Robert J. Sawyer

Hugo and Nebula Award-Winning Science Fiction Writer

Join The Authors Guild

by Rob - July 20th, 2015.
Filed under: business.

I recently rejoined The Authors Guild because of the great work they’re doing fighting for fair ebook royalties from traditional publishers (the Guild advocates 50% of net; the big five are all holding fast 25% of net) and a return to actual advances (instead of half the money coming years after the manuscript is accepted — PRH and others are paying “advances” in four installments now).

There’s strength in numbers, so The Authors Guild is having a membership sale. If you join via this link, you get $25 off your first year’s membership (bringing it down to $100), and I get $25 off my renewal. Read more about The Authors Guild here.

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2 Responses to Join The Authors Guild

  1. Rob, I don’t get (not being an author) how the publishing houses can be “holding fast [for] 25% of net” on e-books. Can’t you just refuse to give them e-book rights (honestly, I don’t see how letting anybody else have the e-rights is in an author’s interest)? Or do they refuse to publish you in paper without corresponding e-book rights?

  2. Exactly, Derek: none of the big five publishers will license only print rights these days; they all also insist on ebook rights. After all, they reason, how can they sell the customer a $25 print hardcover when the author is simultaneously selling his own $2.99 ebook edition. (Yes, in a very small number of cases, authors with enormous clout have unbundled electronic rights, but it’s so rare that, rounded to the nearest percent, 100% of authors are unable to do this.)

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