said Wednesday that it has raised the royalty rate for authors and
publishers on books published for its Kindle e-reader, which is coming
under fresh competition from rival devices and possibly a forthcoming
tablet device from
In a statement, Amazon said it will now give authors
and publishers an option of a 70 percent royalty rate on each Kindle
book sold, net of delivery costs. This is well above the current 35
percent royalty rate offered to most publishers for the device.
The option is available for those who use the
company’s Digital Text Platform. To qualify, the price on the Kindle
version of the book must fall between
and be at least 20 percent below the lowest price for the physical
book. Publishers also must allow the Kindle version to make use of
features such as text-to-speech.
“Today, authors often receive royalties in the range
of 7 percent to 15 percent of the list price that publishers set for
their physical books, or 25 percent of the net that publishers receive
from retailers for their digital books,” said
vice president of Kindle Content, in the statement. “We’re excited that
the new 70 percent royalty option for the Kindle Digital Text Platform
will help us pay authors higher royalties when readers choose their
books.”
Analysts say the move is clearly designed to make
the Kindle more attractive to publishers, as the device faces more
competition in the growing e-book market.
“We believe Amazon’s top priority for e-books is to
maintain low prices, which help to drive consumer adoption of Kindle
readers and fortify Amazon’s leadership position in a nascent digital
market,” wrote
Sebastian also said the move may be a “shot across
the bow” on publishers by Amazon, which is trying to lure authors to
consider more “self-publishing” options that can bypass publishers
entirely for e-books.
The Kindle has the leading market share in the digital-book market, followed by
But the device is facing a growing list of
competitors. At the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month,
several companies introduced new e-reader devices, including
electronics giant Samsung.
Also, the Kindle may face pressure from the anticipated tablet device expected to be announced next week by
Apple reportedly has been in discussions with publishers over content
for the device, which is expected to play media files such as music and
video, as well as serve as a platform for reading books and magazines.
—
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