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E-book Royalties for Writers: How Much Money Can I Typically Get?

January 29th, 2010 No comments

Composing a really useful ebook is not a simple task: it takes substantial time and energy to create a piece of work that is truly correct, to-the-point, as well as enjoyable to read. So unless you are just writing for the thrill of it, you must prudently evaluate what your alternatives are in terms of your future royalty payments. How much royalties you will get depends on a number of factors.

As you would expect, “payment” or “royalty” is not an entirely straightforward subject to discuss. Without doubt, the concept of royalties is essentially about the actual quantity of dollars or pounds sterling that you would get with a particular publishing contract. But there are also alternate aspects of an arrangement or contract that may be just as important, and conceivably even more so. Such aspects can be, for example, the duration of the deal, the issue about the precise time for payments, and so forth.

However, in this current article I shall mostly talk about the total sum of money that you might anticipate from various kinds of royalties arrangements. Even if there are many different types of deals in the publishing world for writers and authors, I shall in this short article outline only four kinds of royalties: “list price percentage|, “net receipts percentage”, “net receipts percentage”, and “full list price”.

1. Publisher’s “List Price Percentage” Royalties

The “List Price Percentage” royalty model is perhaps the most “intuitive” of them all. This model is applicable when writers approach major publishing houses to market their ebooks (or even ordinary books). This royalty model practically boils down to that the author will receive a certain percentage of the ebook’s (retail) list price. The exact percentage typically varies between 10 and 20 %.

An example: An ebook sells for $20 and the royalties model says that the author will have 15 percent of the list price from the sale of every e-book. So the author might expect to be paid a royalty of $3 per ebook (0.15 x 20).

Big publishing houses such as Simon & Schuster and Random House have previously used this type of arrangement for contracts with ebook authors. Nowadays, however, these and other publishers are moving on to another model, namely the “Net Receipts” model.

2. Publisher’s “Net Receipts Percentage” Royalties

Another model, also used by publishers at large publishing houses, is the “Net Receipts Percentage” model. At present, many publishing houses use this type of royalties scenario, including Random House, Simon & Schuster, and Macmillan.

In this model, the net sales of the e-book is the major figure around which the calculation of the royalty amount revolves. The percentage figure most commonly used in this type of arrangement is between 10 and 25 percent.

For example, assume that an ebook sells for a list price of $18. Also assume that the publisher arrives at the net sales figure as 60 percent of the net proceeds. If now the author has a deal where he gets 15 percent of the net sales, then he would, in this example, look at something like $1.62 per e-book (18 x 0.60 x 0.15).

3. Self-Publisher’s “Flex-Price Net Receipts Percentage” Royalties

Option number three could be to publish your ebook by yourself, but nevertheless use one or a number of retailers and distributors to market and sell it. For instance, you might want to use sales channels such as Lulu.com.

In this scenario the writer will receive a given percentage of the net sales of the e-book, and in that way it is very comparable to the second model above, the one named “Net Receipts Percentage”. However, even if the models are similar, the “Flex-Price Net Receipts Percentage” has the major benefit that your cut per book will be radically higher, assuming that you will sell your e-book for more than simply a dollar or two.

Another difference is in terms of price-setting flexibility. Since you would be self-publishing your e-book, you may actually yourself come to a decision what the list price should be. You will consequently have more flexibility in terms of preparing how much your total royalties will be.

4. Self-Publisher’s “Full List Price” Royalties

The fourth model is built on the idea that the author not only publishes the book himself, but also markets it himself. So in this particular model there are no external distribution channels or external retailers to worry about.

Doing it all by yourself is hard, but doable. And one does not necessarily have to have a complicated (or expensive) e-business solution implemented. One may very well use simple (and inexpensive) solutions such as PayPal to get up and running.

At any rate, the sum of royalties to be anticipated from this fourth arrangement is quite easy to calculate, since you will keep all the income for yourself. Logically, though, depending on the exact solution you are using, you may wish to adjust the figures, in order to properly account for costs related to services such as the website or blog hosting or your payment processing, etc.

Final remarks

Selecting which type of arrangement would work best is not always very simple. But you might ask yourself: “How interested am I in marketing?” If your answer to that question is “a lot”, you might want to consider either royalty model 3 or 4.

However, if you are not the born marketer, perhaps model 1 or 2 would be better for you. The problem is, however, that it is not easy to get a good publishing contract with a major publishing house. But if you do not succeed in getting such a publishing contract, you could always go for model 3 or 4 later one. For a determined writer of ebooks, there are many ways and alternatives to get that ebook out there!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Johnny Jones is currently writing for the EbookBrothers.com website, where he writes about ebook marketing, and on particular topics such as ebook royalties etc. For a free subscription to the EbookBrothers.com Newsletter (with free tips and articles on how you can succeed with your own e-book business), please visit the EbookBrothers.com home page immediately, before the free offer expires.

