1. What sort of books does BooksForABuck.com publish?
2. Does BooksForABuck.com pay royalties
3. Does BooksForABuck.com pay advances
4. Does BooksForABuck.com require an author co-pay
5. Does BooksForABuck.com require authors to market their books?
6. How much can I make on my books
7. If you purchase my book, how long before it's published?
8. Why sell books so cheap
9. Didn't you used to offer your books as shareware--pay only if the reader likes them?
10. Why would I want to offer my works as Freeware
11. Will my book be reviewed and featured
12. Does BooksForFree offer any marketing opportunities for me
13. What's in it for BooksForABuck.com and BooksForABuck.com
14. Do I need an agent? What if I have an Agent?
15. What genres does BooksForABuck.com accept?
16. Do you have a sample contract available?
17. I'm sold. How can I query you about my project?

Answers to FAQ

1. What sort of books does BooksForABuck.com publish?
   We publish novel-length romance, mystery, science fiction, and fantasy. We define novel-length as approximately 50,000 words and higher. For more information, please see our author guidelines
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2. Does BooksForABuck.com pay royalties?
   Yes. We pay some of the highest royalties in the industry--50% at this time. Unlike traditional publishers who withhold payments for long periods of time, BooksForABuck.com pays royalties quarterly, with no reserve for returned books. (Note: the 50% royalty is paid on gross revenues (for direct sales). BooksForABuck.com pays the commission to PayPal on all sales. For books sold through distribution (e.g., through Fictionwise.com, we pay 50% of our net receipts. However, we guarantee a minimum of 50 cents per book even if your book does not earn out the Fictionwise advance in any given quarter)). For our paper publications, we pay royalties of 50% of net revenue (revenue net of production cost and any royalties retained by the printer or other sales channels). We do roll forward royalty payments for any quarter in which an author's total royalty owed (for all books, including roll-forward) is less than $10, US. .
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3. Does BooksForABuck.com pay advances? At this time, we are unable to pay advances.
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4. Does BooksForABuck.com require an author co-pay? No. BooksForABuck.com is not a vanity press.
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5. Does BooksForABuck.com require authors to market their books?
   There are no explicit requirements for authors to market their books. However, as with any small publisher, your sales will depend to a significant extent on author promotional activities.
6. How much can I make on my books? Your royalties depend on your book sales. BooksForABuck.com works hard to promote and market your books. As with all electronic publishers, your own marketing efforts play a key role in your success. BooksForABuck.com is a small publisher with relatively low current sales. We believe our business model and affordable pricing provide an opportunity for continued growth. Unlike traditional paper publisher, BooksForABuck.com books do not go out of print. As a result, book sales can continue to grow through reader word-of-mouth.
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7. If you purchase my book, how long before it's published?
   Once we receive your signed contract, we will begin the line edit stage. Generally this takes about two weeks. Line edits will be sent to you for your approval or alteration. At this time, we also begin design of cover art. Cover art generally takes four weeks to complete. Once we receive your approved line edits, the publication process itself generally takes about one week for eBooks, with an additional week before trade paperback versions are available (should you wish to accept the trade paperback option).
8. Why sell books so cheap?
   BooksForABuck.com has established low price benchmarks as a marketing device, and to reflect the new economics of publishing. Just as printed books could be sold more cheaply than hand-lettered books, so electronic books can be produced more cheaply than paper books. Similarly, many costs of publishing (e.g., returns, ), are based on the assumptions of scarcity that characterize the paper publishing world. eBooks should be cheaper. Obviously, we continually examine the economics of the market and the state of inflation to determine whether price adjustments used to be made.
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9. Didn't you used to offer books as shareware--pay only if the reader likes them?
   We now use PayPal to ensure reader payment. Our earlier model resulted in insufficient (less than 5%) payments which was not fair to our authors.
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10. Why would I want to offer my works as Freeware? A minority of the books offered at BooksForABuck.com are available as Freeware. Freeware books are not public domain. They remain the property of the copyright holder (the author). Freeware offers a way of attracting new readers. Readers who enjoy an author's freeware works are prime candidates for additional books. Freeware may be an attractive way for authors to keep their backlist available. BooksForABuck allows authors to consider whether any of their works are appropriate candidates for Freeware. Authors are not required to make their books available as freeware. Freeware books may be withdrawn at any time (with 30 days notice) and may also be converted to for-charge books.
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11. Will my book be reviewed and featured? The BooksForABuck.com review staff makes our books a priority in reviews. BooksForABuck.com editorial staff does what it can to ensure that reviews are available at the time of your book's release. We continually look for ways to market BooksForABuck.com and the books offered on this site. We welcome our writers' marketing activities as well.
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12. Does BooksForABuck.com offer any marketing opportunities for me?
    BooksForABuck.com will work with you to support your marketing efforts. Some things we've done in the past are: offer royalty-paid eBooks as contests prizes for author contests and offer partial payment for author banner advertising or other promotional activities that point traffic toward the BooksForABuck.com website. We are anxious to support our authors.
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13. What's in it for BooksForABuck.com? BooksForABuck.com was founded by authors who were frustrated with traditional paper publishing and who believed that electronic publishing offers significant opportunities for new and established authors to try new things.
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14. You do not need an agent to submit to, and contract with BooksForABuck.com. If you have an agent, BooksForABuck.com will send your royalty checks to your agent and allow your agent to make standard dispersals. BooksForABuck.com believes that it offers the most author-friendly contract in the industry. If you or your agent has questions about the contract, we'd be happy to answer them.
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15. BooksForABuck.com accepts submissions in the Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy, and Mystery/Suspense categories. Within each category (except general fiction), you should define what sub-category best describes your novel. In Romance, this includes:
    • Short Traditional Romance
    • Short Sensual Romance
    • Long Contemporary Romance
    • Historical Romance
    • Romantic Suspense
    • Paranormal/Inspirational Romance
    
    In Mystery/Suspense, this includes:
    • Traditional Mystery/Suspense
    • Espionage/Spy/Thriller
    • Paranormal Mystery
    
    In Science Fiction, this includes:
    • Traditional Science Fiction
    • Military Science Fiction
    • Fantasy
    • Contemporary Fantasy
    • Soft Science Fiction
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16. Do you have a sample contract available?

    Yes. Follow this link to see a sample contract. If we agree to publish your book, your actual contract may differ from this sample so be sure to study it closely.
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17. I'm sold--how can I query?

    If you've got a completed manuscript in one of the genres we publish, we'd love to hear from you. You can query us with a brief summary and information about your writing history at publisher"@"booksforabuck.com (removing the quotation marks). We normally respond to queries within 48 hours.

If you have questions, feel free to contact us at:BooksForABuck.com