Question about royalties

Live2Write · Feb 3, 2009

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this but I have a quick question. I'm about to sign a contract for an e-book release and the contract looks great save the royalties. I'm not sure if this is correct.

35% of the royalties would be mine for anything on e-book.
10% of the royalties would be mine for anything printed though mine, not being the correct length for print, will most likely not be published this way.

Do these figures look right? I'm thinking yes but this is my first time actually signing a contract and I wanted to be sure.

Thank you,

L2W

nevada · Feb 3, 2009

the 35% you get is called royalties. what you need to look at is what is that 35% of? of net? of cover price? that's what's important. i dont know about the percentages, other epub authors can answer that better.

but the terminology is this, the money that you get is called royalties. you need to read the contract and find out what the money you get is a percentage of. Maybe find a literary contract lawyer to look it over for you. There's a lot of weird terminology in literary contracts. so make sure the lawyer actually knows about literary contracts not regular contracts. The reason i suggest is that, unless it was a typo, you seemed unsure about what royalties are, and i wouldnt want to see you get gypped out of anything else.

veinglory · Feb 3, 2009

If royalties are based on gross or cover 35% is about right for an ebook. If they are not using print rights you might look into striking that clause if you have any interest in using those rights yourself--you should also make sure you know for sure what their intentions are re: print.

escritora · Feb 3, 2009

Usually print royalities increase after a certain about is sold. For example,

up to 10,000 = 10%
10,001 - 20,000 = 12.5%
20,000+ = 15%

Live2Write · Feb 3, 2009

Thank you

Thanks for your replies. Yes, nevada, I know what royalties are I just wasn't sure if the figures were correct. It looks as though they are though. The 35% and 10% are of net.

nevada · Feb 3, 2009

no worries. sorry for implying you didn't know, but sometimes it's better to err on the side of assuming a person doesn't know something. good luck and congrats on the contract. very exciting.

veinglory · Feb 3, 2009

If it is net you need net defined *in the contract* re: exactly what will be deducted prior to calculating royalties. If this cannot be defined exactly, or leaves you with less than 30% of gross, I would suggest thinking twice. What can be placed with one epublisher can be placed with another--and most use a more transperant a gross royalties system.

jclarkdawe · Feb 3, 2009

Live2Write said:
The 35% and 10% are of net.

Never, ever make a contract based upon net, unless you have no choice.

Gross or cover price is easily ascertained. You'd be amazed at what a good bookkeeper can do before you get to net. Think about what people do with their books before doing their taxes. Taxes are based upon net.

Normally, royalties are based on cover price.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

escritora · Feb 3, 2009

Never, ever make a contract based upon net,

Good catch! I missed that in the initial email.

I agree.

Question about royalties

Live2Write

Ink in Veins

nevada

veinglory

volitare nequeo

escritora

.