REMINDER!!! START-TIME FOR THE SPRING, 2026 24-HOUR SHORT STORY CONTEST IS IN 17 DAYS!!

1st Place: $300 + a free book publishing package from BookLocker valued at $975; 2nd Place: $250; 3rd Place: $200; + 100 Honorable Mentions! Those writers receive a free ebook of their choice from BookLocker.com. 

Read all past winning topics and story, and sign up, RIGHT HERE!

I have been asked by countless authors over the years why they didn’t get paid when someone on Amazon (or Ebay, or elsewhere) sold a used copy of their book. The emails always go something like this:

“My neighbor bought a used copy of my book from someone online and I’m not seeing that sale in my royalty figures.” 

Yes, I really have had to explain this MANY times over the years!

When the first copy of a book is sold, the author earns royalties. If that customer then sells that book later online, at a garage sale, to a used bookstore, or anywhere at all, nobody gets any money except the customer who purchased (and is then selling) that copy.

In Episode 39 of the WritersWeekly Podcast, Brian came up with an analogy. If he sold his car to someone, and they then sold it to someone else a year later, Brian wouldn’t be entitled to any money from that sale. Anybody who buys a product, and resells it later, is not required to pay the original seller anything. I’ve seriously wracked my brain trying to think of any circumstance where that would happen. I can’t. Let me know if you can!

RELATED

• Amazon KDP Continues to INFURIATE (and TERMINATE) Authors, and Keep Their Unpaid Royalties!
• “Nobody Has Bought My Brand New Book…Yet There Are Already Used Copies For Sale Online?”
• “Why do Amazon’s resellers have my book priced too high/too low?”
• New and Used Copies of Books on Amazon
• “Should I get rid of the paperback edition of my book since the hardcover makes more money?”

Read More "Ask The Expert" Articles