The Top 7 Benefits of a Google Business Listing

January 26th, 2010 No comments

Have you created a Google Business Listing for your business yet? If not then you are missing out on a opportunity.

We still encounter a lot of business owners who we work for that either haven’t realised they could have a business listing on Google or just haven’t gotten round to adding one.

It’s very simple and quick to do.

The key benefits of a Google Business Listing are:

1. Google Exposure

Google typically displays the business results near the top of page 1 based if someone searches for a combination of a service and place which matches any relevant listings. For instance, check out: http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=edinburgh+airport+parking&meta=&rlz=1R2GZAZ_enGB347&aq=f&oq= where we searched for ‘Edinburgh airport parking’. As you can see the business listings actually get ranked above all the natural results on the left of the page. This means even if you don’t have an SEO budget or strong web presence you can still be listed at the top of the page above the top ranking competitor.

2.Business Listings Are Noticeable

When business listings are returned within the search results area they are very prominent on the page due to the map which is included and format of the business listings alongside it. They even stick out a lot compared to the plain text adverts which appear on the right hand side of the page. Without spending any money you can be competing with your competitors who are having to pay to be found!

3. It’s totally free

You will have to register a Google account if you don’t have one, do an address or phone number verification and create your business listing but all it costs is a bit of time – and normally less than a coffee break.

4.Get a high listing

If you manage to add a listing before your competitors do for your service and location then you will always appear before them as entries are listed in the order in which they were added.

5.Multiple Locations Supported

You can list multiple offices within a single account.

6.Map Directions Are Added

A street map including directions means that your prospective clients can see where you are located and find you easily. They can even toggle between arial and satellite view.

7.Ever Expanding Services

Google have announced enhancements to the Business Listings we can expect in the future such as integration with mobiles, map links within results listings. The creation of coupons/vouchers that users can print off and bring with them was added recently too giving you added value to offer to users who find your listing.

It is also very likely that other local business directories will feed off the Google Business Listings so your listing will start appearing elsewhere as a pleasant consequence.

If you want to create your Google Business Listing it can be done quickly and easily in just a few steps:

1.Login to the Google Local Business Center.

You can sign in using an existing Google account or if you don’t have one you will need to create one.

2.Supply your business information.

Select up to 5 categories that best describe your business. Custom categories are acceptable but you must include at least 1 predefined category.

3.Review your listing and verify your business.

To confirm your business, you can either receive a pin code over the phone or by SMS which you enter and your listing will be live within 12 hours or Google sends you a postcard with a confirmation code which normally takes 2-3 weeks.

Don’t hand around. Your competitors won’t. The free, enhanced listing exposure can do wonders for your business and even if you are not desperate for traffic just yet it is worth securing your position in the business listing results before your competitors do.

You can you find more online business advice from Chris at his blog or visit the main company site to find out all about the wide range of web design related services which Hit Reach offer.

Mums Who Need To Work

December 21st, 2009 No comments

Full time mums really need to try and fit in jobs around school or daycare hours, but there are lots of different positions that you can try out. Schools are often a great place to work in, since you are able to work hours that are not longer than your children?s school days, so you can pick them up from school. Daycare is normally covered from around 7am to 6pm, so if you can afford it, and your child is not yet of school age, this may give you more flexibility in the role you look for.

One thing you have to think about, is that neither schools nor childcarers will take in a sick child. You will need to stay home and look after them, unless there is someone else in the family that is willing and/or able to to this. Plus a sick child usually really wants their Mum, so you would be very torn by leaving them with someone else anyway. Parental leave is at your employers discretion. You may be lucky and be able to take the odd day here and there without losing holiday or pay, but of course, there are going to be employers who are less flexible with regards to such arrangements.

If you drop your child off at school in the car, before driving to work yourself, you are stopping your child from getting some important exercise. its known that exercise at the start of the day – as they would get from walking or biking to school, helps children to feel active and motivated. This obviously means that a motivated child is going to do better in lessons as they will be able to concentrate much better, for having got some fresh air and exercise.

If you find the points above concerning, but you are a Mum to needs to work, then you may want to look at a home based business opportunity. This is becoming an increasingly popular thing to do for many reasons. The main one, of course, being how well you can manage the work/life balance. By working from home for yourself – you are the boss, so you set and work the hours you need to. Mingle in with some of the working Mums at school and look around in papers and online to see what opportunities are out there.

As a Mum who needs to work – working from home could be the answer to all of your problems. You will have the financial freedom that is necessary, but you will also have the flexibility over your job, so that you can be there when your children need you.

For the best training you can get when starting an online business, you can do no better than join the Wealthy Affiliate University To find out more about this excellent program visit http://jobs-for-working-mums.blogspot.com

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