Book publishing has again shifted and for this, we can thank two behemoths that begin with A: Amazon and AI.
AI is now part of every aspect of publishing. It designs covers, cleans up prose, writes jacket copy, and narrates audiobooks. It’s also, I suspect, writing many a KU book. AI’s tools are quick and inexpensive, and they’re radically changing how books get made.
Then, in June, Kindle Direct Publishing changed its royalty rate for print books from 60% to 50% for books priced below certain rates. (The Kindle rate structure stayed the same—that system still encourages authors to price their eBooks at $9.99, the top of the 75% royalty bracket.) Authors who used to earn 60% after printing costs now get 50% if their books sell for less than $9.99. That one change raised the minimum price a book can be sold for and still earn anything. A 450-page paperback that used to bring in about forty cents on an $8.99 sale now has to be priced around $10.60 just to break even.
Authors’ costs and payouts are shifting in profound ways. I see it in higher prices and in the flood of re-releases and newly covered older reads. Are you seeing it too? And what do you think about it all?
I don’t buy books in physical form anymore. I tried KU, but the books I like to read are not always available, so I mostly buy digital copies. I keep track of my books on Goodreads, and I have a folder I call “waiting for a price drop”. It has more books in it than it used to, but there are very few authors I will pay full price for anymore. (Pretty much just Patricia Briggs and Ilona Andrews, because I don’t want to wait to read their books.) I have been burned a few times by paying full price for a book, then seeing it go on sale a month later, so I try to be careful. I feel like $7.99 for an eBook, particularly an older book, is a fair price, but it seems like $9.99 is the default now, and I guess you have explained why. I really love Sarina Bowen, but her book that came out this week is $11.99 for the eBook. I have lots of books on my TBR, so I will wait. I want authors to be able to make a living, but I also have a limit to what I am willing (and able) to pay. I think it is worst when the eBook is an older book, and is being priced at new book prices. I will wait for a sale or use the library, thank you.
Have you considered getting a Net Galley account? You have to write a review but it’s a nice way to read books for free. There’s a section called “Read Now” where you can automatically get a book without requesting it. I don’t request books as I only have a small following on GR. Anyway the new Sarina Bowen was in Read Now so I was able to read it. Something to think about.
Thank you for the information. I will check it out.
That is all pretty depressing. I guess I’m lucky that I love reading 20th century crime fiction and that there is no single romance author I cannot bypass if their books are priced above what I think they’re worth. (Yes I would love to read Rachel Reid’s latest few but I am NOT paying $22 AUD for a kindle book!) There are romance authors I like but nobody I must read. I have a great local library and my family owns a secondhand book shop with lots of access to deceased estates, etc. I won’t even buy items from ebay sporting an AI description, so I shudder to think of AI actually writing books.
Living in Australia our prices are much higher than in the US or UK, but luckily my library is also a great source for romance, and the well buy books on request.
I’ve gotten to where I check the author’s website before I buy. Of course these are mainly indie authors, but if I can buy direct I will, and I’m even willing to pay a little more direct from the auithor most times. When I buy the ebooks I can mail them to my kindle account, and audiobooks usually come with a BookFunnel code. I use my library, but very few books I read are available there (again, indie authors). The other problem is borrowing from Hoopla is now restricted to 3 borrows (ebooks or audiobooks) a month at my library, and I can’t send the ebooks to my kindle. I can’t ead on a backlit screen for long, so I save my 3 borrows for audiobooks.
I’m not sure how authors survive with the predatory actions of Amazon.
Most of my reading has always been courtesy my public library, and I’ve been fortunate to always live near a good library, and mine is kind enough to generally buy books I request if they don’t already have them. The books I do buy are ones I am pretty sure I will want to reread.
What bothers me more than the prices of the books is the quality of the contents. Admittedly I mostly read historicals, which seem to have dropped out of fashion—at least the history part seems to have. I appreciate the chance to read a sample online because I feel as if half of them have been written by AI, there is such a sameness to the stories.
