With so many ways to access literature from shopping for traditional print books in store, online, or downloading ebooks and audiobooks, readers of all ages have many ways to support the works of authors they love. With each purchase, the aim is to compensate the creators for the work they’ve poured into their titles. But when traditional publishing houses are involved, a very small percentage of these sales actually make their way to the authors and illustrators.

The book publishing industry brings in billions of dollars globally each year in contrast to the fixed percentage that the authors who drive the industry bring in. When a book is picked up and distributed by a publishing company the amount of money that the author receives for each book is called royalties. Royalty percentages will vary for the different mediums of the book, i.e. hardback, paperback, ebook, or audiobook.

While many authors are contractually prevented from revealing the royalty rates they receive, a few author associations have conducted anonymous surveys to gain some insight into how much of those book sales get passed along to the writers. 

Let’s take a look at how US royalty rates stack up against the leading publishers in other countries and if authors are getting their fair share of book sales.

Book Royalties Broken Down

Not much has been written on the history of royalty rates as it appears the language of publishing agreements have remained the same for decades. Royalties paid out are based on the recommended retail price (RRP) of the book. The rates vary between publishing houses and can be influenced by whether the author is already established in the industry. 

Based on the medium of the book, standards rates are:

• 5–20% royalties on print books

• 25% on ebooks

• 10–25% on audiobooks

  
  

So, let’s say the list price of a print book is $20 and the agreed upon royalty rate is 5%, for each book sale $1 is paid to the author. When books are sold wholesale the price per book goes down, as does the amount the author will receive. Some contracts do incorporate an opportunity for the royalty rate to increase based on the success of the book, for example there could be 10% paid on the first 5,000 copies sold, which rises to 12.5% on the next 5,000 sold, then 15% for anything beyond that. Ebook royalties have widely remained at 25% despite calls for royalties on digital book sales to be raised as printing costs are removed from the publisher’s expenses.

Factoring in the rising listing prices and sales of books, inflation, rising cost of living, etc. the fact that authors haven’t seen a rise in their share of sales have led many to take matters into their own hands. Over the last decade, many established and new authors have turned to self-publishing which not only gives them autonomy over their work but also offers higher royalty rates. Authors can earn up to 70% royalties on print and ebooks self-published through platforms like Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, and more.

Book Royalty Rates Around the World

In 2018, the Authors Guild partnered with 14 other writers organizations as well as some publishing platforms to conduct a survey of 5,067 professional writers in the US. Their findings? Author’s incomes had dropped 42% over a decade. So, how do the US book royalty rates compare to some of the largest publishers around the world?

According to Statista, the international publishing agencies that brought in the highest revenue between 2018 and 2019 are the RELX Group, Pearson, Wolters Kluwer, Hachette Livre, Springer Nature, and Phoenix Publishing and Media Company.

Crowned the world’s largest publisher, the RELX Group is based in the United Kingdom (UK), however they cover the Netherlands and US markets as well. The primarily academic and professional materials printer brings in 7.11 billion British pounds annually (9.8 billion USD). Despite it being the highest grossing global publisher, a 2015 anonymous survey of academic authors by the Textbook and Academic Authors Association revealed that the average royalties for print books ranged from 9–14% and highlighted that academic writers in the UK earn the lowest annual averages in publishing.

UK publisher Pearson is also a primarily educational material provider. A lawsuit was brought against them in 2015 for seemingly short changing authors out of the royalties they’re due. Two academic authors filed a claim in New York stating that “textbook prices have climbed 82% over the last decade” while royalty rates widely remained stagnant. The multibillion dollar company settled the case out of court.

The Netherlands based Wolters Kluwer has a professional catalogue that caters to clinicians, nurses, accountants, lawyers, and other professions. When the Corporate Rebels wanted to go the traditional route to publish the Dutch version of their book, they discovered that 8-15% of revenue was the average rate for authors.

The Netherlands as well as France, Germany, and a few other European countries have a fixed book pricing system that may offer authors a bit more stability on how much they will make per book. Hachette Livre is a publisher that has been around for nearly two decades in France, where the standard royalty rate is 10%. In Germany, the largest publisher is Springer Nature where authors make 6-12% per book sale throughout the country.

In China, the market is much harder for international authors to break into and there has been a longstanding issue with book piracy as translated versions of books aren’t often legally available. The country’s most profitable book distributor, Phoenix Publishing and Media Company, owns 10 publishing houses and also publishes newspapers, magazines and more. In addition to the piracy problems, the retail price for books can be very low, making the income from royalties in the Chinese market almost non-existent. Many authors in China have found more success going the self-publishing route.

The starting point for US publishers (5%) looks to be lower than other minimum royalty rates for other countries — but not by much. Authors, illustrators, and graphic designers can spend months or more dedicating their time and creative, skilled minds to delivering an entertaining title to readers. So don’t they deserve more than just a small fraction of the retail price? It’s true that publishing houses lend their name and network to the mix along with their marketing and distribution expertise. But would their industry be bringing in billions of dollars a year if it weren’t for the creators behind these books?