people other than that it took a long time once I turned in the manuscript. I turned in the final manuscript in April, they got me galley proofs in July, I corrected them and sent them back in July and the book was finally on the street December 15. (Just got my statement for QIV-2012 and they sold almost 75 copies in that 2 weeks so I am impressed) 6 years ago I was contracted by another publisher to write a book on Packaging Machinery. When I finally turned it in in late 2011, for a variety of reasons they decided not to publish it. The main one being that they felt they would have to price it at $250 per copy! I wound up getting the contract back and hired a professional editor (in the packaging industry) to do a final edit. That took a few months of backing and forthing but was well worth it. Book is "Packaging Machinery Handbook" more info and discount code at www.packmachbook.com I also designed a cover that seems to be fairly well regarded. I published it via Amazon's Create Space. They provided a MS-Word template for formatting and once I got it beat into shape I submitted it on a Sunday afternoon. Monday they told me they were ready to print proof copies and I ordered 2. I had them the following Friday. These were identical to the publication copy except for the word "PROOF" stamped on the 1st page. I did not like the font and size and found a couple of other issues that I corrected. Sent the revised file in, got a proof copy back in a few days, approved it by email and my book was listed for sale on Amazon 3 days later. My only cost was less than $100 for the proof copies, shipping and so on. Plus what I paid the editor which had nothing to do with Create Space. Once I had approved it, I had Create Space format the file for Kindle. At this point I am not sure which way I would recommend. Both went smoothly. I am glad Productivity Press published my SMED book as having it in their catalog gives it a good deal of visibility and, most importantly, credibility. I am not sure how much more visibility I would have gotten for the Packaging book from the traditional publisher. It is a small industry, I know most of the editors at the various magazines so was able to get some reviews. I know people at all the packaging schools and several have already agreed to use it as a textbook. I think there are pros and cons to both methods of publishing. At the moment I am not sure which I prefer. Ask me again in a year. John Henry