Digital Rights

From November 05, 2007 until February 12, 2008 the Writer's Guild of America (WGA) went on strike. The strike lasted 100 days and almost brought the industry to its knees. Very few people outside of the industry really understood what the strike was really about. By all legal rights they had already been paid for their work. Now they are asking to get paid again, every time someone downloads a movie from the Internet.

You may be asking yourself, what does this have to do with me? I write novels, not movies. This has everything to do with you. The Internet has leveled the playing field. No longer does a young talented aspiring writer have to write a manuscript, go down to a copy shop and make dozens of copies, and send them off to agents and publishers. Most of those manuscripts end up in the trash without ever having been opened.

In November 2007 Amazon.com introduced the Kindle reader. Amazon.com has entered the digital rights arena. Unlike other large publisher who offer only their titles in eBook format. Amazon.com bought Mobipocket.com and Book Surge and allowed young authors a way to self publish and compete with the large publishing houses. Lulu.com is one of the early pioneers in self publishing and also offers self publishers away to get their novels out without and into the hands of eager readers.

Although many large publishing houses still refer to self-publishers as vanity writers, they are shaking in their boots. In the past self-publishers posed no threat to their profits. The deck was stacked against the lone writer. You had to order a large quantity of books up front. And because most writers don't have the buying power of the larger publishing houses, so they paid a higher price per book and made little to no profit. You had to go around to local book stores and beg them to carry a few copies (usually on consignment). The rest you had to sell out of the back of your car or at a swap meet.

Thanks to the Internet and broadband connections once you've completed your master piece on your computer, you can upload it and using Print on Demand (POD) technology you only print a book when the customer orders it. Now this article isn't about POD. But POD uses a digital copy of your manuscript. The person who owns the rights to that digital manuscript is king.

Most publishers pay massive royalties to new writers between a whooping 5 to 10%. I know what you are thinking; you can just see all of that cash rolling in. Of course it will take about a year before you see a penny. Then you will have to pay your agent (if you have one). I have a friend who is a writer, and he has a book out, retailing at the same price as mine $14.95. He makes $1.25 per a sale. I make $2.80 per sale for sales made through the same distribution network his book is sold through. I make $6.35 per sale if I sale it myself or directly from Lulu.com website.

Now here is the best part (for me, not for my friend.) His publisher owns the digital rights so he gets the same $1.25 per sale when they sell his book in eBook (digital format). Since I own my digital rights when I sell my book in digital format for $6.95 a download, I get paid from $3.96 to $6.95 (less PayPal.com or Click Bank fees) per download.

Once I write my manuscript on my computer, I have no further cost. My manuscript is already in a digital format. It cost me nothing to upload my manuscript on my website, or on any of the many other digital content distributor's site. They charge me a percentage only when someone downloads a copy of my book. I get paid 35% to 50% in royalties from the major distributors. I keep 100% (less transaction fees) when I sell them from my own site.

I have heard new writers complaining that Amazon.com keeps 65% of each sale. Now this is the highest cut in the industry, but no one can put you in front of 615 million potential customers a year. I think that is worth 65% of a product that cost me nothing to reproduce.

Now do you understand why writers were willing to walk off the job for 100 days? 90% of all of my sales are from digital sales. Because I own my digital rights, I keep all of the profits. If you must publish through a major publisher (I don't understand why anyone would), make sure you pay attention to who owns digital rights. If at all possible retain digital rights for yourself.

The Internet has signaled the end of large publishing houses that have the power of life and death over aspiring writers. Now life and death of an author lies in the hands of the readers, as it should. Too long have publishing houses decided which authors got the nod and which ones faded away, never ever having had a chance. Digital Rights combined with POD has changed that. If you doubt what I'm saying then answer these two questions:

Why are more and more major publishers moving towards POD and getting into digital publishing?

Why has Amazon.com invested so much money and effort into offering self publishers/authors the same access to their enormous digital and POD network as they offer to the major publishers?

You can call me a vanity publisher all you want. But there is nothing vain about what I'm doing. This is a business decision. I'm a writer. I can write and make a publisher rich, or I can write and keep the profits for myself. If you think the publisher will promote the book for you, you are wrong. Unless you are an established author, you will have to promote your own book. A publicist charges $6,000.00 just to create a marketing proposal for you. That is before they run one ad for you.

Why should you publish your next great novel as an eBook? Because there is no good reason not to, you already created the digital file. It will cost you nothing to publish it as an eBook, even if you publish it in print format. Just make sure you keep the digital rights.