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Last updated: Wednesday, January 20, 2010

In a move to stem the rising Apple tide, Amazon on Wednesday outlined a new program that gives more money back to authors and publishers who use the Kindle Digital Text Platform (DTP). The new paradigm aims to motivate more authors to make their books available for the world’s most popular e-reader. Authors can now choose a new 70 percent royalty option. That means for each Kindle book sold, authors and publishers can now earn 70 percent of list price, net of delivery costs. However, there are certain criteria they must qualify for in the new program, which won’t become available until June 30. The existing DTP standard royalty option will remain intact. “Today, authors often receive royalties in the range of seven to 15 percent of the list price that publishers set for their physical books, or 25 percent of the net that publishers receive from retailers for their digital books,” said Russ Grandinetti, vice president of Kindle Content. “We’re excited that the new 70 percent royalty option for the Kindle Digital Text Platform will help us pay authors higher royalties when readers choose their books.” How to Get 70 Percent Royalties To qualify for the 70 percent option, books must satisfy a set of requirements, including price restrictions. The author- or publisher-supplied list price must be between $2.99 and $9.99, and that list price must be at least 20 percent below the lowest list price for the physical book. Books must also be offered at or below price parity with competitors, including physical book prices. Amazon will provide tools to automate that process, and the 70 percent royalty will be calculated from the sales price. The 70 percent option is for in-copyright works and not available for works published before 1923 (public-domain books). At launch, the 70 percent option will only be…

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Amazon Offers Authors Higher Royalties for E-Books

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