And a pet peeve: If authors must have an “independent” heroine with a cause, I wish they’d go in for prison reform or the treatment of lunatics, causes that women did take up and where they did make a difference. Of course, those women tended to be Quakers, which limits the sexy times. And they might also notice that it was not only women whose rights were limited. It was also the poor. Only a small percentage of the population—male and well-to-do—had any say in public affairs. Wealthy women at least could read and have access to books.
Rant over.
That’s one of my pet peeves, too. But the Heroine Who Must Do Something With Her Life has become as ubiquitous as the ducal hero.
Wanting more HR featuring non-titled characters is something that’s come up often here, but there are still very few authors who write them consistently (Carla Kelly and Marguerite Kaye come to mind immediately – and if KJ Charles writes a titled character, they’re usually the villain!) But I suppose the ‘ordinary people’ are not glamorous enough to allow for the descriptions of pretty dresses and tight breeches and ornamented ballrooms that are such a staple of the genre.
Well, romance has always had a big component of wish fulfillment. For a long time, I think wealth and power were life goals for many–and I think they still are. However, there is also a group of readers disgusted with the extreme wealth inequality and unethical leaders that we see in our world. So, I think authors are trying to thread the needle by showing Lords and Ladies that have the wealth and power but use it for good. Unfortunately, that is hard to do well.
It’s hard to do well because so many of those authors just don’t understand the very different mindset 200 years ago and persist in having their 19th century characters thinking with 21st century brains.
I’d argue that a good writer could make that work but it takes a lot of character creation which seems to be low on many lists.
This is something I would like to do write a historical romance series with no nobility characters, I would like to write about the working class or MC’S that have clawed there way up in life. whether there is a market for it a don’t know. And plus I’m dyslexic.
You could dictate it!
I can write but just not that well, my spelling isn’t very good.
I’ve always wanted to write a story from the POV of the ladies maid and the footman. Jennifer Ashley sort of does this with her mystery series with the cook.
The differences I’ve noticed are more to do with the marketing of books, which we’ve discussed in other blogs lately. I’m very lucky that I get so many ARCs, because I couldn’t afford to buy all the books I want to read and the library just isn’t an option for me.
I know and know of a lot of authors who take a strict stance against AI – they don’t use it in their writing, they (and the designers they use) don’t use it for covers and they absolutely will not use it to narrate their audiobooks because they know it’s a sure fire way to alienate their audience. But those are all self-publishers – I imagine it’s quite different in traditional publishing where the authors probably have very little say over anything once they’ve delivered the book.
I read an interesting post recently (and I’m buggered if I can find it now!) in which an author talked about how they’re expected to supply all the whistles and bells when it comes to self-promotion, how even authors who are contracted to publishers are expected to have a big social media presence and following now, and how their online presence can even be a factor in whether they get a contract or not. I just picked up an ARC (for a book out in January) which has an accompanying playlist of original songs (one of the characters is a songwriter) that readers can listen to on Spotify! I have absolutely NO interest in that whatsoever – I just want to read a good book!
authors who are contracted to publishers are expected to have a big social media presence and following now, and how their online presence can even be a factor in whether they get a contract or not.
With the growing push for social media bans in schools and beyond for children and teenagers, and the heated backlash against AI-generated art, music, and other forms of content, I am curious how this will play out. Will this result in a coming generation that has little to no interest in social media because they grew up without it? Will their heads have been so filled with the dangers of fake news on Facebook, phony momentum on BookTok, and toxic culture wars on Twitter (not using new, stupid name) that they remain impervious to that style of marketing?
So many are currently complaining about AI use in the arts and even in business, will it eventually be discarded?
I can’t help but feel that we are living through a moment, and it will be interesting to see how that moment unfolds.
Nah. We grew up without it, and it hasn’t stopped us. I think it’ll be more like one of those things kids sneak until they’re of age and then fully embrace.
We did. But we didn’t have people telling us how bad it is for our mental health and how it actually lowers our intelligence. I know many people who have left in recent years because what you say/post can get you fired or forced to resign. And that stuff lasts a long time; James Gunn faced firing over tweets that were ten years old.
I think all those “cancellations” do is teach kids to be stealthy. Unfortunately, things like that seem to me to drive kids to social media–they make being human and doing stupid things with other humans seem more risky than just scrolling.