Fitzcarraldo Editions

“Like some other small imprints – and some record labels’ singles clubs – Fitzcarraldo runs an annual subscription scheme. For £100, subscribers get a year’s worth of books – in 2019, the label will publish 12 titles – and Testard gets some small measure of financial breathing space, with income that may not be received for eighteen months being banked in advance of publication.”

—Angus Batey, “Pushing The Boat Out: Art & Business The Fitzcarraldo Way.” The Quietus. September 15, 2019.

I need to put together a list of these interesting small publishers. Dorothy is another that came to mind reading this article.

The Cost of Amazon to Small Publishers

“When someone buys a £8.99 book from us via our website…

Printing cost: 80p
Royalty to author: £1.35
Share to 404 Ink: £6.84

WE LOVE IT WHEN PEOPLE BUY DIRECTLY. It also means the author gets more…

When someone buys a £8.99 book from a bookshop…

Printing cost: 80p
Royalty to author: £1.08
Share to distributor: £1.08
Share to bookshop: £3.60
Share to 404 Ink: £2.43…

When someone buys a £8.99 book from Amazon…

Printing cost: 80p
Royalty to author: 90p
Share to distributor: £1.08
Share to Amazon: £5.40
Share to 404 Ink: 81p

It’s fairly self-explanatory that sales via Amazon really hurt. For some titles we practically make a loss on sales so we have to reassess some of our RRPs in future to balance this issue.”

—Laura Jones, “Money, money, money.” 404 Ink. March 1, 2019.