If you feel you are being ripped off (“is far different from the net sales that I check directly from the bookstores selling my books.”), what do they say? Have you complained?
The thing about royalties I can believe. I don’t have a copy of their contract, but I understand that with some publishers, they have to sell over a certain number of books before royalties are paid out. Clearly, if they only sell 10 books, and there is this type of contract, you’re not going to get anything. I would expect this is spelled out in the contract. If they don’t mention it, then there is a problem that you need to ask them about as well.
