Epub books can earn authors more money than pbooks

In an article in Publetariat entitled Authors Can be Stupid: The Myth of Multiple Sales, Michael Stackpole argues that those authors who proclaim that Epub books, which can be read on many machines and don’t require a book repurchase, will cost them money because of the loss of multiple sales are just wrong.

… A repurchased book, right now, nets the author 10% of the cover price. Let’s say that’s 80 cents on an $8.00 paperback.

… Under the current agency model, that same $8 epub book will net the author $5.60. (And even with the publishers taking half the electronic money if they’re selling the book, It’s still $2.80 due the author.)

… Now, since I wasn’t a math major, someone might want to check my ciphering here, but it looks like the purchase of any epub would cover 3.5 to 7 purchases of a physical book. So epub and digital publication, even though it’s only going to be a one-shot, will make the author substantially more money unless this author is someone who, with everything he turns out, has people buying four or more copies of each book. (Doesn’t happen, unless you have a PAC that purchases your books in bulk for contributors.)