"Hey, you are on Amazon and Barnes & Noble~so you must be earning!"

"Hey, you are on Amazon and  Barnes & Noble~so you must  be earning!"

Really? Let me explain...again

The Return Of The Gods:Twilight of the Super Heroes is a 331pp graphic novel. And was totally re~lettered at one point.

THAT is a lot of work for one person (me)

It has a £20 cover price and I just had to look something up. This is the nitty gritty of peblishing.

Retail Print £20.00(excl. taxes) — 

This is the cover price but Ingram, B&N, Amzon buy it cheaply at below or at ...well, they do not discloe to me as that is part of their deal with lulu BUT...

My Revenue £9.42

My Revenue £1.82 —

And if that is a book printed or sold to a US customer or company....I have to pay tax on that.

If a comic fan buys the book (I kept the price low as I KNOW about postal charges!)

Print £20.00(excl. taxes) — 

Again, any US connection I get hit by US taxes that I get no benefit from. Not my country and I have no say in it but I get taxed.

My Purchase Price £8.22(excl. taxes)

Yes, if I buy a copy myself it's £8.22 AND taxes.

And there are people on Ebay who have my books for sell but DO NOT have copies ~they order at a discount, etc., or even at the full price from Lulu and charge anywhere from £35~40 for a £20 book.

And The Ultimate British Golden Age Collection is over 400 pages and I don't even want to discuss how I get hit financially on that one.

Oh and all those overseas online book stores listing my books?  Same deal.

I would need to sell THOUSANDS of copies to start making money and then I'd have to worry about US taxes as a UK citizen.

THAT is the reality of an online store or big businesses selling your books. You are giving them away.

And do you know what? They get your book for free almost and they DO NOT promote it in any way. No one knows they have it.

For me, Barnes & Noble, Amazon and all the other big companies are leeches.