Cozy Cat Press

[battlecat]

Has anyone worked with Cozy Cat Press? Doing some research on them and I am a bit alarmed by their royalty statement on their contact us page: http://cozycatpress.com/contact/

We work out royalty arrangements with each author on an individual basis depending on circumstances, but typically authors receive all royalties from Kindle sales and CCP retains royalties from other sources.

(emphasis mine)

...Is that standard? I would assume authors typically get a share of royalties from all sales channels? Am I just reading that incorrectly?

 

[zmethos]

I've never heard of such an arrangement, but it's not like I have extensive knowledge. I can only say that, of the three small publishers I've dealt with, none of them framed the contract that way. And while most of my royalties do come from Amazon sales, I would hesitate to give away royalties from other sources. Do they do print books? Or is this all e-format?

 

[Clairels]

That is not standard. Writers should get all royalties from their own books. That's the definition of royalties.

 

[CheG]

Yeah, that's weird. You should be getting something for every sale. You might as well self publish at that point and keep all the money.

 

[battlecat]

I've never heard of such an arrangement, but it's not like I have extensive knowledge. I can only say that, of the three small publishers I've dealt with, none of them framed the contract that way. And while most of my royalties do come from Amazon sales, I would hesitate to give away royalties from other sources. Do they do print books? Or is this all e-format?

They say they sell to bookstores and libraries, but don't allow returns so I'm thinking they do POD. I don't think I'll bother subbing to them; as CheG stated, they don't seem much better than self-pubbing.

 

[BenPanced]

I checked over at Barnes & Noble and found many of their titles available in e-pub format. None of the paperback titles I'd checked are available to pick up in a local B&N store; you can order one through the site directly or through a third-party vendor (one listed a title for $49.99).

While they do say they sell to bookstores, they don't offer details on any sort of discount available, which is standard. Probably because they don't offer returns; many bookstores would definitely take a pass because why would they purchase anything they can't return? (Why would anybody, bookstore, human, whomever do that?)

And pardon my language, but a publisher has absolutely no right to retain royalties from any source. This is downright unethical and, in my book, tantamount to theft. Any writer given this in a contract would be better off if they took a pass. (I just sent a message through their Facebook page and I'll update if/when I receive a response.)

 

[CaoPaux]

FAQ now reads:

All potential authors should be aware that our contract does not provide for a traditional royalty payment. Rather, we practice a proceeds split, with our company receiving payments from print sales and our authors receiving sales from all other sources. This typically results in a fair and equitable distribution of profits.