Blogger: Rachel Kent
First, I want to thank you all for your prayers and kind wishes during these last few weeks! The Sonoma County fires are nearly contained and my firefighter husband is back to his normal routine. We are safe and doing what we can to help others who lost everything they own.
Because of the fires, I had a pile of royalty reports to process this week. I’m caught up on them now! At Books & Such, we always check our clients’ statements for accuracy and are available to answer our clients’ questions about their statements as well. For those of you who aren’t yet published, you’ll want to keep this blog in mind for the future.
Royalty statements vary in readability–some publishing houses have very clear statements and others have statements that are so muddled that they’re nearly impossible to read. It’s important to figure them out so that you are sure that you are getting the money that is due to you. Your agent will be able to help, but here are three areas for you to look for on your report.
The first is your remaining advance or your balance. If this is a negative number, your advance hasn’t earned back. If it’s a positive number, you are most likely due a payment. If you think you should have a payment and you don’t, talk with your agent. The account balance number can grow and shrink depending on book sales and returns.
The second area to look for is your cumulative sales number. This number tells you how many books have sold during the entire time your book has been published. If your statement does not have a cumulative sales number, you will want to track your own life-to-date sales starting when you receive your first royalty report. (Or ask if your agent already is keeping track.) You will need to add and subtract sales and returns from your number to keep track accurately. Even if your royalty report does have a cumulative sales section, it is still a good idea to keep track by adding and subtracting all reported sales so you can easily see if your number and the publisher’s number match on future reports. Most of the reporting is done using computer equations, but these computer systems don’t always work perfectly.
The third thing you should be on the lookout for in your statement is if both physical and digital sales are being reported. Occasionally publishing houses will forget to send a report for one or the other, and this can affect your account balance. Not receiving a report doesn’t mean there weren’t sales. You should receive a report even if the book had zero sales for the royalty period.
Remember that your agent can help you if you are confused by a royalty statement. I wish I could go into all of the details of reading a statement here, but we would be here all night!
For those who are published, especially those who are self-published, how do you keep track of your life-to-date sales? Or would you rather leave that in your agent’s hands?
Refining a Proposal
Thank so much, Rachel! This is helpful to remember. And I am so glad to see you back here on the blog instead of hazarded by fires! We live in forest fire country and had to be evacuated once. Actually, we had to evacuate a whole camp full of kids (I live at a Bible camp) and take them all to the red cross shelter where their parents came to pick them up. It was much too exciting! I’m so glad you are back to more calm times.
Dear Lord Jesus, I am so grateful you don’t keep a “life to date” account of my positives and negatives!
And Rachel, I’m grateful you are safe. Thank you for the background basics.
So glad you and yours are safe, Rachel.
* Have to confess that when I read the title “Royalty Report”, I was looking forward to some inside facts on the Windsors…ah, well.
* Would have been more cheerful that my story; I was getting royalties in weird and very small amounts that I knew did not reflect sales of BPH, but with a lot on my plate I never followed it up. I assumed I had misunderstood something, and thought it might be a tad gauche to ring them up and ask, “Hey, where’s my money?” for gentlemen NEVER speak of money.
* As it turned out the publisher shortly went out of business under a very large and dark cloud; thus, I suppose, the answer.
Oh Andrew, to put it bluntly, stinks, BUT, I have to tell you your royalties and rewards ate being built up and held for you in your heavenly home. I had a dream this year where I was ushered by angels and group of people who had already passed and were in heaven. They were all so excited to see me and show me something. I don’t remember any of their faces, but the angels were much taller by about two feet. They were so packed around me I could see nothing else but people and angels. The largest angel, I believe my special angel that has been with me since my conception and birth, LED THE way to a large hall and in that hall were sets of enormous double doors, maybe each door was 8 feet across and about 12 feet high. I was so excited, I wasn’t sure what we would see, but I hoped it would be Jesus . As the angel opened the door, he said something I cannot remember. The others cheered. I stood there dumbfounded because what ever he said, I knew it was that this was my reward room. I don’t know how large it was, but there were rewards of all kinds, attended to by angels assigned to care for them and give them to me at my request. They were grouped together according to what it was for, kind words, generosity, faithful prayers, all kinds of things and there were rewards for suffering well, and continuing to minister to others inspite of being in pain or need myself. I never saw the actual back of the room. But the rewards were bigger than what was on the tables, on the table was the item that guaranteed and told of the rewards and what we had done, all without knowing. For when we had done this thi vs on earth, a reward was not in our mind, but only the care for another person, or thing God was pleased about. There are very special rewards for suffering well because it is one of the hardest things we as humans have to learn. I believe you have learned that.
