Tag Archives: royalties

I Make 93 CENTS On A Paperback That ‘Amazon’ Sells For $23!

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by Anura Guruge
on June 27, 2023

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I even got this last month SAYING that I would get ZERO, i.e., $0.00, royalty on some of my books. Yes, I had to increase the list price — as of last week. BUT, even with that. $0.96 on a $23 book — i.e., 4%.

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I am NOT complaining — not that complaining will get me anywhere.

I am VERY FORTUNATE that I don’t have to rely on any monies I make from my books — for anything. I survive trading options. {SMILE} It is hard life, but I have to make living.

But, I feed bad for those who want to make living as authors. IF you are mega-successful you are FINE. Very fine. If you sell 10,000 books, your .96 cents, will be $9,600. That is not bad.

Yes, royalties are better on eBook BUT I hate eBooks.

What cracks me up is that everyone makes MORE MONEY selling my books than I do!

That is kind of crazy. But, I am OK with that. I can ask for more money & insist that they make less. But, it is not in I to do that. Runs in the family.

I am, among my many faults, is NOT GREEDY when it comes to money (just food, wine & you know what {SMILE}). I am THANKFUL everyday that I am not greedy when it comes to money. From what I can see, those that are tend to be miserable, daily. That I am NOT. SMILE.

38 of my 39 Published Books.

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Amazon’s Supposed AI Powered Shipping Algorithm Is Getting STUPIDER — 2nd Example.

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by Anura Guruge
on May 20, 2023

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Click to ENLARGE. From my Amazon order tracking.

1st example from just 3 days ago!

Click image to access post from just 3 weeks ago.

In the last few weeks Amazon has been all over the media claiming that they are using AI to make their shipping smarter.
I am NOT convinced.

I ordered TWO copies each of two of my ‘Bold Coast‘ books. I am all out of books & wanted to take some with me to the Bold Coast next week. Ordering author copies, though cheaper, takes two weeks. So, I just ordered two each online. {I will get royalties on them so it is not too bad in the end.}

THEY SPLIT THE ORDER.

Two copies were delivered a few minutes ago.

The other two haven’t even SHIPPED!

OK. There is an explanation. Though they are NOT supposed to, Amazon often pre-prints a few copies of each title so that they can ship them faster. So, it is possible that they had these two copies already printed & the other two needed to be printed. That makes some sense.

But, I think it would have been better if they PRINTED ALL FOUR together & did ONE shipment.

Amazon Sold 361 Copies Of My ‘Bold Coast’ Books Last Year.

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by Anura Guruge
on February 18, 2023

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5 Bold Coast books. 591 Pages in TOTAL!

All 5 books now available on Amazon (worldwide).

I don’t keep track & I had no idea UNTIL I had to go looking for the ‘1099’ form to do my taxes. 361 was more than I realized. I am happy.

These are the copies sold by Amazon. It doesn’t include the 40 to 50 author copies I got to distribute to folk. Plus, I might have sold a FEW other eBooks on other platforms.

I am NOT sure what to make of the 361. Yes, of course, I would have liked to have sold more. But, 361 is better than a kick in the teeth. The the title that sold the most, i.e., ‘Cut to the Chase’ only became available as of July 28, 2022 & the next one down, i.e., ‘In Two Days or Less’, as of May 27, 2022. So, neither of them were available for the full season.

Other than the Owner of ‘Dockside Treasures‘ in ‘Lubec‘ who sold a LOT of books I really had no other outlets OR support from anyone. I don’t know the exact numbers but she bought a BUNCH of books DIRECTLY from Amazon because I couldn’t get her author copies quick enough (given the mandatory 2-week DELAY Amazon imposes on author copies to impede us competing against them). It would have been nice if I got some help from folks in Maine but …

C’est la vie. I have already moved on.

I was going to do another Bold Coast AMBLING book & I even started working on it, but I have now lost interest. Working on a whole new theme — & it is not even popes!

Well, it will be Spring soon & we can see if there is continued interest for these books. ‘Dockside Treasures‘, to their credit, already ordered a bunch, which was nice & good. I am glad of that.

Amuses me to see that my ‘Central Pain‘ book sells some — 1 a month. SMILE.

Well, bottom line, as some know, these books don’t even pay for the wine it takes to keep me alive. On average I make LESS than $1 a book, given that on some of the eBooks, the royalty is like 60 cents! Smile. If not for the fact that I have owned a ‘few’ Amazon shares for over a decade I would be yet another starving writer. Smile.