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Iconic Publishing, LLC / Jonquil Press / Red Lizard Press

LillyPu

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http://www.iconicpublishing.com/about-iconic/

Jano Donnachaidh, President.

Does anyone know anything about this publisher? About 6 months ago, he advertised on a writing website that he was accepting submissions. A few months later, he announced he'd signed 5 or 6 writers.

I see no books on their website or any upcoming books. One book was supposed to have been released end of 2011. That author's blog now says January 2012. I wonder what kind of marketing Iconic does, especially if they're focusing on print? Does that mean print runs, or POD? (Not sure if I even know the meaning of print run or end print run.)

Thanks for any light shed. They sound good-intentioned, but we all know about that road...
 
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CaoPaux

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As far as Royalties are concerned. Iconic pays Royalties based on net profit. We calculate net property by taking the Sale Price minus retail discount minus production cost. This is split 50/50 with the author so the the Author’s Royalties are 50% of net profits of the sale.
Oy.
 

Momento Mori

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I'll do a full flog when I get the time but basically there's nothing there that would make me rush to sign with them. Their paragraph on what they think advances are, together with the fact that their definition of net royalties includes a deduction for production costs, and their claim to basically have world-wide distribution (which made me raise my eyebrows) suggest to me that they don't have much actual publishing experience (backed up by the president's CV which never once mentions publishing experience).

If you want to be charitable, wait and see for 2 years what their sales figures are like for the books they release.

ETA - CaoPaux put it more succinctly than me. ;)

MM
 

aliceshortcake

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Red Lizard Press is an imprint that focuses on young adult novels with strong characterizations, fascinating settings, and great adventures. They are often witty, thoughtful, provocative, heart-warming and mysterious, filled with characters that are interesting and unique and want to get behind and cheer to for. They are books the reader cannot be put down and leaves them wishing for more when that last page is turned.

Iconic books make you late for work because you want to read one last chapter before going to sleep, or because you had to find out what happens next before you left for work. They are the kinds of books you sneak out between breaks and that inspire you to seek those quiet respites, books you simply cannot close the cover on.

http://www.iconicpublishing.com/jonquil-press/

Holy non-existent proofreading, Batman!

Eventually, we want to purchase an Expresso Book Machine, which will cut down the cost of printing and create greater profits and higher Royalties for the author as we will not have to pay the printing markup for the printing company.

So whatever they're doing now, their ambition is to go the POD route. Good luck with the world-wide distribution...
 
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LillyPu

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I'll await the full flog. Thanks so much for taking the time. I've learned more in a month reading through these threads, checking potential publishers against the INDEX, than I would have in a million years on my own. I can't thank you enough.
 

Old Hack

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Isn't "expresso" spelled "espresso"?
 

akaria

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"I see CaoPaux's "Oy" and raise it to a "Aw hell no". Production costs would have to be outlined specifically in the contract or they could count anything as a "production cost" which would leave the author with a big heaping 50% of zero.
 
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LillyPu

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What is meant by:

Setting the Launch Date. It all depends on how much editing is necessary and how responsive the editors and authors are. Editors will be working with multiple authors, and authors have their regular lives to live.


