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Looking at recent payments for Kindle on line library (KOLL) borrowings I've earned $2.24 (US borrower) / £1.32 (UK borrower) per book borrowed.  Retail price for the US borrowing is $2.99 so slightly over the normal 70% royalty rate for purchases.  Much the same for the UK.  Whether this ratio applies to more expensive Kindle books I don't know.  Amazon will have to set returns on a subscription package to something about this level or lose authors and publishers.

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Many of the images that I have had licensed in books appearing on Amazon are images that were licensed years ago when I worked with microstock agencies.  The publisher pays a minimal fee to a microstock agency, ads the image the book, then resells the book.

 

In fact, the image of the tie on the front cover of the book "50 Shades of Gray" was licensed from Dreamstime.  It's a pity that the photographer got pennies for that.

 

There are MANY self published books on Amazon that fall into this category....and they are currently sold for less than $5.  I believe there is/was a rule that an author of a self published book could not charge more than a certain dollar amount until a certain number of books had been sold.

 

I don't know how a writer can make money on that - especially after spending a year or two or five actually sitting down to write and edit the book.

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Good points Ed.  Rather than edit my previous post I'll add the following here:

 

Remuneration for the photographer is likely to be the same as with print books - dependant on agency and existing contracts.  Most usage rights nowadays cover electronic copies.  For self-published stuff if the writer isn't a photographer then they'll have to acquire images at the market rate and build that cost into their business plans.  At least the royalty rates are far higher than traditional author royalties and, if you can do most of it yourself, you can make a return on the time investment.  It might take years, of course, and a lot of self promotion on forums, via blogs etc etc.  A bit like stock photgraphy, really.

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York:

 

Is this sort of deal something you yourself do? I've done photo books both in the U.S. and U.K. and have never heard of such a royalty arrangement.

 

What's the story?

 

When you sell for a print version, the fee is determined in part by the size of the print run, if its rented online, It could be rented millions of times more than the initial print run. Clearly we could be subsidizing amazon if we don't get paid a fee per download. Some sort of agreement needs to be reached along the lines of the musicians get paid from I tunes/spotify, for use of our Licensed material.

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Just had the email from Amazon detailing automatic enrollment in Kindle Unlimited unless I want to opt out.  It's US only at the moment but will, no doubt, be coming to other localities.  As the comments in this thread have illustrated it represents an 'interesting' future for photographers whose content provison should be appropriately rewarded - but may not be under current licensing arrangements.

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