Royalties

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    In 2023 we licensed our ebooks to libraries for the first time. We received our annual income from these loans in December and this will be showing up in your ebook sales for December 2023. The income per library loan is smaller than an ebook sale, so if you notice increased numbers in your ebook sales, but not the corresponding income, this is why. We are looking to account for and present these numbers separately in 2024.

    How often do you pay royalties?

    We pay royalties twice a year:

    • By Dec 31st for May–October
    • By June 30th for November–April

    How to receive your royalty payments

    The most cost-effective way for us to pay and receive money is via wire-transfer.

    This includes:

    • Royalty payments to our authors
    • Payments from authors for their books
    • Payments from authors for subsidies and services

    To ensure you are paid, make sure you’ve sent us your bank details and keep us up to date if you change them in between royalty statements. We do not have the time or manpower to track down authors with incorrect or outdated details.

    Email your details to [email protected], including:

    • Name account, as in, Bank Name, Address, ABA (wire) routing number for US accounts (not routing number on your check book, please check with your bank if you aren’t sure)
    • Account Name, Account Number, Sort Code (for all UK accounts)
    • IBAN/Swiftbic (for non-UK)

    Please note that we cannot individually confirm receipt of bank details, so take great care that the ones you send us are correct.

    If you have sent your details to [email protected], you should receive any due payment when royalties are next processed.

    We do not store bank details on our Database. They are only accessible to our financial staff in the UK office.

    Can I receive my royalties via PayPal?

    We can pay via PayPal. If you want to receive your royalties that way, make request that on the Author Forum under Royalties, in the SALES AND DISTRIBUTION section.

    Where can I see how much my royalties are?

    You can view your figures and royalty statement on your in the ROYALTIES table in your Financials page.

    What happens when royalties are paid?

    The royalties amount will be transferred directly into the bank account details advised to us (or a check posted to the address given in the US).

    Please retain your remittance, as this may be required for tax purposes.

    The date and how you are paid will be shown in the Payment Details column of the ROYALTIES table in your Financials page.

    Minimum payments for authors in the UK

    • The minimum amount we will send out via bank transfer or PayPal is £20.
    • The minimum amount we will send out via cheque is £25.

    Anything less and the bank charges, and administration times are too high relative to the payments.

    Any payment due that’s under the limit will of course be carried forward.

    Minimum payments for authors outside the UK

    The minimum amount we will send out to an author living outside the UK is £75, including payments via PayPal.

    Anything less and the bank charges and administration time are too high relative to the payments.

    Any payment due that’s under the limit will of course be carried forward.

    I live outside the UK. What is your exchange rate?

    We normally pay via Barclays.net, meaning your bank converts the money to local currency and the rate is set by them. If we pay via Comerica, our bank in the US, then it's the average rate for the month, as dictated by HMRC.

    Will you give me a tax form?

    No. You will not need one from us. Tax forms are only necessary in some circumstances, between publishers in different countries, where the sender is paying tax as well as the recipient. They are used to avoid double taxation.

    We don’t pay tax on the royalties we send you, so you need to make sure you are responsible for declaring your own income and paying your own taxes.

    If you are an author outside the UK and you need to look up what you were paid in the previous year for your local currency, you will need to go to your bank and track down the statements for the times you were paid your royalties, and see exactly at what rate they converted it. Those statements should show the dates you were paid and how much in your local currency.

    I think I am due royalties and I have not received them. What should I do?

    We prepare over 1500 royalty statements twice a year, and there are usually a few queries. The main reasons being:

    • You haven’t given us your bank details
    • You haven’t given us your correct bank details (we cut and paste them manually into our system)
    • You have changed bank and haven’t told us
    • Your royalties don’t make the minimum amount for payment
    • You have misread the royalty table

    If none of the above reasons apply, and you still think you are owed royalties, let us know on the Author Forum – Sales & Distribution: Royalties.

    How do I update my bank details?

    Send the correct info to [email protected]. Double check it!

    What are the CI bank details?

    Our payment details will be on the invoice you receive from us.

    I can’t pay you by wire transfer. What should I do?

    If you have a problem with transferring to us as regards the cost (it varies from country to country), please post a cheque/check made out to Collective Ink Ltd (3 East Street, Alresford, Hampshire, United Kingdom, SO24 9EE). You can pay via PayPal, but there will be an additional charge to cover their fees.

    Sorry, we do not use credit card payment services.

    Where can I find out how many royalties I am due?

    You can see your royalties in the ROYALTIES table on your Financials page.

    How do you calculate my royalties?

    Here follows an explanation of how we arrive at the figures displayed in the ROYALTIES table on your Financials page.

    Please note: The figures on your Financials page are in £ sterling. If you are outside the UK, we normally pay via Barclays.net, meaning your bank converts the money to local currency and the rate is set by them. If we pay via Comerica, our bank in the US, then it's the average rate for the month, as dictated by HMRC.

    Period

    The period for which the statement has been compiled (May to October or November to April).

    Trade sales

    These are taken from the Total sales column from the SALES tables on your Financials page.

