Getting paid (Father Christmas? Excuse me?)

kazrahtenango · Feb 26, 2006

Recently I was expecting an advance for an O/S edition. The book was written and already published here in Oz. It only had to be translated into American, which you wouldn't think would be a huge challenge! (Are any of you guys struggling to comprehend my English?) They told me to expect the cheque in August, then in December it was "days away", then in January they said it should come in with my April royalties. Their response to my reply was that they wondered if I intended to sound so rude. I will certainly make my rudeness less ambiguous in future!
A writer friend told me that his publisher once contacted him to advise that "Father Christmas would be coming earlier this year" - meaning that they had processed the royalties a few days earlier than normal. Father Christmas? Excuse me? Royalties are not a gift!
My question is this - do you guys have trouble getting paid? Is it an Australian Publishers thing? Is it just kids books? Have any of you fought this battle and won?

Jamesaritchie · Feb 26, 2006

kazrahtenango said:
Recently I was expecting an advance for an O/S edition. The book was written and already published here in Oz. It only had to be translated into American, which you wouldn't think would be a huge challenge! (Are any of you guys struggling to comprehend my English?) They told me to expect the cheque in August, then in December it was "days away", then in January they said it should come in with my April royalties. Their response to my reply was that they wondered if I intended to sound so rude. I will certainly make my rudeness less ambiguous in future!
A writer friend told me that his publisher once contacted him to advise that "Father Christmas would be coming earlier this year" - meaning that they had processed the royalties a few days earlier than normal. Father Christmas? Excuse me? Royalties are not a gift!
My question is this - do you guys have trouble getting paid? Is it an Australian Publishers thing? Is it just kids books? Have any of you fought this battle and won?

I think it depends largely on the publisher. I've never had royalty checks be a day late or a day early. They come exactly when they're supposed to come, regardless of the publisher.

Advance checks are a bit different, though I've never had an advance check be more that a couple of weeks late, unless the release date of the novel was changed. The final part of the advance is sent when the book is released.

I wonder if your problem might not be lack of an agent. This is somethng an agent should be handling. Agents are allowed to be rude, though I believe most of them call it being "forceful," and one of an agent's primary functions is to make sure any and all checks are sent at the earliest possible moment. The agent, after all, gets a cut of the check.

kazrahtenango · Feb 27, 2006

It must be an Aussie thing because other writers that I talk to here say they have trouble too, regardless of whether they have an agent. I've always had to chase money from the very beginning, and it's frustrating because you can't organise your business, or indeed your life, when money might come in today or maybe ten months from now.
I have a speakers agent for other states. She's slow too, because after a speaking tour she waits until every school/library/whatever has paid and then sends it in one go, but when I organise it myself I ask to be paid on the day.
It could be that agents are less professional in Australia than they are in the States. There's only a handful of them.

Jamesaritchie · Feb 27, 2006

Agents

kazrahtenango said:
It must be an Aussie thing because other writers that I talk to here say they have trouble too, regardless of whether they have an agent. I've always had to chase money from the very beginning, and it's frustrating because you can't organise your business, or indeed your life, when money might come in today or maybe ten months from now.
I have a speakers agent for other states. She's slow too, because after a speaking tour she waits until every school/library/whatever has paid and then sends it in one go, but when I organise it myself I ask to be paid on the day.
It could be that agents are less professional in Australia than they are in the States. There's only a handful of them.

That could well be. Or it could just be that publishing is so huge over here that if publishers started getting behind on payments, they'd never catch up.

But agents over here do see to it that you get paid when you should. The contract says you get paid on a certain date, then you get paid on a certain date.

Partly professionalism, I guess, but it's also a matter of power, and breach of contract is a serious thing.

Getting paid (Father Christmas? Excuse me?)

kazrahtenango

Jamesaritchie

kazrahtenango

Jamesaritchie