At Argyle Fox Publishing, you keep 100% of your book’s royalties. So, when you sell a book, all of the profit comes to you. But what exactly does this mean?
Keep reading to find out.
Royalties Are Not Your Book’s Retail Cost
You may think making 100% royalties means you get 100% of your book’s retail price. So, if you charge $9.99 for your book, you get $9.99 when a reader buys your book.
Unfortunately, a few things stand between you and your profit.
- Printing. When someone orders your book, the printer (we use IngramSpark) prints your book. This costs money. The printing costs get taken out of your profit.
- Discount. Resellers buy your book at a discount. This way, they can make a profit when they sell your book. Otherwise, there is no incentive for them to buy and resell your book.
- Distribution. If you’re selling your book online (and you should), someone has to get your book to those online retailers. It costs money to make your book available at Amazon, BookShop, and other online retailers.
- Shipping. When someone buys your book online, your book has to be shipped. Again, this costs money.
While these all cut into your overall profit per book, they’re necessary. Without these costs, your book won’t be available online. In fact, if you don’t pay to print your book, it won’t be available at all—unless you only release your book as an ebook. And if you do that, there are still expenses that cut into your profit. That’s right—there are middle men who take a cut of your profits when selling through an online retailer.
100% Royalties = 100% Profit
If earning 100% royalties doesn’t mean you make $10 when you sell your book for $10, what does it mean? It means you get all of the profits of your book.
In other words, you get all the money left over once all expenses are accounted for. Depending on your book’s price, your profit will vary. Set your price as low as possible, and you may make $1 on every copy sold. Raise the price, and you can make $2–$5 or more.
This is a major benefit of being a self-published, independent author. You get to set the price, and you get to keep the profits. Of course, you still have to sell a lot of books to make a lot of money, but that’s okay. Book selling is a long game, and you have your whole life to play it.
We Don’t Take a Cut of Your Royalties
As a hybrid or self-publishing company, Argyle Fox Publishing provides editing, layout/design, illustration, and other services necessary to make your book available for purchase online. Once your book releases, any royalties you earn go to you. These earnings don’t even pass through us. They go directly to your bank account from the IngramSpark account you created.
Some publishing companies take a different approach. They collect and distribute royalties every month, taking varying amounts of their authors’ book earnings. While this approach is legitimate, we choose a different path for the following reasons:
- It feels wrong. You pay us to be your publishing partner, to help get your book off your computer and onto bookshelves. Once we do that, taking more of your money feels icky, so you get 100% of your royalties.
- We’re small. As a very small company, we prefer to use our limited time to serve our authors, not to distribute royalty checks.
Ready to get your first royalty check? You have to publish your book first. If you’re ready to take the next step in your publishing journey, submit your manuscript for consideration.