Piper Nuelle

This is an honest question that I saw posted on an ‘Author’ help group over on Facebook, and it had me wondering that maybe some people that are writing and selling their own books and becoming part of the ‘Self-Publishing’ team, maybe don’t understand how some other forms of book selling work, especially when it comes to third party or re-selling sites. I have just begun my Self-Publishing journey but I have an amazing author friend who has Self-Published for years and has taught me certain tricks of the trade and has also kept me informed on things like this, that I may not have known.

The site in question was ‘World of Books’, which often reside on websites such as eBay, selling second hand books or nearly new. Now, I’m guessing that the way they get hold of these books is either by using a buying service, such as something along the lines of ‘Music Magpie’, where people could sell to a company their old CD’s, Books, DVDs etc for a small price, and then the website re-sells them on to the consumer for a small profit. Or, maybe they buy your book from Amazon, maybe when a promotion is happening and the price is low… And then again, they sell on your book to the consumer, usually at a lower price than what you have suggested on your website originally or for the recommended retail price or on Amazon etc if you sell through them, but again they will still try to make a some what profit.

The tricky part is, ‘Royalties’. Obviously as an author you have put hundreds of hours of blood, sweat and tears into your book, you have edited, paid for an editor, had a cover made and everything else that comes with writing and producing a book, and clearly, you want payment for the art you have created! You want what is yours, what you deserve… But, from re-sellers such as ‘World of Books’ and eBay and other second hand sites, are you entitled to Royalties?

Unfortunately the answer is… NO!

Why?

Well, originally if they have purchased your book through Amazon maybe at full price or when there was a deal or a promotion, they still would have paid for your book but at a cheaper, more wholesale price if not full, then they go on to sell it, maybe for a slight profit. But because they technically already purchased your book from Amazon or which ever site you sell through, they have already initially contributed to your sales and royalties.

When it comes to people selling to places that buy books to sell, such as ‘World of Books’ or ‘Music Magpie’, the original buyer was the one who paid, and contributed to your royalties. So, technically that copy of the book is owned by them, and it is up to them what they do with that book and no more royalties can be accumulated for that copy. And if they sell to a seller and then the seller sells it on… Well you catch my drift, no more royalties on that copy. Then there is also libraries! Maybe some libraries purchased copies of your book, maybe they have been read by many but maybe the need for them has slowed down, so they now only wish to keep one or two copies instead of five or six because they need space for newer books on the block, so again, they sell them on, but once again, they have already been purchased, so the royalty would have already been collected or mounted up waiting for the threshold to be reached before it can be cashed out into your account.

So at the end of the day and long story short, if your book has been purchased you would have made royalties on it, but if it is to be sold on and re-sold through second hand third party sites, no more royalties.

Now, obviously if your not making any sales and no royalties and yet your book is turning up on these sites at a cheaper price and being sold, it could be that maybe you selected ‘Expanded’ distribution when selling through Amazon or which ever site you sell through, which can help in your book being seen by a potentially larger audience, but at the same time you have less clue as to who or where is selling your book, and maybe it is just that you haven’t met the threshold for a royalty payment just yet, because you need to remember that wholesalers, distribution, Amazon, KDP, they all need to take their cut too, and along with printing costs, so therefore with expanded distribution, royalties could be slower to accumulate and lesser than your normal distribution channels. And depending on the size of your book, your printing costs etc, you may only make so many pence per book, but of course you will know how much you should be making per book via your bookshelf on your book selling site such as KDP.

If you find though that you are unsure as to what is happening, then you can always contact Amazon and or KDP and ask, I’ve heard from other authors that they can be really helpful, you just need to contact them to ask for help. But if your books appear on these sites, try not to panic and don’t be disheartened that you cannot gain more royalties from them. It’s all part and parcel of being a creative and an author.

Hope this helps to clarify things.

xo Piper xo