Net price

What it means

“Gross” is the price the reader pays. “Net” is what is left after things come off. Which things depends on who says it. A publisher’s contract might pay a royalty on “net receipts”, meaning what the publisher got from the store after the store’s discount. A retailer’s list price might include VAT, so its net price is the price without tax.

For a sale on your own store, a simple way to think about it:

• Start with what the reader paid.
• Take off VAT or sales tax, which you pass on to the tax office.
• Take off the payment fee and any store fee.
• For print, take off the print cost and shipping.

A novelist selling an ebook direct keeps most of the price. A cookbook author selling a full-color paperback keeps less, because the print cost is high. A workbook author selling a PDF and a paperback bundle has to add up both.

Why it matters when you sell direct

When you set your own prices, the net is the number to watch. A price that looks good can leave little once tax, fees and printing come off, especially for print books shipped abroad.

How Lanternbee handles it

You set the price of each edition. Stripe Tax works out the VAT or sales tax at checkout. On the Author plan there is no Lanternbee fee; on the Free plan there is a fee only when you sell. The pricing page has the figures. Payment fees are Stripe’s, on your own Stripe account.