Sales and Royalties Archives - She Writes Press

What will authors earn off the standard list price of $17.99?

Brooke Warner — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 22:28:59 +0000

Our current default list price is $17.99, and this shows you what your earnings will be at that price point.

FOR BOOKS SOLD DIRECTLY FROM YOUR WEBSITE OR AT LIVE EVENTS:

The Net Sales Price will be the $17.99, or a little less if you discount it.
The manufacturing cost will be $3–$4.
If you hand-sell the books from among your own initial inventory, or ship them yourself, those are your only costs. If you need to replenish your own stock from Simon & Schuster’s warehouse, you need to take those costs into consideration.
So, if you sell your book directly, your Net Profit will be: $13.99–15.99.

We recommend you pass along the cost of shipping and handling to your consumer. Sending via media mail throughout the U.S. is $2.58 and the cost of mailers is typically about $1-$1.50 per mailer, so you can generally charge back between $4-$5 for shipping and handling.

FOR PHYSICAL BOOKS SOLD DIRECTLY THROUGH AMAZON, B&N, OR OTHER RETAILERS (THE BOOK TRADE):

The Net Sales Price will be $8.99 or 50% of the $17.99 (standard trade discount).
The manufacturing cost will be about $3–$4.
For distribution, maintaining the trade relationships, warehousing, shipping, and accounting for book sales, SWP receives a 40% fee from the Net Sales Price.
For books sold through the trade, your Net Profit will be: $2.41-$3.41 ($8.99 minus $3-$4 [manufacturing] minus $3.58 [40% of $8.97]).
Because author earnings vary greatly depending on the cost of printing, SWP increasingly recommends print runs that will yield a lower price point per book and we will work with the author to obtain the best price point per unit.

FOR E-BOOK SALES:

Our frontlist is currently distributed by S&S and sold at the price set by SWP. Our typical e-book price point is $12.99.
For managing relationships and files, distribution to the trade partners, and for handling all customer service and accounting, SWP receives a 30% fee from the Net Sales Price.
There are two ways in which e-book earnings are calculated, depending on where the e-books are sold. You will make approximately $3-$4/book on the wholesale model (Amazon Kindle, B&N Nook, and all platforms minus Apple), and $5/book on the Agency model (Apple).

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VIDEO: Discounting Your Print or eBook – When and How

Brooke Warner — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 22:01:28 +0000

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VIDEO: How Authors Can Get Their Books into Libraries

Brooke Warner — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 21:55:09 +0000

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What if a bookstore says there isn’t inventory of my book in the warehouse?

stable-swp — Mon, 01 May 2017 16:06:47 +0000

It’s not uncommon for bookstores to be confused and/or to give misinformation about a book’s availability. If this happens, please ask them to order from Simon & Schuster. You can direct them to our ordering page here. In the event that you experience any resistance or confusion, please put them in touch with us directly so that we can sort out their issues with the support of Simon & Schuster.

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When Amazon drops the price on my book, does it affect my proceeds?

stable-swp — Tue, 18 Apr 2017 22:22:47 +0000

Amazon will price your book at whatever price they choose, but it does NOT impact what She Writes Press, SparkPress, or SheBooks pays you. Amazon pays you based on the LIST price, not the sale price.

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What happens if I sell my book on consignment?

stable-swp — Tue, 18 Apr 2017 22:22:24 +0000

It’s always our first choice that a bookstore order through Simon & Schuster, and we encourage you to share with all bookstores our ordering information, which can be found here. However, there may be some instances where a bookstore insists on consigning, which means that they will take your books, and pay you for what they sell. We advise against this except in circumstances where you must. In these cases, you will sign a consignment agreement (usually 60 to you/40 to them; sometimes 50/50) and the venue will pay you directly. What they don’t sell, they’ll ask for you to come and retrieve at some point. In these cases, this is a direct sale. Ingram does not take a commission on consigned books. You, the author, will typically pay the shipping fee to get the books to the events. Always put a bookstore buyer who says they can’t get your book in touch with Brooke first, but if consignment is the only way to sell books, we always say yes!

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Why does SWP hold earnings against returns in the first quarter?

stable-swp — Tue, 18 Apr 2017 22:21:46 +0000

We presell your books into the marketplace and we are paid for those sales (90+ days later, which means in many cases we are covering expenses for expected monies from Simon & Schuster to pay on time). At the same time, we are receiving as many or more returns as sales every month, which we have to pay back. We receive checks for the entire list from Simon & Schuster. It’s not a book-by-book accounting system. This means that although we’ve been paid (or are expecting payment soon) for the entire amount reflected on your statement, we are on a constantly “revolving door” basis with Simon & Schuster, paying back as much as we’re getting month-to-month. Some authors have expressed concerns that we are sitting on your money, or using your money to float company expenses while we hold your returns. This is not the case, and Simon & Schuster’s accounting and payment process doesn’t work this way. We consider all sales “soft” sales until we have a better handle on your returns. We view our returns as a whole, not book by book, author by author. It takes a full year for us to have an accurate gauge on sales. We let go of reserves against returns after three quarters, which is the point at which we stop anticipating the highest level of returns from retailers.

Please watch Brooke’s video about returns for more information:
Understanding (and Getting Mentally Ahead of) Returns from Retailers

And read her Substack post: Things That Make Authors Cry

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How do I sell foreign rights to my book?

stable-swp — Tue, 18 Apr 2017 22:21:15 +0000

She Writes Press has foreign representation by a reputable literary group. This group represents all of our titles (except for those authors who withheld their foreign or translation rights in their contract). If you’re interested in being specifically represented in a particular country because there’s relevance or a tie-in to your book, please let Brooke know early on.

Once we let you know that we’ve received foreign interest, or an offer, on your book, the process is fairly slow. You will not have direct access to our foreign rights agent or to a contact at a prospective foreign publisher, but we will update you as we receive requests for your titles.

In terms of our success rate, it’s highest for nonfiction that’s not memoir, and for fiction that has place-specific tie-ins, and we typically do around 15-25 deals per season.

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Are international sales accounted for on our statements?

stable-swp — Tue, 18 Apr 2017 22:20:41 +0000

Yes, all sales are aggregated into these statements. Please note that we have checked international sales each quarter and the sales are low for any author who’s not specifically opted in to POD printing in a foreign country, as is the case with some or our Aussie and Kiwi authors. Simon & Schuster has a thriving international team, so we expect this to be an area of growth for us in the future. We’ll keep you posted.

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My statement is negative—does this mean I owe SWP money?

stable-swp — Tue, 18 Apr 2017 22:20:24 +0000

No, you do not owe us money, but if you have a negative statement this means we are carrying your loss. We hope that future sales will continue to eat away at that negative balance. We make every effort not to get to the point where authors are carrying a negative balance, which is why we hold against returns. Sometimes authors opt to pay a negative balance to bring their accounts to zero.

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