Loading...QUESTION:
Do you mind if I ask you about how the financial incentives for you compare between these types of projects? I assume that your books for scholars are not expected to make much money directly, although they are important for your career in other ways. Textbooks are very expensive compared to popular books; for example the list price for your textbook “The New Testament” (paperback) is $65. That’s actually not particularly high as textbooks go, but still at least three times as expensive as your popular books. Its also longer of course at 600 pages vs e.g. about 250 pages for “Misquoting Jesus” so they must take you longer to write. How does the compensation on your end compare?
RESPONSE:
Not a problem — there’s nothing very secretive about it. The first thing to say, though, is that authors have NO say (*NO* say!) over the price of their books. Publishers don’t even ask for an author’s opinion!
Scholarly books are not profitable, and usually pay nothing or next to nothing. In lots and lots of instances, scholars actually have to pay the press a subvention to have a book published. We publish scholarship because we love scholarship, and it’s our life.
FOR THE REST OF THIS POST, log in as a Member. If you don’t belong, JOIN ALREADY!
I’m enjoying reading your books more than I did the Da Vinci Code! While I was in my Jesus Freak/fundy phase I ran into some of the incongruencies that you have written about in the Bible. I may have been too afraid to mention them to anyone, but I could see that this perfect, inspired book did not add up. I think it was harder to deal with than catching my parents having sex.
Now, many years later, it is good to read the truth and get to learn about this subject.
Do publishers pay authors a percentage of sales on a laddered scale? What is the typical percentage?
Given the popularity of your trade books, there is clearly huge interest in scholarship’s findings on the Bible. As you had stressed in those books, much of the findings are widely known for decades if not centuries. Yet nobody seemed to have succeeded in publishing similar books and achieving comparable level of success. What’s your take on why your trade books are so successful?
Yes, a different system depending on whether it’s a trade book or something else. A typical text book or scholarly book (if one has a royalty attached) might be on a sliding scale of 7.5% for the first 5000 copies, 10% for the next 5000, and 12.5% after that. That’s not on asking price, though, but on the net price (80% of average asking price). Trade books are more like 10%/12.5%/15% and are on manufacturers suggested retail price — so obviously a much better deal.
Do you feel that the internet and the advent of the so-called “new atheists” movement has been a major contributor to the success of your trade books? I first came across your work several years ago via a Youtube clip of a lecture you gave in promoting your book Misquoting Jesus and I imagine many others were introduced to your work (and Biblical criticism in general) in a similar manner.
Good question. Hadn’t quite thought about it that way. You may be right. The way I’ve thought about it is that all of us (Harris, Dawkins, Hitchens, me, and others) are participating in a major culture war right now, between the right and left, with both groups really interested and highly motivated….
Interesting. Anybody you like on the other side, Bart?
Many thanks! 🙂
My own favorite in that group, I should say, has been Alister McGrath. 🙂
sorry — I’m not sure what you’re asking.
That’s interesting; I first heard of Bart Ehrman as one of the “talking heads” on a History Channel documentary at Easter last year, about the appearances of Jesus post-resurrection. That led me to Jesus Interrupted, and that’s all she wrote 🙂