Since only the “small stuff” is left, we set a launch date and set up a launch, preferably in or near the author’s hometown. The launch date is normally about four months out. If possible, we try to set up six readings and signings in the first two to three months following the launch in the surrounding area of the author.

```````````````````````````````
Would there, or should there be an announcement for this http://www.conorpdempsey.com/?tag=iconic-publishing upcoming novel? When do those kinds of things happen, how far ahead of the launch date, ordinarily?
 

Old Hack

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Hello, cnhoward, and welcome to AW. I hope you enjoy your stay here.

Hi all, I'm one of the authors being handled by Iconic and I can verify that they are 100 percent on the up and up legit. I've had a very professional experience with them. Yes, it took about 8 months to get through all the edits, but that is with two of my books (in different genres); Wrath of Angels and Blood Totems (which you can currently find on Barnes and Noble's site for pre-ordering). The book launches and signing events are coming up in late September (a bit off their normal schedule, but my books are "thick" so it took a little longer than most). The contracts are sound and fair. Iconic is good about negotiating with you on an individual basis too.

Barnes and Noble will list just about anything with an ISBN on its site, so with all due respect, your book being available to order there isn't a big deal: it's a basic point. The length of time your book was in editing isn't exceptional. Negotiating contracts is a basic point too. Did you have an agent negotiate your contract for you, or did you do it yourself? If you took the latter course, on what to you base your opinion that Iconic's contracts "are sound and fair"?

For the record, you don't start getting royalties until after the first 250 sales, but that's pretty standard across the industry. After all, the publisher does have to make back what he puts into it before you can start to share in the profits.

Hear that? It's the sound of a great big warning klaxon blaring.

Writers should earn royalties on every single sale. If Iconic has told you that not "getting royalties until after the first 250 sales" is standard then they have deceived you. Publishers earn their profits from the sale of every book they sell, and so do authors. This is a huge problem, and right there, it's clear to me that their contract is neither sound nor fair.

The biggest thing to remember is (and I know this is difficult because I've had to deal with it myself) have patience. It takes up to a year or thereabouts to get your book from contract to the bookshelves. To get it there any sooner, you would have to self-publish and use a vanity press.

I've seen trade publishers get books onto shelves within a couple of weeks of commissioning them. It's rare, but it happens. But speed isn't as important as quality when publishing.

Also, self publishing isn't the same as using a vanity publisher. They're two different things.

Thank you for making your post here: it's only served to underline my feeling that Iconic is not a good place for writers to submit to.
 

Filigree

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Welcome, Christina. I appreciate you taking the time to relate your experiences with Iconic. Like Old Hack, I'm concerned by some of the things in your post.

I know of no reputable publisher who holds back royalties on the first 250 copies - or any number of copies. Did you in fact get an advance, and that's what you mean?

Re: publishing time. Many trade publishers can take a year or so to reach print. Eight months is on the good side of standard.

Can you elaborate on Iconic's promotional efforts for your books?
 

eternalised

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And though you welcomed me to the site, it was hardly genuine in nature. You basically have called me an ignorant, naive dupe and degraded my achievements in traditional publishing as a bunch of delusional hooey. I sincerely hope this is not indicative of the site and its members.
I hope you're not serious about this. There's nothing in OldHack's comment that, to me at least, indicates the welcome wasn't genuine. We're glad with all new AW members, and I for one am certainly very happy you cared to tell us about your experience with Iconic Publishing.

We discuss a lot of small presses here on AW. Most of these don't hold in royalties until the author reaches a certain number of copies sold.

Truth to be told, 250 is a large number as well. Some small presses have trouble reaching even double digits in sales. Are you confident you'll sell this number of copies and start earning royalties?

Writers should earn royalties on every single sale. If Iconic has told you that not "getting royalties until after the first 250 sales" is standard then they have deceived you.
This is one hundred percent correct. Only getting royalties after 250 sales is NOT industry standard. Regardless of what Iconic says. If anything, it shows how inexperienced they are within the industry.

I'm glad you're happy with your publisher. I truly am. In an ideal world, all authors would be happy with their publishers and sell lots of books. But how do you know you'll reach the 250 number? What marketing does Iconic do, if any? Will they get your book out on bookshelves? Having your book available for pre-order on B&N is a nice start, but anyone can do that.

