This is the last behind the scenes post before my book is released to the public. In the meantime, you can purchase your copy directly through me here! I’m publishing this on World Book Day, so perfect timing!
In this blog post, we’re going to talk about money and the business side of things. Money is a topic that makes me anxious and it’s not the most fun one to think about, but until we have fully automated luxury gay space communism it’s necessary in order to live. I want to be as open and honest about all the sides of self-publishing so you can make the most informed decision you can as an author. There are many great things like having a lot of creative freedom and getting to call the shots, however that freedom comes with a tradeoff, you have to pony up a lot of money and your hope is to at least break even, or if you’re lucky you might make a profit! Whereas with a traditional publisher, you don’t have to pay anything up front, but they get a lot more control – they may pick a book cover design you don’t like or ask you to omit an entire chapter. Regardless, you’ve poured your heart and soul into this book and you hope that it’s something that will sell and not fade away into oblivion. You don’t want to feel like that person who bakes a cake for a party and then no one eats it.
I made a couple videos talking about the money side of Crime of the Century about how much the book + shipping costs when you buy it directly through me and how much money I get from each sale of my book, depending on where you buy it from. Now let’s go into the videos:
How much does Crime of the Century cost when you buy directly from Angie Moon?
I post all my videos promoting Crime of the Century on Instagram, Tiktok, and YouTube Shorts. So don’t worry if you don’t have Instagram. You can still watch the video on other platforms.
With all the great classic rock songs about money, you know I had to make one to Pink Floyd’s “Money” from Dark Side of the Moon. As you can expect I’m dressed in on brand early 70s style clothing that looks like a cross between hippie and glam rock: a penny lane coat, blue dagger collar shirt, shiny scarf, and bell bottoms. Style wise I definitely took some inspiration from Syd Barrett era Floyd and the films Almost Famous and Breakfast on Pluto.
This video is pretty self-explanatory. The books are being shipped from my home in England. The book itself costs £13.99. I calculated shipping costs on the Royal Mail website and using my website statistics did estimates for the countries where I have the most readers and followers, so the Anglosphere and Europe, mainly. If you live elsewhere and you want to buy the book through me, contact me and I’ll get you a shipping quote. I want to make sure that anyone who wants my book can get an autographed copy, which you can only get if you buy directly through me. If you order from another website, I cannot sign your book, unless we happen to bump into each other and you happen to have your copy of Crime of the Century with you – in that case I’d be very happy to sign it and take a selfie with you!
- If you live in the UK, shipping is just £3.50, for a total cost of £17.49.
- If you live in Europe (not just the European Union, but also other countries in Europe), the shipping is £11, for a total cost of £24.99, which would be about €29.
- If you live in North America (Canada, USA, and Mexico), the shipping is £16, for a total cost of £29.99, which would be about $52 Canadian, $38 US, or about 645 pesos.
- If you live in Australia or New Zealand, the shipping is £18.65, for a total cost of £32.64, which would be about $63 Australian or about $68 New Zealand.
Shipping is tracked and insured for peace of mind.
I wish I could lower the shipping costs, especially for my overseas fans but unfortunately I’m just a writer in a humble abode and I don’t have the economies of scale of a giant corporation. I know it’s the most frustrating thing when shipping costs more than the item itself. If I ate the shipping costs, I would make next to nothing. I love writing, but I need to keep the lights on.
If I’m travelling to the US, Europe, or anywhere else abroad in the future I could offer some books at a discounted shipping rate. In these cases, I’ll be announcing these offers on my Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, so make sure to follow those pages so you get the latest news on my blog and my book in general. This would also be a way to send the books to European customers without them having to worry about those pesky VAT charges. Unfortunately, I don’t have control over your countries’ VAT/customs & duty, so paying that is your responsibility.
The Moneygoround: Authors’ Edition
Also available to watch on Tiktok and YouTube Shorts.
As a big Kinks fan, I had the perfect idea for a video about the depressing money side of self-publishing. The Kinks made a whole concept album in 1970 called Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround Part 1 (this title implies the existence of a part 2, but there is no part 2) about their legal battles with their record label and dealing with shady managers. In “The Moneygoround” Ray Davies breaks down how much money a musician really gets from their album sales. Of course you knew I had to dress similarly to Ray so I wore a dandy looking outfit. There’s also two chapters about The Kinks in my book about their encounters with John Wayne Gacy and the Kray twins!
