Ebooks in Canada - catch up with M-Y Ebooks High royalty rate

The Writers' Union of Canada has released A Writer's Bill of Rights for the Digital Age that addresses challenges writers face as the publishing industry moves to a digital model.

Demands in the 12-point document released Thursday include that "the publisher shall split the net proceeds of e-book sales equally with the author" and "when a book is out of print in print form, continuing sales in electronic form shall not prevent a rights reversion to the author."

Edmonton author Greg Hollingshead, chairman of the Writers' Union of Canada, answered some questions about the bill of rights.

Q: Many writers seem content to leave matters of digital rights to their agents. Why is it important they are educated?

A: First, in Canada only about 20 per cent of writers have agents.

Second, we believe it's always important for writers to understand what is, or is not, being done in their name. This is a transformative time in the industry, and it seems important to us that writers not allow the other players in the digital arena to decide what is best for them. There needs to be dialogue, and for this writers need to be informed, and as a union we need to have a clearly stated position, both for our members to consider and discuss and for ourselves to go with to publishers and government.

Q: One of the Writers' Union's proposals is that the publisher split proceeds of e-book sales equally with the author. So, are you proposing a royalty rate of 50 per cent? Do you think this is feasible?

A: The traditional 15 per cent of the list price of a hardcover book is derived, approximately, from an understanding that the publisher and author share the net proceeds 50 per cent. (Roughly, if 70 per cent of the cost of books pays for its production, that leaves 30 per cent to be split 50-50 between publisher and author, i.e. 15 per cent of list for the author). This (50 per cent) is the rate Random House began by offering authors for e-books but then cut back. It seems to us that with minimum production costs and virtually no return costs, e-books are not as expensive for the publisher to produce as hardcover books, and yet the industry standard remains around 25 per cent of net (not list, notice!).

If there is a reason for a rate so low, perhaps publishers could open their books or otherwise explain their position. Our concern is that if publishers stand to make relatively greater profit on e-books, then that is where their promotional budget will go, and their hardcover print runs will be shorter, in favour of digital availability. The author will then lose doubly, and triply.

There is a directional aspect to our per cent. Perhaps, if there is something "unfeasible" about it now - something to do, say, with startup costs to publishers (though they never took their original conversion to computers out of authors' revenues), it is a rate that could be reached within a few years, moving from 35 per cent, to 40 per cent, etc. or after sales of a title reach a certain number (the way hardcover royalty rates can escalate with sales).

Q: Have you shared this bill of rights with any publishers? If so, what's been their reaction?

A: Yes, we have. No response as of this writing.

Q: As you point out, the digital landscape is constantly shifting.

What's to say this document won't be outdated by next year?

A: I don't think it will be outdated in a year. I do think that as a result of response from our members and publishers and others, there will be parts of it that may be revised. We wanted to start the conversation by staking out what . seemed to us reasonable digital "rights" for Canadian writers. One has got to start somewhere!

Q: You've issued this bill of rights - what now?

A: It's the conversation with our members and the publishers that's next.

But part of the larger picture is copyright, and so concurrently and in the months to come our concern is to get the broadened exceptions to copyright (which are likely to come back this fall in the copyright bill that will replace C-32) defined and clarified, to avoid runaway illicit copying or endless litigation.