How do my money reach a book author?

Question

Let’s say I’m in a random small town in a random country, I go to the local book store and buy a book and pay, let’s say, by cash. This then counts as a sold copy of said book. How does my money from this random place, reach the author?

In: 3

Answer 1

The book was already bought by the bookstore from the publisher. When the publisher sold it, the publisher counted the book as sold in its books, and every month or quarter or whatever is in the contract with the author, the publisher counted up how many books were sold and sent the total royalty payment to the author.