To quote Ray Davies, but change some of the lyrics to specifically talk about authors:
“Eyes down, round and round, let’s all sit and watch the Moneygoround! Everyone take a little bit here and a little bit there. Do they all deserve money from a book that they’ve never read? They don’t know the plot and they don’t know the words, but they don’t give a damn. There’s no end to it. I’m in a pit and I’m stuck in it. The money goes round and around and around and it comes out here.”
– The Moneygoround (Authors’ Version) – Original lyrics by Ray Davies
Remember, without authors, the publishing houses would have nothing to promote and the bookshops would have nothing to sell. Just like people don’t buy records at the record store for the record labels or the record store itself – it’s for the musicians, people don’t buy books at a bookshop for the publishing houses or the bookshop itself – it’s for the authors! Makes me think of this one socialist quote about “those promoters up north who came to us after a show and expected us to thank them for giving us work.” from Ray Davies’ book X-Ray that I talk about in this blog post about socialist rock musicians.
You want to talk about a real Crime of the Century? Look at how people who work in creative fields were treated! I wrote a whole series of blog posts about musicians who got screwed over and ripped off by their record labels and managers. It’s a topic that has come up in interviews I’ve done with musicians. I’m not a musician, but I can relate to this struggle because authors are treated in a similar way. If you’re going with traditional publishing, you get an advance, which is nice and keeps you afloat while you’re writing your book, but there’s no such thing as a free lunch and that advance comes out of your royalties and you won’t get any more royalties until the publisher gets paid back for paying you an advance. Your royalties will be lower than someone who is self-publishing. Like I said before, if you’re self-publishing, you’re ponying up the costs of getting your book edited, designed, and printed, instead of the publisher taking a chance on you and paying for those things. However, self-publishing is daunting so some first time authors go through a hybrid self-publisher where you pay them for the different services you need: like editing, typesetting, cover design, distribution, and marketing. These are usually all under one roof and you don’t have to scroll through Fiverr or Upwork to find professional graphic designers and editors. There’s definitely peace of mind working with a hybrid self-publisher and the one I went with is very professional, but pricey.
Infographics: Why you should buy directly from authors.
Here are some charts I made showing the depressing reality of how little money an author makes from books that are not bought directly through them. I believe in consumers being informed and empowered to make the best purchasing decision. You are absolutely welcome to share these graphics, in fact I encourage it so people are made aware of how poorly bookshops and Amazon pay authors, but my one little request is that you give me credit by linking back to my website. Thank you!
These charts contain basically the same information as the video, but I’ll add some extra commentary that I couldn’t in a Tiktok format.
Seems glamorous to have your book sold in a bookshop, too bad you don’t actually get much money. You don’t even get a majority of the sticker price. The bookshop of course purchases the books at a wholesale price and they also get a lot of the proceeds, talk about having your cake and eating it too!
Small businesses aren’t really that much better than big corporations in this way. Sure, a lot of small and independent bookshops make it a point to platform local and indie authors, but I really don’t get that much more from them like I would from a big chain store.
Book wholesalers are the second worst deal.
And here’s the worst of the worst, Amazon! Now this is a Crime of the Century. After you find this fact out you’ll never want to buy another book from Amazon again. Like I suggest in the video, I only get a couple quid from each book I sell on Amazon, not adequate compensation to say the least. Jeff Bezos makes money off a book he’s never heard of? How unfair! Granted, a lot of people buy their books on Amazon and having a lot of sales on Amazon does boost you in the algorithm so it’s not a complete wash, but if you’re a self-published author relying on Amazon sales, it’s gonna take a lot of book sales to make back your investment.
The reason people will typically pick Amazon or any other bookshop over direct from the author is because of cheaper shipping, especially in overseas markets. Which is completely understandable. I’d rather people buy the book than not buy it at all, so if all you can afford is buying through another source, go for it, just make sure to write a review on Amazon and Goodreads no matter where you buy it. Who knows, I might just share your review! 😃
*Edited to add: As one blogger noted, this is not how KDP works. Royalty rates for that are different. Still not great, IMO, authors deserve so much better. But I just wanted to clarify this. I did not go through KDP and I do not claim to have done so. In my blog posts about my book, I only talk about my own experiences as a self-published author. I do not claim that these experiences are universal nor do I speak for anyone else. Thank you for understanding.