I don't blog, not yet anyway, and I'm a bit new at tweeting and none of my previous works have ever been self-published--I go through recommended publishers--so I'm not familiar with your world. But it seems that perhaps you aren't experientially familiar with mine either.
I'm not sure what you mean by this. Some members on AW are self-published yes, but plenty of others here have signed with a trade publisher. Some members have been in the publishing business (as an author, editor, or sometimes even publisher) for years and certainly know what they're talking about.
 

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The last time I signed a contract without a lawyer I ended up in boot camp.

I agree that there are a number of red flags. However, I'm not seeing any insults here.

cnhoward, you recommend Iconic. That's great. We're all happy for you. We hope you have great success with your books.

But you also stood up and said Iconic's contracts are fair without having any experience in these contracts. You might feel the contract is clear and that of understand all of the provisions. It sounds as if you agree to nonstandard provisions such as not making any money on the first 250 books. So, the contract is clearly acceptable to you. But that doesn't mean it is "fair" when compared to the broader industry.

You also stated that this 250 book role is an industry standard, when it is not. Iconic may have made a good case for why they are doing it and you may accept that reason, but that doesn't make it industry standard. Iconic saying it is standard and you echoing that sentiment doesn't make it true. Had you negotiated with a literary agent, I assure you this 250 book issue would have either been struck from the contract or a new publisher sought.

I appreciate you wanting to handle everything on a firm handshake. I was raised the same way. But after going to court twice to try to enforce handshakes just like that, I now insist on a contract. I insist on that contract being reviewed by my lawyer. I do this because while my word is solid, I cannot trust that someone else will stick to theirs. You may not like that there are bad people in the business world (and publishing is a business) but that doesn't make them less real.

I see someone else covered your interchangeable usage of "self publishing" and "vanity press" but what was not covered is that if your publisher does not marketing for you and places that burden on your shoulders, you likely would have been better off self publishing. At least the you have control. Vanity presses are a different animal entirely and I haven't run into anyone here who supports going that route.

In conclusion, let me just say that you have outlined a very specific goal. You want to earn a few extra bucks from your writing. Many here are trying to make livings doing this. Most do not have the resources to take a publisher to court because they got themselves into a contract they didn't expect. We take contracts very seriously and when a red flag comes up for us, we will write about it. This provides authors a resource to make INFORMED decisions. We are not saying you did anything wrong, but with the contract provisions you have stated, I would not be comfortable working with Iconic.

I'm sorry you feel you were insulted. I'm sorry you feel your achievement was degraded. But nobody personally attacked you. All that appended here is that our publisher was critiqued against industry standards. This will not be the first or the last time your, or any publisher, is subjected to scrutiny. And I putting your work out there for public consumption, you should prepare yourself for the possibility of getting something other than a 5 star rating on Amazon.

Critiques are not personal and you will spare yourself much anguish if you approach them with that in mind.
 
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Al Stevens

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Their website suggests a one-person company with a tiny number of authors and few titles. The owner is the editor according to his bio and is listed in the front matter as the editor of the only two books for which samples are available. The site says there are other freelance editors.

The "line edit" and "story edit" seem to be out of order on their "Process" page, but what do I know?

Clicking on their covers gives broken links.

The two titles on amazon that have samples seem well-written and -edited. (Finding the listings is a bit of a challenge, though.) They are also well-reviewed.

A typical small press in today's market might tell you to expect sales in the hundreds, which, given the 250-copies-sold restriction, equates to no royalties for an author's efforts.

Iconic, in an effort to keep overhead costs low, does not pay advances. This allows us to focus those energies towards making the book a success. Advances have to be offset for a company to remain viable. Since we do not succeed unless our authors succeed, we feel it is in everyone’s best interest to put those resources to the best use. Besides, it means we can start paying royalties sooner.
A specious argument often given for not paying advances. Why not just say, "Like other small presses, we're undercapitalized, so we cannot pay advances."

The 250 sales provision isn't mentioned (or I didn't see it) on the website. It isn't clear whether royalties are paid on the first 250 sales after a book hits the plateau. It also isn't clear whether the 250 includes e-book sales.

Nothing about author copies.

