While the Paris 2025 Book Festival ends, more than 1,200 authors were able to meet their audience. But behind dedications, readings and literary scenes, a more technical question crosses exchanges: How do the authors really live with their works? And above all, Where is the reader’s money when the book is purchased?
In the economy of digital and audio book, the large platforms – Amazon, Audible, Apple – occupy a central place. Their initial promise was simple: disintermediary, paying better, opening the markets. The reality is much more complex. The author, even autonomous, sees his income fragmented by commissions, strict tariff clauses, and an increasingly opaque distribution.
A locked value chain
The sale of an eBook at € 9.99 on Amazon Kindle generates a 70 % remuneration for the independent author. But this rule only applies if the price remains between € 2.99 and € 9.99. Beyond that, the procedure drops to 35 %. Traditional publishers keep 70 % even at € 14.99, thanks to specific agreements.
On the audiobook side, Audible works mainly with a system of monthly credits. The user pays around € 15; The author receives around € 4. The precise distribution remains unclear. Audible invokes promotional campaigns, free offers or discounts integrated into subscriptions. The author knows neither the detail nor the distribution key.
30 % incompressible commission
The rules imposed by Apple and Google on sales via mobile applications provide a commission of 30 %. To avoid them, Audible and Kindle redirect users to web purchases. This complicates the act of purchase and limits the visibility of the works. The author pays this indirect cost in discovering.
At Amazon, the best conditions are reserved for authors who accept exclusivity. Those who wish to sell elsewhere undergo less advantageous commissions, a logic difficult to go around without losing exposure.
Traditional publishers better served?
Some publishers, notably in New York or Paris, benefit from preferential agreements: higher prices, access to logistics discounts, integration into the promotional offers of platforms. In return, the authors give in part of their rights, their margins, and their control.
The dominant discourse – “you will gain less by sale, but more in volume” – often masks a clear loss of sovereignty and traceability.
A new balance to invent
Some authors explore other paths: direct sale, crowdfunding, digital packs, fractional edition (live ebook, print under license). Others negotiate hybrid contracts to keep certain formats and sell others. These strategies assume a fine reading of economic models, an ability to follow sales, and minimum commercial skills.
The book festival celebrates literary diversity. It could also become a place of economic reflection. Because the challenge is no longer only to publish, but to understand where the created value goes – and how to recover it.
Platforms have facilitated market access. They also captured the margins. In 2025, the author was no longer marginalized, but remains a minority in the value chain. It is not the publisher who deprives him of income, it is the conditions of use, the commissions, and the centralization of the channels.
In this new landscape, the author is also an editor, strategist and distributor. Getting back hand no longer goes through the printing press, but by a careful reading of the conditions, a mastery of the canals, and a requirement of transparency.