My publisher does have a bookstore and they take 15% of the sticker price, leaving me with 85%. Not the worst, but I’ll let you in on a secret, it’s actually more expensive to buy the book through my publisher than it is to buy directly through me. Might as well cut out the middleman and buy directly through me!
And finally, the best way to buy my book to support me, from the website you’re on right now, just go to the top menu and look for “Buy Crime of the Century”. I linked it earlier at the top of the blog post too. I don’t have to share the book sticker price with anyone. It’s my hard work and I deserve to be rewarded for it. Without me and my writing skills, Crime of the Century would not exist. You don’t have to be a socialist to agree with that!
So as you can see from these charts unless you buy my book through my website, the publisher always takes a 15% cut, even though I’ve paid them for all their services.
But wait! It gets worse! If you buy your copy of Crime of the Century anywhere else that isn’t my website, I do not get to see the money from that purchase for months! I have to wait for my royalty cheque. So the money is sitting in some rich person’s bank account collecting interest, while I’m trying to scrape by. How unfair! As glamorous as it looks to have your book in a bookshop, the truth is not so sexy. Books from “no-name” authors are typically sold on sale or return, where the bookshop will buy some copies of your book, but if they don’t sell after a period of time, they can return them to the publisher and get their money back, and then you as the author are stuck.
Comparison shop with me!
I don’t like to steer people in the wrong direction so I linked people to all the shops I could find that sell my book. I pride myself on my honesty and transparency and I encourage you to find the best deal that you can. So I’ve decided to do a little comparison shop for the largest markets that my book will be sold in: the USA, UK, Europe, and Australia. In this chart I’ll show how much it costs to buy Crime of the Century. For simplicity’s sake we’re only looking at the paperback version since that’s what I did a print run of. I couldn’t afford to do a whole hardcover print run, but if you prefer hardcover you can buy it print on demand and it is available to purchase in the US and Canada, as well as everywhere else. All prices in GBP and I rounded prices in other currencies. With Amazon, I’m assuming you don’t have Prime.
Comparison shopping: The UK
I can’t beat Amazon, but as you can see, my prices are quite competitive with other bookshops.
Comparison shopping: Europe
Correction: At the time I was looking up prices, the Dutch Amazon site had a ridiculously low price for my book. It is now €18.50, which is about £16.
Not an exhaustive list, but it covers a lot of different countries. It’s variable across Europe since there’s a lot of different countries. Some countries get better deals than others, but unless you’re buying through Amazon, you’re better off buying the book directly through me. It’s unfair to compare to Amazon, but again my prices are quite competitive. For those living in Switzerland, it appears your best deal is to buy directly through me.
Comparison shopping: USA
I kind of feel like The Kinks because my book isn’t available in a lot of places in the US yet! Once again, the cheapest way to get my book is to buy on UK Amazon – shipping costs aren’t terrible all things considered, but buying directly through me isn’t that much more, you get an autographed copy and you don’t have to give money to The Man!
Comparison shopping: Australia
For Australians, buying from Angus & Robertson or Booktopia is about 25% cheaper than buying directly through me. Another option is you could buy through Amazon UK and pay £12.12 shipping, but it’s about the same price as Angus & Robertson or Booktopia anyway.
Simply put, when you buy a book, album, or a piece of artwork you do it to support the person who created it. If you’re paying the same either way for the book, whether you buy it from a bookshop, or directly from the author, it’s best to buy it directly from the author. When you shop small, more of that money stays in the economy instead of being hoarded by some millionaire or billionaire. Jeff Bezos doesn’t need another yacht, but my cat Bowie needs to eat!
Regardless of where you purchase Crime of the Century, I want to thank you for your support from the bottom of my heart. There are so many classic rock books and so many true crime books out there and I’m honoured that out of all those books you could have bought, you picked mine. Thank you for supporting an independent author. I wrote this book so people could read it and enjoy it and ultimately I want as many as people to know about my book and enjoy my book. This was the result of three years of hard work and countless hours of research over the years.
Loved this blog post and want to support and see more? Donate to The Diversity of Classic Rock on Patreon or Paypal or follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, buy my book Crime of the Century, click the follow button on my website, leave a nice comment, send your music or classic rock related books for review, or donate your art and writing talents to the blog. Thank you for your support!
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