tate music group...setting our own price

I received this information from some of our Executive Staff. I have to say, when I read it, I was blown away. Not by the facts and numbers that are presented...I knew what to expect there. I was blown away by the candid-ness of this author...willing to share her 'fortunes' (or misfortunes) with anyone who is willing to read them.

Now, you may say, "What does a book deal have to do with my music career/contract?" A lot. Yes they are different in subject/product but not in nature. The basic principle has always been the same for the publisher/label - get as much as you can out of the 'artist'...and then get some more.

Please hear me...I am not trying to say that individuals or companies are crooks, cheats, etc...I am, however, saying that the system that has been in place for a long, long time is not friendly or warm to the artists (or authors) who create the brilliance they sell.

At Tate Music Group, our vision and purpose is to change this model and mindset. We want to be more concerned with working together with our artists, side by side, instead of walking on their backs to get to the end goal. Success usually comes with a price...but Tate Music Group (and Tate Publishing) are not willing to pay the same types of ethical costs that have plagued this industry for so long.

Instead, we are setting our own price...and the outcome is gain.

Here is the article:

A few years ago I made a promise to my writer friends that if I ever had a novel hit the top twenty of the New York Times mass market bestseller list that I would share all the information I was given about the book so writers could really see what it takes to get there. Today I’m going to keep that promise and give you the stats on my sixth Darkyn novel, Twilight Fall.

Here is the first royalty statement for Twilight Fall, on which I’ve only blanked out Penguin Group’s address. Everything else is exactly as I’ve listed it. To give you a condensed version of what all those figures mean, for the sale period of July through November 30, 2008. my publisher reports sales of 64,925 books, for which my royalties were $40,484.00. I didn’t get credit for all those sales, as 21,140 book credits were held back as a reserve against possible future returns, for which they subtracted $13,512.69 (these are not lost sales; I’m simply not given credit for them until the publisher decides to release them, which takes anywhere from one to three years.)

My net earnings on this statement was $27,721.31, which was deducted from my advance. My actual earnings from this statement was $0.

My advance for Twilight Fall was $50,000.00, a third of which I did not get paid until the book physically hit the shelf — this is now a common practice by publishers, to withhold a portion of the advance until date of publication. Of that $50K, my agent received $7,500.00 as her 15% (which she earns, believe me) the government received roughly $15,000.00, and $1594.27 went to cover my expenses (office supplies, blog giveaways, shipping, promotion, etc.) After expenses and everyone else was paid, I netted about $26K of my $50K advance for this book, which is believe it or not very good — most authors are lucky if they can make 10% profit on any book. This should also shut up everyone who says all bestselling authors make millions — most of us don’t.

Just as a side note - if this author would have worked with our parent company, Tate Publishing...the net earnings would have been almost 4 times as much. Just FYI.