Comments on: Royalties!

By: Historiann

Historiann — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 18:50:32 +0000

Wow–thanks, Elaine, for that data.

And thanks, libraries and librarians, for your support!!!

By: Elaine Hardy

Elaine Hardy — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 18:07:57 +0000

And at least 434 libraries, around the world, have purchased it. According to WorldCat, in addition to US libraries, it is in the collections of libraries in Canada, Israel, New Zealand, China, Germany, The Netherlands, Taiwan and the UK.

By: Liz2

Liz2 — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 04:18:40 +0000

I’m sorry, I haven’t purchased your book. However, I have contributed to Kathie’s pin money because I bought her book years ago.

If you’re planning on reading about death soon, you might also consider Vincent Brown’s book The Reaper’s Garden. It’s very interesting.

Congrats on the royalty check! My husband shouted and danced the day he got his first one (and likely his only one, it was a reference book).

By: MyLiteraryCoach

MyLiteraryCoach — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 02:15:30 +0000

Historiann (14 Nov):
The other possible reason for publishers producing a hardback edition first is that the review outlets focus on hardbacks. For example, see NYTimes Review of Books. New paperbacks get only one page toward the back. Most books reviewed are hardbacks.
Tim

By: Mark K.

Mark K. — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 18:16:36 +0000

“it’s about library sales (they won’t buy the cloth if it’s in paper, so sell the more expensive edition)”

That is certainly true for this librarian.

Earlier in my career, it was scandalous for libraries to purchase paperbacks instead of hardcovers. There was a presumption of durability, but also I think aesthetic norms drove it.

It may still be scandalous, but I don’t care. My budgets are too tight and the price differentials too great. If the book is little used, it doesn’t wear out any faster. If it *is* used more and wears out, I can replace it, and often the cost of two paperbacks is less than one hardcover.

Only occasionally have I found that a book has gone out of print when I’ve needed to replace it, and only *very* occasionally have I found that the used book market is setting a price higher than the original purchase price.

By: Perpetua

Perpetua — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 16:45:23 +0000

My book’s about to come out – cloth edition, of course, and it will cost in the ballpark of $75. I’ve told all my excited (non-academic) family and friends – for the love of GOD do not pay $75 for this book! You won’t even enjoy reading it! I know you want to be supportive, but just look it up on Amazon and feel proud!

I can’t imagine getting a royalty check – it’ll take a whole bunch of those little checks to offset the exorbitant cost of the indexer. So if I’m lucky, one day I’ll break even! My annoying university will give money for subventions, but not for indexers.

By: Susan

Susan — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 01:00:56 +0000

I bought it.
I’ve never assigned my own book, though in a grad seminar I will almost always try to assign one of my articles. In one case I showed multiple drafts…. I’ve also assigned my husband’s work — which would be pretty standard in a grad seminar in my field. I have done the thing where I visit when my book is being read in a seminar, which is fun.
I know my book must be being assigned, because I still get those checks, often in three digits, even for the book that is 20 years old.

By: Kathie

Kathie — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 00:23:41 +0000

I am still getting some royalties for a edited collection that I published back in 1996 – a copy or two sells every year or so, but the “big” bucks are in electronic rights. I don’t know which article(s) in the collection are being sold (and I did inquire but the press wasn’t able to break out that information), but I get a check every six months, and the last one was for about $150. I certainly never expected to have a continuing income from that book, and was actually quite anxious when I had to sign an addendum to the original contract that specified electronic rights, but it has been a continuous source of pin money.

By: Tenured Radical

Tenured Radical — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 21:57:27 +0000

I bought it.

By: John S.

John S. — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 20:42:01 +0000

JJO–I have those handy 20% off fliers from the press for my book! Will that help? I can use that awesome pull I have to get it read by people other than my family. (Though I think my dad is being polite, frankly. Very smart man, not a lot of patience for my prose.)

I too have JJO’s wife’s book on my syllabus. I will admit that the decision was influenced both by quality and by affordability. I mean, it’s an excellent book on a topic that fits *exactly* with my seminar–but if it were in cloth it’d never find that audience.

I think that’s especially true because it’s a work (like Historiann’s, I think), that lends itself to discussion in comparative history courses. Unfortunately, people outside a given field 1) might not know about books outside their little field of vision; and 2) might be less willing to pull the trigger and get the book for themselves and their class if it’s more expensive. Paperback encourages scholarly expansiveness as well as curricular expansiveness (though we know they go together).

Now I am just going to have to go through the strange sensation that I’ve had assigning friends and colleagues books before, where the students talk about the author as if s/he is some disembodied oracle instead of a person. They’ll impute motives to the author that frequently don’t exist and I have to fight back the urge to say “No! S/he doesn’t think like that at all!”