http://uwire.com/2012/04/20/editorial-amazons-dirt-cheap-e-book-prices-hurt-authors/
Writers and creative minds alike are often demoralized by the extractive nature of large, professional publishers. Authors can dedicate years of their lives researching and writing literature, convincing editors to publish them, and tweaking their work to fit the ideals and needs of the publisher. Upon finally entering a contract with a publisher, according to the Wall Street Journal, modern artists will only receive $1,000-$5,000 as an advance (usually just enough to cover a month's rent if they're lucky). This advance has vastly decreased from past advances which could reach $100,000 to $500,000 for fiction. It's estimated that only 15% of the revenue from a hardcover book, upon sale in a store or online, will return to the author, while a publisher will earn 50% of the sale. An author might see a higher percentage return (25%) on an eBook, however electronic copies of books are sold at such a discounted rate that this return is often lower than that of a physical copy. Still, authors are almost forced to use a corporate publisher over electing to self-publish because oftentimes they themselves don't have the time, or access to markets, advertising, and resources that the corporations have. This subjugation of the creative minds behind literature is basically a vicious cycle because they don't have any other reasonable options than to bring their work to a mass-publisher. This makes me wonder what kind of returns Why Nations Fail brought to Acemoglu and Robinson, who would have to split the probably minimal profits between themselves for co-authoring the book.
Article: "Authors Feel Pinch in Age of E-Books" Jeffrey Trachtenberg
online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748703369704575461542987870022
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