You’re a Good Man, Jim C. Hines

(Sorry, I just had to make the Peanuts reference.)

It’s great that other authors read this blog at times – because they help me when I make mistakes (or expose my ignorance).

For example, yesterday’s post.

Jim C. Hines kindly let me know that he actually does make a greater percentage of royalties from digital sales than print ones. And that is awesome.

Seriously, it is. It’s great to know that there are still folks and companies trying to be fair and do the right thing.

It’s easy to think of all of “publishing” as one big entity, but it’s not. I fell into that trap while writing yesterday’s post.

There are publishers – small, indy, and “traditional” that are doing horrible things to writers. Offering less for digital sales, trying to seize digital rights they don’t own, and even attempting to retroactively change royalty percentages on digital sales.

As Jim rightly points out, this doesn’t mean all or even necessarily most do that. The information isn’t there – and everybody’s contracts might very well be very, very different.

So take yesterday’s post – and the one that will go up later today – as an exercise in principles. If you’re not getting a larger royalty from digital sales (and they’re priced the same), find out why. Even when I give concrete examples, they are examples of principles.

Thanks again, Jim, for helping me keep my head straight.