Over the weekend, I announced (via both the e-mail newsletter1 and then the blog) that Alliteration Ink’s print prices will be going up by a dollar on 3 October 2015.
There’s a couple of things I wanted to take a little more time to unpack in detail here.
How the money is going to the authors and editors
In all cases, the editors get royalties directly from sales of the books, and in many cases, the authors get the royalties directly as well. This is especially true of the earlier books I’ve published – the authors only get paid via royalties for about half the books I’ve published.
There are some exceptions – and it’s those that I want to talk about. I’ve historically been running things so that if Alliteration Ink breaks even, it’s a success. That’s great for starting out, but I’ve reached the point where in order to offer the kinds of pay rates that I want, I have to turn to crowdfunding. (I mentioned this about two months ago.)
But even that has issues… because while all of my Kickstarters have succeeded, I cannot guarantee that they’ll succeed. And I am asking editors and authors to do work based on that promise.
What I’m doing now with Alliteration Ink’s earnings is stockpiling them to be able to guarantee a minimum rate to authors, giving them more stability and security in a time when US authors are making less than the poverty line.
Or in short:
All profit that Alliteration Ink sees goes back into making more books and paying authors, editors, and artists.
Digital Book Pricing
I’m not going to change eBook prices at this time, because it simply doesn’t make sense to. There’s three reasons for that.
First: I’ve been keeping prices so that the average net profit2 is the same whether it’s a print book sale or eBook sale.
Second: when I look at other small presses, my eBook prices are right in line with theirs.
Third: I’m a reader as well. I like the convenience of digital books, and I like purchasing books and supporting authors. Right now I can keep all my digital titles about the price of a cup of fancy coffee – but they’ll give you far more enjoyment.
And I’ll still be able to give the authors and editors the same amount of support.
That’s pretty awesome.
Finally: I am an active partner with Shelfie (previously known as BitLit). That means that if you buy a print book I’ve published – even if you bought it years ago – you can use the Shelfie app to get the digital version free. I’ve been working with them for a year now and have been very pleased with their service. I’m finally revamping the print books to include the bookplate to make getting the bundled digital version even easier.
I hope this explains some things; if you have any questions, hit me up via e-mail or in the comments.
1 A side note: if you want to know what’s going on first, sign up for the newsletter at https://eepurl.com/blMdOv!)
2 If you’re unfamiliar, the net profits per print book vary wildly depending on how it’s sold. So yes, if you buy a book directly from me, more profits go to the authors… but that’s not how most people buy the books I publish.