Amazon offers publishers 70% of eBook sales

Amazon has rewritten the rules of the eBook market, by offering authors and publishers 70% of sales, provided they play by its rules.

Under current deals, Amazon takes 65% of the list price of an eBook, with the remaining 35% split between the author and publisher. Traditionally, an author will see 7% to 15% of that figure.

In a broadside against the publishing industry, Amazon has now agreed to turn that split on its head in return for some significant concessions from publishers.

• The book must be priced between $2.99 and $9.99, and be 20% cheaper than a physical copy of the book
• The title is made available for sale in all geographies for which the author or publisher has rights
• The title must support Kindle features, such as text-to-speech, and any new features added over time.

The offer is currently open only to books sold in the US, and is likely to cause some consternation within the industry. The text-to-speech clause, in particular, will rankle, with publishers worried that as the technology improves it could eat into their lucrative audiobook market.