Author Royalties
Unlike many companies that publish books and take a percentage of an author’s royalties,
Certa Publishing believes authors should own all the rights to their books and
receive 100%
of their royalties! After all,
you did the hard work, so
you should enjoy 100% of the reward
for your efforts.
Some publishing companies push you to set an artificially high retail sales price, to “support” giving
you a larger royalty check. But if a company sets an unrealistic sales price on your book to make your
royalty payments more attractive, you could soon discover that your book sales have fallen short of your
expectations, because the retail price of your book was too high.
Think about it. If you can buy any product, including books, at a significantly lower price, then you do
exactly that. Everyone else does, too. So
don’t over price your book and sacrifice volume sales for a few
inflated royalty checks. Instead, set your price with the goal of getting your book into the hands of the
most people possible, and
let widespread sales drive up your royalties!
Acceptable formulas vary on setting retail prices, but they range from 2.2 times the printing costs to
significantly higher percentages. If you are writing a novel, then you have to realize that market prices
for novels are lower than for other books, which means you likely should stay on the low end of the scale,
at 2.2. If, on the other hand, you are writing a business book, it’s a fact that business people will pay
more. So although your business book may cost only $2.78 per copy to print, you could end up charging and
getting $19 to $28 per copy. Obviously, that multiple is significantly different.
Various
book distribution outlets and channels may
take 25% to 65% of the retail price to sell your book.
This is why we suggest that you
use a multiple of at least 2.2 times the cost of printing your book
when
setting your book retail selling price.