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Not a traditional publisher

Rights and revenue

Once print approval is given and payment is complete, your book belongs to you. Work out what reaches you.

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Your rights

Author

You write yourself

The copyright stays with you. If you self-publish, savaara has no rights in your book, and 100% of your revenue stays with you.

Expert and Authority

We write for you

For our texts, insofar as they are protected by intellectual property rights, you receive exclusive rights of use, unlimited in time and territory. You keep the copyright in your own texts. savaara does not appear as the author.

savaara imprint

Reproduction and sale only

savaara may only reproduce your book, sell it and advertise it. The details are set out in the contract.

Earnings calculator: four routes compared

No trade discount applies to direct sales through your own channels, so more of each copy stays with you.

Your book

Country

incl. VAT

What you keep

Example with a retail price of €24.90 and 1,000 copies sold in Germany. Assumptions: 8% publisher royalty, 50% trade discount, €2.00 print costs per copy and 100% direct sales with savaara.

  1. Traditional publisher Royalty, sold in bookshops

    €1,860

    €1.86 per copy

  2. Self-publishing through the book trade Through a service provider, printed on demand

    €5,520

    €5.52 per copy

  3. Amazon KDP Amazon only, printed on demand

    €10,810

    €10.81 per copy

  4. With savaara Direct sales through your own channels

    €13,050

    €13.05 per copyplus €2.00 print costs back

    After deducting the print run €11,050

Your print run with savaara

Print run
2,000 copies
Paid in advance for printing
€4,000 net
Print run recouped
from 266 copies soldReached at 1,000 copies sold.

Assumptions

of the net retail price

for bookshops and wholesalers

Paperback, black and white, 200 pages

the rest through the book trade

Example calculation based on typical market figures, not a promise. Services you pay for in advance, such as your book project with savaara, are not included. Amounts per copy are rounded to the cent and shown before your own taxes, excluding advances and returns.

Who gets what per copy

Traditional publisher

Retail price€24.90
VAT (7%)€1.63
Bookshop€8.14
Wholesaler€3.49
Distribution and sales€1.86
Printing€3.00
Publisher€4.92

You keep €1.86

7% of the retail price

Self-publishing through the book trade

Retail price€24.90
VAT (7%)€1.63
Bookshop€8.14
Wholesaler€3.49
Printing€3.75
Service provider€2.37

You keep €5.52

22% of the retail price

Amazon KDP

Retail price€24.90
VAT (7%)€1.63
Printing€3.15
Amazon (40% of the net price)€9.31

You keep €10.81

43% of the retail price

With savaara

Retail price€24.90
VAT (7%)€1.63
Shipping not covered by postage€0.80
Payment fee€1.33
Packaging and handling€0.50
Printing, prepaid by you€2.00
savaara (30% of the profit)€5.59

Plus €2.00 per copy back, because you pay for the print run in advance.

You keep €13.05

52% of the retail price

Sources and assumptions
  • VAT on books: 7% in Germany, 10% in Austria.
  • Traditional publisher: royalty on the net retail price, typically 5 to 8% for paperbacks and around 10% for hardcovers. In the breakdown: distribution and sales 8%, printing €3.00 per copy (assumption).
  • Trade discount on the net retail price: bookshops usually receive 30 to 40%, and via wholesalers the total is around 50%. We count up to 35% as the bookshop’s share and the rest as the wholesaler’s (assumption).
  • Self-publishing through the book trade: print on demand at €3.75 per copy (assumption, typically €3.00 to €4.50). Of what remains after the trade discount and printing, you receive 70% (assumption based on a common provider model).
  • Amazon KDP: 60% of the list price excluding VAT from €9.99, 50% below that, minus print costs of €0.75 plus €0.012 per page, which comes to €3.15 for 200 pages. From €9.99, Amazon therefore keeps 40% of the net price, and the print costs come out of your share. The often quoted royalty of 70% applies to e-books only. KDP does not register your book in the VLB (German Books in Print), so bookshops in Germany and Austria usually cannot order it.
  • With savaara: you pay for the print run, at least 2,000 copies. A black-and-white paperback of 200 pages costs around €2.00 per copy net (assumption). The print costs flow back to you with every sale. The comparison shows your 70% share of the profit after that.
  • Direct sales: buyers pay postage per book (€3.90 in Austria, €5.90 to Germany). Shipping from Vienna costs €3.10 within Austria and €6.70 to Germany at list prices. We count whatever the postage does not cover as a cost. On top of that come packaging and handling at €0.50 (assumption) and the standard payment fee of 2.7% plus €0.50 per single-copy order (assumption).
  • Sales through the book trade with savaara: trade discount as set, shipping to the trade €0.75 per copy (assumption).

Sources

As of September 2026

How we share the profit

The profit share applies only to books in the savaara imprint. You pay for the print run, so your print costs flow back to you first from every sale. Of the profit after that, meaning net revenue minus printing, shipping, fees and, where applicable, the trade discount, you receive 70% and savaara 30%.

Questions about rights and revenue

Short answers in the FAQ. The details are set out in your contract.

Start your project Frequently asked questions