    • The Total units figure is the sum of the Total units column for the royalty period.
    • The £ shown is the sum of the Value column for the royalty period.
    • They include Author sales.

    This applies to the ebook table also.

    NB: Your sales total is a net amount. This means discounts to booksellers have been taken off. Different booksellers have differing discounts. For example, a wholesaler would have a different rate than an independent single bookshop. The total we receive, therefore, depends where the book is bought and which discount was applied. It is entirely possible that the same number of books sold would generate a different amount of income over separate royalty periods.

    Author sales

    These are deducted from the trade sales figures, as we do not pay royalties on author sales.

    These are manually inputted by us, taken from reports from our North American and UK distributors, and Office Sales.

    This column will not apply for ebook sales.

    Returns Provision

    This provision used to be standard on all publishers' contracts (and often still is), to protect from them from large numbers of books coming back from the trade in returns. We dropped it on new titles from October 2012 onwards, but the column remains on the system for historical information. It need not be a concern for you.

    Royalty %

    This is taken from your contract terms, which you can check at any time by clicking on Contract on the left-hand menu. It should match the current sales level your title is on.

    Royalty On Trade Sales

    The calculation is trade sales, less author sales, plus/minus returns provision (if applicable), and when we have this figure, we apply your royalty rate. This is how we come to the royalty on trade sales.

    Royalty on foreign-rights sales £

    This will apply the foreign rights sales % as per your contract terms, to any foreign rights amounts received in the period (see Foreign Rights Sales table in Sales section).

    This is not applicable for ebook sales.

    Deductions/Additions

    These are any adjustments we need to make to your royalty payment.

    Additions are signified by A in the Type column.

    Deductions are signified by D in the Type column.

    The most common are:

    • Balance Bfwd: This amount should match the figure carried forward from your previous royalty period.
    • Production costs: To be passed on to author (if agreed with author).
    • Royalty on pre-sales: The ROYALTIES section of your Finance page does not show the sales of a title from the period before its publication date. If this is your first royalty statement and your title had sales prior to the period, we will add the royalty for these sales in as an addition. You will be able to check the sales in your sales table for any prior months and we then apply your royalty %.
    • Band crossover: Deductions may need to be taken from your royalty amount at the end of a 6-month period if your book has, in that time, passed a sales threshold that changes the royalty percentage. This will be done when the statements are finalized at the end of June and December each year.
    • We used to show ebook cost deduction here, but as of December 2018, we no longer charge to create ebooks.

    Royalty Payable

    This is the royalty payable to you, calculated as follows:

    • Royalty on trade sales
    • + royalty on foreign-rights sales
    • +/- additions/deductions.

    We then apply the author split (as per your contract) if there are multiple authors to give us the amount owed to each author.

    If you have an agent, we will automatically pay them this amount.

    If it is blank, see Unearned Carry Forward below.

    Unearned Carry Forward

    This means that no amount is owed to you for this period, and the figure will be negative.

    This is because there were either net returns for the period, more amounts deducted than royalty owed, or a negative amount was brought forward and the royalty still hasn’t earned through (see above for each separate point).

    This figure will be shown under deductions in your next statement.

    Other info

    • We will add together the royalty amount owed to you for both physical and ebook sales and pay you the combined total (a negative ebook amount or paperback amount will mean a deduction from the total).
    • For the principles of why our royalty terms are as they are, please view the relevant sections on the contract in Chapter 3.
    • If you have any queries regarding your royalty statement, please post on the forum in the Royalties section.

    We try to respond to queries quickly, but appreciate your patience in the period just after statements have been issued.

    Agents

    If your title has come to us through an agent, they will be listed on the contracts page, payment will be made to your agent, and they will make a corresponding payment to you, minus their agreed %.

    Charities

    Due to our high volume of authors and payments, unfortunately, we cannot split percentages to anyone other than authors or agents. If you would like to donate a portion of your royalties to a good cause, you will have to make it directly.

    Multiple authors

    If a book has two or three named authors, we will split the royalties equally, unless advised otherwise.

    How do I print a royalty statement?

    • Go to your Financials page and scroll down to the ROYALTIES section
    • Find the row royalty period you would like a statement for
    • The last column, Action, will have a link titled Open statement
    • Click on this and your statement will open in Microsoft Word

    You should then be able to save it to your computer/print it as you wish.

    If you have any queries about late payment or wrong payment of your royalties after reading this, please add them to the Royalties section of the Author Forum in Sales & Distribution.

    VAT

    For some authors, in UK and Europe, who are registered for Value Added Tax, we need an invoice from you for the royalty payment, so we can reclaim the tax. Please send the invoice to [email protected].

    If you are not registered for this (the vast majority), you do not need to do anything.

    Ebooks

    As of December 2018, we have stopped charging a conversion cost for ebooks on new titles.


    In 2023 we licensed our ebooks to librries for the first time. We received our annual income from these loans in December and this will be showing up in your ebook sales for December 2023. The income per library loan is smaller than an ebook sale, so if you notice increased numbers in your ebook sales, but not the corresponding income, this is why. We are looking to account for and present these numbers separately in 2024.


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