I like that they will consider previously self-published books, which would be helpful for badly edited and designed SP works. If the book is already okay, I can't see an advantage to turning rights over to this publisher, given that not much seems to be happening with respect to promotion.

I like the covers, but I am no judge of that, so take it for what it's worth.
 
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LindaJeanne

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And though you welcomed me to the site, it was hardly genuine in nature. You basically have called me an ignorant, naive dupe and degraded my achievements in traditional publishing as a bunch of delusional hooey. I sincerely hope this is not indicative of the site and its members.
Wait, what?

How does correcting a misconception about standard industry practice WRT royalties and disagreeing about the effectiveness of Iconic's promotion/distribution and the author-friendliness of the contract (& asking about your basis for comparison) equate to calling you an "ignorant, naive dupe", or degrading your achievements as "delusional hooey"?

People are questioning the effectiveness of the publisher; no one has said anything negative about your own work or accomplishments.
 
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Terie

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In what other business would a vendor think it was okay not to be paid for the first X number of items sold using what the vendor supplied?

The printer gets paid for the first 250 copies. Why the HELL shouldn't the writer??? Without what the writer supplies there wouldn't be a book in the first place.
 

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Cnhoward, you seem like a nice person, and you know what really bothers me? I feel like you have been duped, and I feel like this press has taken advantage of you. And that makes me angry. Because do you know what they've done by putting that 250 book sales threshold in their contract? They've effectively made themselves into a vanity press. They are charging the author to publish their books. They're doing it on the back end, but make no mistake, you have paid for the "privilege" of being published by them.

I am pleased it took 8 months to edit your two books. Four months a book implies that the editor is not doing a rush job. I am pleased you're happy with the experience.

I hope this press removes that 250 book threshold because it is a pretty low threshold (unless their titles don't sell many copies) and so they really can't be making that much on that many copies (since they're POD), and just having it turns them into something to be avoided.
 
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veinglory

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I expect it is not a fixed threshold, just how many of this author's book it takes to pay all the publisher's costs. Which, as a person almost entirely small press published, I can assure you is not standard, fair, or equitable.
 

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I'm sorry you feel that way, Old Hack. I still believe that Iconic has been more than fair to me as a writer. Compared to other contracts I've had to deal with, they (Iconic) still seem open and upfront about what each party should expect. If I didn't think it was right or was something I couldn't live with, I would not have signed.

I hope I'm wrong about Iconic, I really do: but they've clearly been telling you things about how publishing works which are flat-out wrong, which means they're either lying to you, or they don't know themselves. And neither one of those possibilities is going to reflect well on your book.

Tell me, how much IP law do you know? What experience do you have of working in publishing? What's Iconic's reversion clause like, have they included escalator clauses, and what's the royalty split on subsidiary sales? How much do they withold for returns? And are your books with them going to be accounted for separately or jointly?

Or are those points not covered in your contract? I hope they are: but I've seen plenty of micropresses which didn't think about covering those points in their contracts, and I wanted to point out how much there is that can be wrong with a contract which looks fine to someone without appropriate experience.

Perhaps we view small publishing companies differently and have different definitions of the word profit, but they certainly can't compete with the bigger publishers who very well may pay royalties right away or pay advances (which may be true with established authors in their lists).

Small publishing houses can and do compete with bigger ones: they just have to pick the points on which they compete.

For example, Salt, a tiny British press, currently has one of its books on the longlist for the Booker Prize. Does Iconic have the skill to get its books onto lists like that? How many best sellers has it published? How many prizes has its books won?

I was glad to know upfront about how Iconic intended to recoup their initial investments particularly with a new author. They are taking a chance on me just as I am with them as a newer publisher. When the books are finally on the market, that's when both of us will know whether we were successful as a team. Until the printing costs are recovered, profit for the publisher can't happen. As a small business owner myself, I do understand that balance. Keeping the small publisher flush and out of debt insures that they will continue and be there for the authors they have committed to. This may all change after they are solidly established and grow as a company. And perhaps then they can offer advances or instant royalties.