Anyway, they had to shut the door, and since I was not to stay in heaven, I could not see or request any. However, as we left, the group stood still, and I saw people parting, and then, as the person came forward and stood before me, I recognized him as my father in his prime. I looked at his face. He was not allowed to speak to me because he cannot until I go home for eternity. But in that moment as I looked upon my father’s face, I knew my father was aware of the pain he had caused me through ten years of terrifying physical abuse from the age of six until I became a Christian at seventeen. Without going into detail, I was his little cup until I was six, When I was six, we moved away from relatives, as he took on a new job as a social worker. It was within that first year, perhaps the first six months that my life became a complex existence of mom’s laughter and home cooking, family outings to parks and tyrannical rages of my father as he let out the brunt of all his anger, built up from his own triggers, fears, and past traumas on my small body. I lost count. That is where my PTSD started. Anyway, I forgave him, and my mother for not getting help, long ago when I was 19. But it has been quite a journey. So there he stood in heaven, having died in real life at 59 from a heart attack. Looking at his glowing face, I knew he knew all I had suffered, because of him, but I also knew he was so pleased with how I had found Jesus and what I am doing now. Andrew, I shouted, “My daddy, my daddy, my daddy!” Then I ran to him and embraced him, and he embraced me. In my heart, just having seen my reward room, and how big and beautiful and full it was, this other than being eternally with Jesus, God was the best reward of all…to have my daddy back. The daddy I once knew, before I was six, and after seventeen when he was changing and then became a Christian ( while I was away at nursing school).
Andrew, and everyone else, I know we have to live in this world and work and do all the practical things that involve good stewardship and working our best unto Him, but I wanted to share about this, especially to Andrew. Andrew, this is why I know so much about pain, hardship and PTSD and such,and my father, unfortunately, was only part of the thongs I have been through, but I seek not overwhelm you or anyone else. Only as a reminder that God is the only true rewarded, so be encouraged, you will get so much more than you ever dreamed from being a writing of God, an epistle, just as Paul admonished in 2 Cor 3:1-3.
What a beautiful story!!! Thanks for sharing it.
Elizabeth, thank you so much for telling us this wonderful dream. What a gift for you, your daddy and all of us. It has especially hit home to me as I’ve pondered what I’m supposed to be doing since losing my husband. Earth pales beside importance. Rewards in heaven? Kindness, generosity, prayers. All without thought of getting something back. Maybe it’s just giving. From the heart. May God bless you always.
Wow, Elizabeth, thanks for sharing! That dream is so encouraging!
Elizabeth, Wow! I would love to dream about seeing those I love in heaven
That was NOT, Andrew stinks, but what the publisher did to you! Good grief, Charlie Brown. That would be me,
I must tell you all, it seemed a dream, but sometimes I wonder if I was caught up to heaven in those early hours of the morning. I didn’t go through the light like so many near death experiences. I was suddenly just there, and all they showed me was my reward room and I was allowed to see my father. Then I remember the largest angel, who I believe is my guardian angel say, “We need to get her back.” as in back to her body in earth.
This dream occurred just prior to me beginning a memoir, my first titled, “Losing My Mind, Finding God’s ” in which I reveal portions of what I have lived through from the age of six, and into my adulthood. When, I was little, probably about 8, I never wanted anyone to hurt the way I did. I wondered what I could do to make people feel better. I remember thinking this through quite a bit, because I had no money or anything to give them.
