A: Paul
Rosenzweig, CPA:
"As far as I
have ever perceived, there are no "rules" about how co-authors or
a team, divide royalties. The co-authors negotiate their own shares
among themselves. I recently saw a group that had different percentages
for the main text vs salable ancillaries, with varying rates among
the ancillaries, presumably based on the co-author's contributions.
As for the share
allocated to a retiring author, that's usually designated in that
author's (earlier) contract with the publisher. Typically, the retiring
author retains a declining percentage as the editions continue."
A: Don Collins, Former Managing Editor:
"Royalties are
usually based upon the amount of work contributed and seniority
of the authors. In some cases there is a sliding scale based
upon the sucess of the product. A retiring author usually gets
residuals based upon the past success of the product. Royalty
rates vary from company to company and different rates are accorded
to school texts and college texts."
A: Stephen Gillen, Publishing Attorney, Greenebaum
Doll & McDonald PLLC:
"Royalties between
co-authors of equal stature are typically allocated in proportion
to the division of labor. If each is responsible for half the book,
then the split is 50/50, and so on. If one is pre-eminent in the field
and has many publication credits and the other is a neophyte, either
the split or the workload may be adjusted to compensate.
When a new author
comes on to revise an existing work, the new author might be
asked to work on the first such edition for a fixed fee with no guarantee
of participation on subsequent editions - this is a sort of trial
run. If this works out, the new author may be invited to participate
in royalties. Typically, the split on the first such edition would
be say 1/4 of the royalties for revising 1/2 of the work (in recognition
of the senior author's past contributions)."
A: John Coburn:
"I agree with
Stephen regarding royalty splits between authors, and would only caution/urge
that the royalty splits and the division of labor be written up in
the actual contract. The contract should also include remedies for
what will be done if one of the team is unable or unwilling to fulfill
their assigned duties to the enterprise. In addition, if you are an
established author looking for help to expand your work or ease your
writing burdens (notice the following is in capital letters), YOU
SHOULD ABSOLUTELY REQUIRE A SUBSTANTIAL WRITING SAMPLE FROM THEM TO
BE ASSURED THEY HAVE THE TIME, TALENT, AND ABILITY TO WRITE. Too often,
a person might be an excellent teacher or excel in their field, yet
be unable to write well enough for the national market."
