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Home -> Community -> Mailing Lists -> Oracle-L -> RE: Re[4]: Serious Question (believe it or not)...
Thanks, finally some useful info.
Alex Hillman
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2001 10:15 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
Hello Ed (and whoever else is interested),
Computer book deals are usually structured such that the author gets a percentage of net sales. Net sales reflect the wholesale price of the book. A $40 book will wholesale for somewhat less than $20. Let's be generous, and use $20. A 10% royalty rate would then result in the author getting $2/book. Discounts are often greater than 50%, so reality isn't quite as good as I've just described. Some publishers are more willing to discount than others.
If you would like a good walk-through of a contract, I invite you to visit the following URL where you can find a description of the contract we use at O'Reilly. We have, btw, a very short, two-page contract.
http://www.oreilly.com/oreilly/author/ch03.html
We pay the same rate regardless of where, or how, the book is sold. We pay the same rate regardless of how much the book is discounted. We pay the same rate for foreign sales that are not translations. So if you write a book in English, and we sell an English-language copy in Zambia, you get the full rate. We don't hold back anything for returns, and we don't charge indexing fees.
Oh, what else, what else. There's a lawyer I know named Ivan Hoffman who specializes in intellectual property issues. He has some great articles on his website that discuss various issues of interest to writers and publishers. His site's URL is: http://www.ivanhoffman.com/. You might also visit Studio B's web site. They have an article page at: http://studiob.com/content.asp?keyword=ART. I found the one titled "Negotiating your first computer book deal" to be very helpful when I was negotiating my first computer book deal<grin>.
Even though money may not be your #1 reason for writing a book, you shouldn't discount it entirely. I find that the advance check I get when I hit a major milestone tends to renew my enthusiasm for whatever project I'm working on at the time.
Best regards,
Jonathan Gennick
mailto:jonathan_at_gennick.com * 906.387.1698
http://Gennick.com * http://MichiganWaterfalls.com * http://MetalDrums.org
Thursday, June 07, 2001, 2:31:30 PM, you wrote: HE> Jonathan,
HE> Everyone has there own reasons for wanting to write a book. For me, the HE> reasons are:
HE> 1. Credibility with peers / clients HE> 2. Sense of accomplishment HE> 3. Enjoy sharing information with people HE> 4. Some extra cash
HE> I would certainly say that the first 3 are TRUELY the reason that I
would
HE> consider such a project, but the extra cash is always a plus!! I
certainly
HE> am not interested in getting into anyone's personal finances...but could
you
HE> give us some indication / range of what an author could expect to
receive
HE> from a book deal? I'm sure it varies depending upon the topic and HE> salesability...but what's a good range? How are book deals typically HE> structured? HE> Thanks, HE> Ed Haskins
HE> -----Original Message----- HE> Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2001 1:26 PM HE> To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
HE> Wednesday, June 06, 2001, 4:53:21 PM, Christopher Spence wrote: CS>> I hope your not doing it to get rich :)
HE> Chris brings up a good point. It's *extremely* difficult to HE> predict book sales in advance. Editors get surprised all the HE> time. Books we think will sell well, don't. And sometimes HE> it's the other way around. It's best to go in with low HE> expectations, and hopefully you'll come out pleasantly HE> surprised.
HE> Best regards,
HE> Jonathan Gennick HE> mailto:jonathan_at_gennick.com * 906.387.1698 HE> http://Gennick.com * http://MichiganWaterfalls.com *http://MetalDrums.org
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Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com
--
Author: Jonathan Gennick
INET: jonathan_at_gennick.com
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Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists --------------------------------------------------------------------To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: ListGuru_at_fatcity.com (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing). Received on Fri Jun 08 2001 - 09:23:28 CDT
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