There is so much wrong with this paragraph.

They're doing you out of royalties on those first few hundred sales, and they've misled you so badly that you think it's fine. It's not. It's not how publishing--good publishing--works, either.

My goal is like most older authors, to eventually get to a point where I'm making a little money on the side with my hobby. Perhaps even one day being able to call it a career. The fantasy of instant fame and fortune is fun to dream about, but hardly practical in my reality.

Why is it not practical? All writers were debut writers once, and most of the ones you know about now got to where they are by publishing through good, established, advance-paying publishers. It's just not true that those good publishers won't consider debut writers: they publish them all the time.

And, for the record, I did check Iconic out before signing through Googling, speaking with other publishers, checking with the BBB in Georgia, and talking to another author who had met with the publisher in person and who had spent his life in law enforcement. He was quite satisfied with what he experienced.

The BBB doesn't have the knowledge or experience to tell you if a publisher is going to publish your books well. Neither does someone with experience in law enforcement. This isn't the sort of research that would have helped you here, I'm afraid.

I'm certainly not a lawyer by any stretch of the imagination, but I did take a year of civil law and contracts classes in order to work for lawyers. And I ran the contracts by a lawyer friend. So I felt I had a decent understanding of the contracts offered and that the contracts were satisfactory for what they were intended.

Without specific experience and knowledge of publishing contracts, though, none of those things will have ensured that you got a good publishing contract.

And though you welcomed me to the site, it was hardly genuine in nature. You basically have called me an ignorant, naive dupe and degraded my achievements in traditional publishing as a bunch of delusional hooey. I sincerely hope this is not indicative of the site and its members.

My welcome was sincere. I haven't called you any of those things and nor would I. It's sad that you took good advice and translated it into such a mean-spirited piece of nonsense: it must be very difficult for you to hear the truth about your publisher and realise you've made a mistake.

I don't blog, not yet anyway, and I'm a bit new at tweeting and none of my previous works have ever been self-published--I go through recommended publishers--so I'm not familiar with your world. But it seems that perhaps you aren't experientially familiar with mine either.

As for whether we're familiar with each others' worlds, I don't know: I've worked in trade publishing for around thirty years now, for UK, US and Canadian publishers; I've written around twenty five books which have been published by tiny independent presses and huge conglomerates. Good publishers, all of them. Perhaps if you told me who these "recommended publishers" you've worked with are I'd understand more about your world.

I've also spent a few years blogging and researching the seedier side of publishing. It's fascinating. The red flags remain pretty much the same regardless of whether publishers have good intentions or are out to scam writers.

I stand by my recommendation for Iconic.

I wish you luck, and hope it goes well for you. Do come back in a year or so and let us know.
 

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For the record, you don't start getting royalties until after the first 250 sales, but that's pretty standard across the industry.
cnhoward, I've never heard of any publisher doing this. Can you name some others besides Iconic? I published a book with a very small press (micro-small. Probably nano-small) and they started paying me royalties right from the first copy. I'd have been out around $300 if they hadn't paid me royalties on the first 250 copies. Unless your royalty rate after the 250 threshold is really high, maybe? Can you tell us the royalty rate they pay? (I got 10% on cover price.)


Just an aside about anthologies--Getting your story into an anthology (with any publisher) is rarely a money-making experience. You're sharing the profits with all the other authors and the publisher. Unless it's a best seller, the likelihood of reaching your profit margin of $100 or more (and this is split by the number of authors + the publisher) before the publisher can cut a check is slim to none.
Maybe we write in different genres or work with different publishers. (I write fantasy, science fiction, horror, and erotica.) I've published stories in anthologies by at least half a dozen different presses (all small presses; I've not yet hit the big times, sadly). Every single one of those publishers sent me a cheque as soon as I signed the contract. One publisher also paid me additional royalties on top of the initial payment.
 

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Indeed. The only anthology stories I have not been paid for (flat fee and /or royalties from the very first copy sold) were one's where all profit went to a charity. This is because publishers *do not* get to recoup all their costs before paying the writer. The royalties and risk are shared according to a set proportion of cover price from the very first copy sold. In anthologies the share might be smaller but everything else is the same.
 

