Cool Tools Review - CreateSpace: Self-Publishing via Amazon

55% is kind of a big cut

I was offered co-authorship of a book from a somewhat big computer publisher, about a year ago, and the publisher's initial offer to me was 5% of the retail price. Granted, only co-authorship, and I don't have the leverage of a Stephen King.

Still, from all I've heard, getting as high as 45% out of a traditional publisher is pretty rare.

Plus the other benefit you get, in addition to the rather high royalty, is the ability to totally bypass traditional publishing process. It's just 'vanity publishing' but with Amazon behind it. Which is good and bad, of course, but can still be pretty attractive.

Another factor: yes, you could keep 98% if you truly self-published, digital only, rather than only 45%. But you get potentially a larger number of eyeballs, and they're making printed books, not just PDF's. Paper is cheap. Assembling and shipping a book, not so much. They have to charge something to break even, let alone profit.