A few days ago, I asked whether it was better to buy from a brick and mortar store, or order online. Well, I stumbled across the post where Miss Snark explains it all (I knew she talked about it!).

Miss Snark said:

First, authors aren’t paid based on where their books are sold, they are paid on the basis of cover price OR net proceeds. Net proceeds is used when big volume retailers (think BN, Borders, WalMart, Costco) buy the book at a steep steep discount (often 60% off cover prices). Author royalty rates for those buys are less than they are for other buys made by people who get a smaller discount (ie indie stores, libraries).

Same for online preorders – from whom you order is the key.

Ahah! So, my favorite authors will benefit more from orders placed elsewhere than they will if I buy from the convenient source. But, I don’t have to feel guilty about not buying in a brick and mortar store (as we don’t have any indie book stores around here). Yay!