On Mon, 20 Dec 2004 19:11:57 -0800, Michael Latta <lattam at mac.com> wrote:

> If the money went to the authors I would not have a problem with it.  I  
> doubt they see 5%.

Typically the way it works is the author sees anywhere from 5%-25%, with  
$X in advance. Whether or not the author sees money from your $100 book  
purchase depends on how many copies have been sold to date, his  
percentage, and the size of $X.

If his percentage would never exceed $X (because not enough copies were  
sold), you can pretty much write off another book.