I finally came up with the answer I could give them a smile, because it didn’t cost any money, and it always seemed to make people’s days brighter because to at least one person they mattered. I have been smiling at people ever since. The dream was given to encourage me, and to let me know inspite of all my suffering, which included suffering and other trauma, but nothing prepared me for the pain and suffering of my own son’s trauma that we had to go through three years of court. He was only ten at the beginning. My pain for him was far greater, because both my husband and I never wanted our child to suffer the way we both did. This dream, or trip to heaven, showed me not only God had rewards for all I had done just because of my heart for people, but it relieved the burden of my heart to reveal this terrifying side of my father who eventually was made the director of human services for our county. I was the whipping post for all the societal ills he came into contact with. My mother would warn me if he had a bad day, so I could hide upstairs. Anyway, way too much to share here, but when my daddy looked at me in heaven, no words were spoken by him. But I could feel all his sorrow for what he had done, all his joy at how far I had come and how I allowed the Lord to use me, and he understood it was necessary to share my story for the healing if so many others. It was as if my daddy was saying, “Don’t worry, I know you love me daughter. It is okay, just continue to do what the Father asks.”
Weird thing was, then they brought me home, and I didn’t get to see Jesus. But the Father told me, that is because it would have been too hard on me to leave Him once I saw Him. It would be hard to finish my work on earth, because I would always be wanting to be with Jesus. That dream released me emotionally to be free to write my book and speak. I have had other dreams and visions in my life, but this one was especially wonderful.
I am so glad it has encouraged many of you.
Wow, thanks Rachel. That’s something I’ve wondered about. If it was me I’d entrust that to my agent and.be very grateful. I have never thought to begrudge an agent commission. I have heard some people, not in my circle of writer friends or ACFW MN NICE members, but elsewhere try to avoid having an agent in order to keep every last penny they make. For me, I relish having someone I can trust doing all you do, especially at Books and Such. To me, a good agent is priceless. So for me, I definitely would ask my agent to keep tabs, so I can be about creating and doing all those things to create platform.
I’m so glad you and your dear husband are safe. My heart goes out to all in Santa Rosa. I have seen a film made by firefighters that came up from another city and watched as they took videos and made comments. It is shocking, really just unbelievable devastation. My prayers are still with you all.
Rachel, welcome back. And thanks to your husband for his service as a first responder.
A question about those who use the White Glove option for agent-assisted publishing. Does an agent go over those royalty reports, just as they do the ones that come out every 3 to 6 months from regular publishers.
Thanks for sharing.
“For those who are…self-published, how do you keep track of your life-to-date sales?”
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A simple Excel spreadsheet does it for me. I have two tabs for the current year, both of which have aggregate lifetime sales as well. One tab has books sold and royalties for the year, as well as lifetime totals for sales and royalties. For most books the equation [sales x royalty rate = royalty] will result in fractional cents, so the total will likely be off. Amazon reports sales the same day they happen; Smashwords reports monthly, though a new feature shows that you had a sale today (for five major retailers) but not which book it is. On my Royalty tab, I separate sales by retailer, including print books that are self-sold. This tab tells me I’ve sold 525 books lifetime, and earned $1,357.99 in royalties (approximate, depending on how the fractional cents work out) in just under seven years of self-publishing.
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The second tab is a Sales Table, showing sales but not royalties, and not separated by retailer. Prior years show sales by year for each book; 2017 shows sales per month. This summary table is easier to read quickly than is the detailed royalty tab. This shows I’ve sold 62 books this year, combined print and e-books. That’s of 26 titles. Five titles have zero sales so far this year. The number of sales between the two tabs have to match, otherwise I have a tracking error. Today’s table shows they do match.
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This is perhaps somewhat cumbersome, and probably wouldn’t work if I were selling thousands of books per year. But then, if I were selling thousands of books per year, I probably wouldn’t care about the details.
