| Sumario: | This article presents information related to the remuneration received by authors of books. The Net Book Agreement (NBA) allowed that authors were paid a percentage of the net price of a book, irrespective of the discount publishers deigned to give wholesalers and retailers. But as the conglomerates began snatching up the great indigenous imprints, a few authors started to be paid gargantuan advances the majority being paid a pittance. And as the conglomerates purported to wield a monopoly of power, the new chain booksellers bullied the bigger publishers into giving them huge discounts if they agreed to stock and display vast piles of new titles. Since the demise of the NBA, a whole mini-industry has grown up inside publishing, comprised of self-important, bureaucratic contracts departments.
|