[Guest]

I was trying to change price on a book and saw this on the pricing page:

Rate
35%
50%
70%

50%? Has this been there before? Am I seeing things?

 

[C.F.]

Oooh, I see it too! A mystery.

 

[Heather Boyd]

I see it too. It only appears when you choose 70% royalty rate with a price between $2.99 and $9.99. Haven't found any explanation for the 50% on the Amazon site. Pricing terms haven't updated since 2015. Will have to wait and hope what happens next is good news.

 

[Jim Johnson]

I see it but no explanation for why. I'll keep my eyes open, but in the meantime, writing away on the current WIP.

 

[Cactus Lady]

I see it, too. Where it gives the breakdown of royalty rates, delivery charges, and royalties, on books $2.99 and over (I don't have anything over $9.99, so can't speak for that). On mine, it says 50% n/a.

Pricing terms haven't updated since 2015. Will have to wait and hope what happens next is good news.

I find myself unable to be optimistic.

I'm not in Select/KU; maybe it's going to be an option for those who are. You can choose 50% instead of 35%. Or, the doomsayer in me wonders if they're going to make it so you have to be in Select to get 70% anywhere and those of us who refuse to get with the program are going to get dropped to 50%.

 

[Guest]

...Or, the doomsayer in me wonders if they're going to make it so you have to be in Select to get 70% anywhere and those of us who refuse to get with the program are going to get dropped to 50%.

Ditto. I'm thinking a 50% royalty rate isn't going to be anything good. As you suggested, maybe 50% for KU titles under $2.99 (instead of 35%) or we'll get bumped to 50% and books in KU earn 70% if purchased instead of borrowed.

 

[Guest]

Ditto. I'm thinking a 50% royalty rate isn't going to be anything good. As you suggested, maybe 50% for KU titles under $2.99 (instead of 35%) or we'll get bumped to 50% and books in KU earn 70% if purchased instead of borrowed.

The problem with the first guess (50% for titles under $2.99) is that the option shows only for books between $2.99 and $9.99. I don't see any scenario where this is a good thing.

 

[Cactus Lady]

Ditto. I'm thinking a 50% royalty rate isn't going to be anything good. As you suggested, maybe 50% for KU titles under $2.99 (instead of 35%) or we'll get bumped to 50% and books in KU earn 70% if purchased instead of borrowed.

But it doesn't show up for 99 cent books, only for $2.99 and higher. Which is what makes me think it isn't anything good.

By "option instead of 35%", I meant on books $2.99 and higher where they give you the option to choose 35% royalties and not have to pay a delivery fee (which makes absolutely no sense except for books that are huge files, like with lots of images), maybe KU people can choose 50% and no delivery fees. That's about the best interpretation I can put on this.

 

[Sailor Stone]

Perhaps an annual fee for 70%?

 

[GeneDoucette]

i see it, but can't choose it. Maybe they're changing the rate on books over $9.99

 

[Seneca42]

Zon's not going to mess with the 70% while kobo and itunes are paying it.

My guess is probably some of the 35% markets will be getting bumped up to 50% (but not all of them, so the 35 will still remain).

My second guess (actually make this my first) would be they will be offering 50% on below $2.99 (but 35 in certain foreign markets). The fact that it's only showing on $2.99 books doesn't mean anything as the dashboard is obviously not fully functional. Kobo pays 45% on below $2.99... so zon may be looking to incentivize the wide crowd into joining KU... "get higher royalties on direct sales below $2.99, 50%, AND make money in KU."

Whatever zon is doing they generally:

1) sucker people into thinking they are winning when they are losing
2) all their actions are designed around putting a knife in their competitors' eyes.
3) they've publicly stated they want authors pricing LOW. So upping the royalty on below $2.99 would be a very effective way of achieving this on the direct side.

With B&N basically dead, they may be looking to take out their remaining competitors and own the ebook market 100%; will also commodifying books further by incentivizing lower pricing. 

 

[GeneDoucette]

With B&N basically dead, they may be looking to take out their remaining competitors and own the ebook market 100%; will also commodifying books further by incentivizing lower pricing.

or they're just trying to remain competitive. I get surveys from them all the time, and I'm pretty straightforward about what i dislike about their price restrictions. I'm sure other people are as well.

 

[Shelley K]

I see it but no explanation for why. I'll keep my eyes open, but in the meantime, writing away on the current WIP.

Ditto.

The indie community is about to lose its collective **** with many people detailing worst case scenarios and many others getting vaporlocked at the keyboard over it. They'll be a good or bad change or there won't. I've still got work to do, so no speculation for me.

 

[Amanda M. Lee]

Just to add to the speculation, maybe 50% for those in KU who do not want to be exclusive. That’s a total wish-fulfillment guess, by the way.

 

[Merlin27]

Maybe KU is about to become non-optional.

50% Rate for non-exclusive +KU

70% for exclusives only.

Or maybe an option for non exclusive KU with a 50% royalty.

Probably not but it was the first thing thing that occurred to me.

Just to add to the speculation, maybe 50% for those in KU who do not want to be exclusive. That's a total wish-fulfillment guess, by the way.

Yep. Basically had the same thought at about the same time.

 

[The one with all the big dresses on the covers]

Just to add to the speculation, maybe 50% for those in KU who do not want to be exclusive. That's a total wish-fulfillment guess, by the way.

Oooh, I like that one!

 

[Guest]

Oooh, I like that one!

Me too!

 

[KelliWolfe]

Zon's not going to mess with the 70% while kobo and itunes are paying it.

Ummm. Why not? Do you honestly think a significant number of writers would pull their books out of Amazon if they lowered the royalty rate for non-KU books? Amazon is the biggest ebook market by far. A few would in protest, sure. But as we've seen over and over with all the KU nonsense they've pulled, the vast majority of writers are simply going to suck it up and accept the lower payout rate. And all those people going wide through the aggregators are already accepting quite a bit less than 70% there, so it isn't like they don't know that we'll take less. If the authors aren't in KU their books are already wide so they don't even have the option to make up the sales elsewhere. What other choice would they have but to leave their books right there and take whatever Amazon offers them? Or else it will be that extra push necessary to pull a lot of authors into KU because they can't afford the loss of a third of their Amazon money.

I'm not saying that I think this is what they're doing. It might have nothing at all to do with anything that's been suggested. But based on their history of treatment of their other vendors/suppliers and the way that authors have bent over for them in the past, it wouldn't surprise me at all if this was exactly what they were doing. "Your margin is my opportunity..."

 

[sela]

My prediction:

70% for KDPS $2.99 - $9.99
50% for non-KDPS $2.99 - $9.99
50% for KDPS <$2.99 and >$9.99
35% for non-KDPS <$2.99 and >$9.99

Jeff Bezos is now the richest human ever. Gotta squeeze those indie margins.

 

[NoCat]

They went to 70% because Apple did, basically (yeah, I've been around that long I still remember the 35% across the board, ha). I can't imagine they will drop non-KU peeps to 50% but... they don't always do smart things, so who knows? I am hoping 50% is for over $9.99, personally.