Q: I see my book is selling used at Amazon, why am I not getting royalties??
A: I regret to say that no author has ever been paid even $1 from Used Book sales. This is because the Used Book sellers have purchased a book and have every right to sell it for as much or as little as they like with no concern for the author.
An author only gets paid “once”: when the book is sold for the first time. Can you imagine if a book was resold 6 times getting 6 times the royalties? Well that would be like Christmas morning, but it’s not how it works for Books, Movies, Music, or any other royalty stream.
If it did work, I could imagine a scene where the author would keep selling the same book to himself for a penny and collecting $2 royalties, sell it again for a penny, get another $2. The publishers would be broke in no time…
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news
Victor
Got a nagging pubishing question? Write to victor@LHPress.com
