5th National Editors Conference, Sydney

I spoke on a panel on copyright at the 5th National Editors Conference in Sydney on 8 September 2011. I mentioned that digital and e-books have the potential to give authors an increased share of royalties. Allen & Unwin, for instance, is offering 50% royalties for backlist, out-of-print titles whose rights are held by authors' estates. Royalty rates for e-books are slowly climbing from the initial low figures offered by traditional publishers as it is clear that new competitors such as Amazon, Google and Apple can work with models that offer authors a greater proportion of returns from e-books. It's even more important then that authors retain control of their digital rights.