James D. Macdonald

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A story that's publishable by one is publishable by many. A writer should aim high.

A publisher that's so severely undercapitalized that it is relying on indefinite, non-interest-bearing loans from its authors to keep its doors open is so undercapitalized that the slightest breeze will knock the house down. I expect these folks will be out of business within two years. When that happens I hope that their contracts have very clear reversion clauses.

But all of this has already been covered.

I'm going to natter about how anthologies are put together and how the author gets paid.

The first thing that happens is that the editor pitches an anthology to a publisher. The publisher accepts the proposal and advances money to the editor. The editor has a contract with the publisher; the eventual authors will have contracts with the editor.

The editor generally keeps half of the advance and uses the other half to buy stories. A standard professional rate is $0.05 cents/word.

So, the editor gets an $8,000 advance from the publisher. The editor keeps $4,000 and uses the other $4,000 to buy stories. Say the anthology is to be 80,000 words. The editor puts out a call for stories. They come flooding in. The editor selects the ones she wants, totaling 80,000 words, and sends rejection slips to the rest.

The authors who have been accepted sign contracts with the editor, for $0.05/word, plus a pro-rated share of the royalties (the details will be spelled out in the contract). Royalty periods, indemnity, reversion, and so on will be specified.

The finished, edited, anthology is turned in to the publisher, and in the fullness of time it's printed. Out it goes into the world. The publisher calculates royalties (standard is based on cover price) on every copy sold, but, until those royalties pay back the advance that was already paid, they don't cut any new checks. This isn't a big deal because the editor and the authors have already been paid.

Then the happy day arrives when the anthology earns out! The publisher cuts a check and sends it to the editor. The editor keeps half (and if the anthology was agented, the agent's 15% is paid out of the editor's half). The other half is divided among the authors according to one of two schemes (which will have been spelled out in frightening detail in the contract).

One way is this: For example, if there are ten stories in the anthology, each author gets 10% of the authors' share of the royalties. That is, for every dollar in royalties that comes in, the editor keeps $0.50 and each of those ten authors gets $0.05

The other way is this: each author is paid in proportion to the percentage of the final anthology that is that author's work. So if Author Ann had a 6,000 word story while Author Beth had a 3,000 word story, Ann would get 7.5% of the authors' share and Beth would get 3.75%. Of each dollar in royalties that comes from the publisher the editor would still keep $0.50; Ann would get $0.0375 and Beth would get $0.01875.

You'll notice that royalties are paid beginning with the first copy sold.

If the publisher doesn't pay an advance, then royalties are still paid beginning with the first copy, but there's no advance to pay back, so the publisher will cut a check at the end of each royalty period to send to the editor.

Some publishers pay royalties based on net. While most publishers are honest and above-board this is still an invitation to abuse and should be avoided.

Let's talk briefly about Net.

Net should be the amount that comes in the door. This will be what the publisher receives after the bookstores take their discount. Direct sales will be accounted separately.

Take a book that retails for $10.00. The bookstore gets it for $6.00 (40% discount). So for each book sold the publisher takes the $6.00 and pays the author's royalties out of that (at a 10% royalty rate, $0.60), and keeps the rest to pay for paper, printing, shipping, warehousing, marketing, publicity, the editors' salaries, art, the phone and electric bill, office rent, taxes, and everything else.

Those books which are sold directly by the publisher bring in the whole $10.00, so the publisher pays $1.00 to the author for each one sold. The publisher keeps the rest, as above.

Many publishers have found that the added cost of bookkeeping offsets any savings that come from payments on net, and so have gone to payment on cover price across the board. It's simpler.

Notice that "net" is "money coming in the door," not "what's left over after paying for paper, printing, shipping, warehousing, marketing, publicity, the editors' salaries, art, the phone and electric bill, office rent, taxes, and everything else." There are publishers that use the latter definition of "net." Their authors typically never earn a cent, because any percent of zero is still zero.
 
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LindaJeanne

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Glad you're happy with the experience :)
 

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I’ve been contributing to anthologies (poetry and short story) since the 1970s and with only one exception; I’ve never received more than a few author copies--if that.

Ah. If your prior experience is with "little and literary" magazines and academic publishing that goes a long way toward explaining your expectations.