The Shocking Truth About Why Authors Miss Out on Royalties from Used Book Sales
“My neighbor bought a used copy of my book from someone online and I’m not seeing that sale in my royalty figures.”
Yes, I really have had to explain this MANY times over the years!
When the first copy of a book is sold, the author earns royalties. If that customer then sells that book later online, at a garage sale, to a used bookstore, or anywhere at all, nobody gets any money except the customer who purchased (and is then selling) that copy.
In Episode 39 of the WritersWeekly Podcast, Brian came up with an analogy. If he sold his car to someone, and they then sold it to someone else a year later, Brian wouldn’t be entitled to any money from that sale. Anybody who buys a product, and resells it later, is not required to pay the original seller anything. I’ve seriously wracked my brain trying to think of any circumstance where that would happen. I can’t. Let me know if you can!
