Okay 'nother question. What percent of your book sales goes to your agent and/or publisher? More than 40%? Cuz that's what createSpace charges.
----------
[URL=http://www.mybannermaker.com/][IMG]http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/7765/mybannerglitter7c613b21gi3.gif[/IMG][/URL]
56,228 / 50,000
Jul 12, 2008 - 22 13
I'm pretty sure any legit agent will charge around 15%, but I'm not sure about publishers.
----------'Everything's Coming Up Doctor' - The Tenth Doctor
58,744 / 50,000
Jul 13, 2008 - 02 31
It partly depends on what kind of contract you have. Generally I would think the publisher will pay you an advance (probably less than 5k for a first book) which your agent will take between 10 and 20 percent of. Then, if your book makes over a certain level of profit, you will get additional money. The vast majority of the profit will not go to you- the bookstores get some, the shipping company, the printers, the proof-readers, your editor, your agent, the cover artist and so on...
58,830 / 50,000
Jul 13, 2008 - 16 05
It depends greatly. Agents take between 10 and 15 percent, higher than that and they better have a darn good explanation as to what they're charging the extra for. Royalty percentage also depends. If you're talking major print publishers like bantam, Harper-Collins, Simon & Schuster etc, the author gets an advance and, once the advance earns out, anywhere from 6-10% of cover price on each sale. Epublishing and small presses take less, but you don't generally get an advance. If there's no advance, you should be getting between 35 and 40% royalties on cover price. Always cover price. Not Net.
It's up to the author to decide where their book would fit best, mainstream print pubs or small press/epubs. Then get yourself over to Absolute Write forums, check out Preditors and Editors, do your reasearch. Don't just google publishers and start submitting. If writing is something you're aiming to be a career and not a hobby, you'll want to spend as much time researching the business and how it works as you do writing. It's an ever-evolving, learning process.
----------0 / 50,000
Aug 28, 2008 - 17 23
Createspace is a venue for self-publishing, right? If so, then the percentages you're talking about are completely irrelevant when discussing agents' cuts. When you go through regular publishing (i.e. not self-pub), your profits will come strictly from your cut of the "profit margin." Of this, the agent usually gets around 15%.
When dealing w/ self-publishing, You (the author) is footing the bill for the expense of publishing. This is either an up-front fee or can be taken out at point of sale (or, more likely, a combination of the two - remember, these presses exist to make money).