What is 100% royalty? How is royalty determined?

There is a common misconception among authors that the author should get 100% royalty on the MRP of the book, but according to most of the authors the royalty is as follows; 100% Royalty = MRP of the book, ie, if the Maximum Selling Price (MRP) of the book is Rs.100 then the author should get Rs.100 as 100% royalty. While this illusion of Royalty is absolutely imaginary. Let us tell you that according to this imaginary illusion, no publisher around the world can give you 100% royalty. So far it has been our experience that most of the writers till today consider this imaginary illusion as true and are looking for such a publisher who will pay them 100% royalty according to their imaginary illusion. He is unable to find such publishers, due to which his book remains unpublished.

Confusion about 100% royalty

Usually authors are also confused about the royalty percentage that some publishers are giving 100% royalty, many publishers are giving up to 50% or 70% royalty and some publishers are giving only 10% royalty on MRP. While the authors do not try to know whether the publisher is giving them royalty on MRP or on Net Profit. That is, the author is not aware that the publisher is giving 100% or 70% or 50% royalty on MRP to the author or 100% or 70% or 50% royalty on Net Profit.

How is royalty determined

Let us explain to you how 100% royalty is determined. The amount that remains after deducting the cost from the MRP of the book to the print cost of the book till distribution is called 100% Net Profit or 100% Royalty. i.e. 100% Royalty = MRP of the book – (Printing Cost of the book + Distribution Charges + Branded packaging cost of the ecommerce store + Taxes + Selling fees of the ecommerce company + Additional local and maintenance expenses). In this way, after deducting all the above expenses from the MRP of any book sold by any self publisher, the remainder is called 100% Net Profit or Royalty. This remaining profit or royalty is given to the author as 100% royalty. Now you must have understood that how your publisher is giving you 100% or 70% or 50% Royalty, Net Profit or Fixed Royalty on MRP.

If you choose Fixed Royalty on MRP then it can be a profitable deal for you, because your royalty in 100% royalty can be more or less due to fluctuations in the prices of resources and raw materials related to book publishing. Whereas if you choose Fixed Royalty, you will always get assured royalty as per the deal. Resources related to book publication ie paper rate, selling fees, packaging material and other small expenses which may increase or decrease with time. By the way, it is also noteworthy that in the last 4-5 years, the cost of paper used in books, the cost of packaging material and courier charges have increased continuously. For example, just look at a copier paper, which could have been bought 6 years back for just Rs.130, whose current selling price is Rs.250. This is the reason that the cost of book publishing has increased in the last 4-5 years, due to which all the publishers have made a lot of changes in 100% royalty.

Let us also tell you that royalty is paid by some publishers after deducting tax from royalty. At the same time, some publishers also charge the author for withdrawal of Royalty. Due to many such Hidden Charges, the 100% royalty of the author goes on decreasing. That is, you can say that nothing is fixed in 100% royalty, whereas on MRP assured royalty the author is provided fixed royalty by the publisher, because here there is no fluctuation or any tax is imposed on the author’s royalty.

Apart from this, writers often complain that our publisher is not paying royalty on time or giving less royalty or not sharing the sales report of the book. The author facing such a situation must read the publishing contract before publishing the book. Also ask the publisher to mention the fixed time of royalty payment and royalty clearly in figures and words, so that there is no problem in future. It is also worth noting that be it a business or a publishing house, it becomes successful only through transparency and better services, not through poor services and opacity. Rather, the publishing house is often closed due to negligence and not living up to the expectations of its customers.

Tips to get high royalty percentage

After reading this article, if you still want that 100% of the MRP of the book should be received as Royalty, then in such a situation, only one advice can be given to the writers that you should get your book designed by a local DTP operator. After this get printed from the local printer and sell the book at your own level. On selling the book from your level, you will get 100% profit on MRP as Royalty. This is also true, if you print and sell yourself, there will be no middleman in between, you will get all your profit.

Then not only this, the authors are also not ready to understand that apart from the printing cost of the book, the selling fees of Amazon and Flipkart, the distribution partner’s share, the branded packaging material of Amazon or Flipkart has to be bought at their own expense.

In the end, you must also know that if the publisher starts giving 100% royalty according to the author’s imaginary illusion, then the publishing industry itself will come to the brink of closure and many publishing houses will be closed. Due to which many thousands of jobs will end, which are being provided by these publishing houses.

Written by – Rajender Singh Bisht
(Writer belongs to the publishing business and has been in journalism for about ten years before joining the publishing business.)

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