So glad you are all safe! I was just telling my husband about royalty reports last night, because we were talking about my book coming out next year and he was asking how the advance works. It reminded me of a story Janet shared recently when she found a mistake on a report and her client ended up getting paid more as a result. I’m so thankful that we have you ladies to help us navigate things like this. I am so not a numbers person and I’d be totally lost.
Rachel, I’m so glad you’re home and safe. Please thank your husband for all he had to do. It will be a relief when the fires are completely out, but I’m still praying for the people who lost their homes and jobs in all the fires, including some near me in the Sierra foothills.
Giving thanks that you are safe and back here with us, Rachel!
*As an indie author, I have to personally keep track of everything financial for Cerrillo Press (cerrillo = little hill in Spanish, and I’m the baby of the Hill family).
*I keep the info from every distribution channel in an Excel spreadsheet, and an indie can have a dozen different deposit coming each month, mostly between the 29th and the 4th.
*Amazon is an interesting case illustrating the complexity. For example, I produce and distribute most of my paperbacks through CreateSpace. Readers can buy direct or secondary sellers (brick and mortar or online) can get hardcopy there. I get paid by direct deposit once a month about a month after the sale, with direct sales paying >$4 and secondary sales paying about ~$1.30 on a $14.99 paperback. I can download detailed sales reports for each book showing date, number, and $-value of that day’s sales.
*The ebook case is a bit more complicated. Kindle sales are through KDP, and I can watch worldwide sales online in real time. (For each buyer as I see them, I pray that my novel will encourage their faith. I love the real-time sales info for that purpose!) I can also download a report whenever I want that shows details of the sales for various time frames up to 90 days (I specify the time when I make the online request and get instant information). Payout is direct deposit the second month after the sale.
*The real fun comes from seeing the Kindle international sales. Some show up as sales through one of the 13 Amazon subsidiaries in the currency of that country. So far, that includes for me UK, Australia, and Canada. Other international sales show up at Amazon.com as 70% royalty sales at odd dollar values due to exchange rates and VATs. That’s Western Europe including UK and some of the British Commonwealth countries. In theory, I could almost tell where those were if I knew VATs and exchange rates for that day. Others (most of the rest of the world) show up as 35% royalty sales. I can’t tell where those are from.
Each Amazon subsidiary generates its own direct deposit 2 months after the sale, taking into account the exchange rate that day.
*It’s a lot of data to enter into the spreadsheet, but I’m an analytical numbers person. Watching all this sales data is a blast.
*For the person who doesn’t like tracking the details, having an agent would be a real blessing.
Oh my goodness Carol! I am in awe, truly. AND you enjoy it! I love the creating part so much better, and marketing. I would much rather be in a room full of people I don’t know. I admire your ability, gift and your enjoyment of it. Course maybe with music and Peanut M&M’ s within arms reach I could do it…
Try the coffee nut M&Ms for a real treat! For a healthier alternative, mini chocolate chips.
Forgot I had one ebook sale in Japan. 11 of the 13 Amazon subsidiaries offer POD paperback versions of my books as well. I’ve never had a paperback sale directly through a subsidiary, so I don’t know if they handle those by adding them to as paperback sales recorded thru KDP instead of CreateSpace or what. Anyone here know?
*Amazon Author Central also shows BookScan data on where your book sold (there are 100 US geographical areas) as hardcopy in bookstores going back 2 years
Responding to the minichip recommendation. I do have some of those “hidden” in my baking cupboard. Little tiny drops of deliciousness. Yum! Where is that bag anyway? LoL.
So glad you’re safe, Rachel. My hubby was the chief of our volunteer fire department and I know how anxious I got when he got called out to a fire. I cannot imagine the anxiety you must have been feeling as your hubby was fighting fires for days and weeks while you, yourself, were evacuated. I hope you were able to catch a breath a time or two. I was praying for you two and the rest of the office.
Thanks so much for the explanation. I’ll bookmark this post for “somewhere down the road.” I always learn so much here.