If one of your books sells in a book shop, as an author, you are likely to get less than 10% of the selling price.

This is not a gripe but a fact, as other people in the chain need to be duly recompensed for their part in getting the book on the shelf.

With the introduction of print on demand, the advent of the eReader and the introduction of the iPad, here’s the new mathematics for an author:

• Submit your book to Apple’s iBookstore – author gets 70% of revenue
• Submit to Amazon’s Digital Platform for Kindle – author gets 35% (not sure why quite so low)
• Self-publish via Lulu – author gets around 80% of net profit (i.e. after cost of printing)

This is just three of many publishing routes – see my hyperlinked Mind Map for more

Add to this the ability to self-promote and build a [niche] following on social media sites and you have to ask why you aren’t starting to write your book today.

Is this the death of publishers? Far from it, this just allows them to create new services to offer increased value and react to opportunities in a more timely manner.

All in all, it’s never been a better time to be an author …