Author Royalties in the Hot Seat
Naturally, all this makes contracts simpler. Direct costs are taken out before the across-the-board revenue split, and these costs are agreed on ahead of time, including those for book tours and other marketing initiatives. Miller calls this arrangement "a true partnership."
Of course, this has only been proven to work with a certain type of author—nonfiction writers who see themselves as strong brands. For this reason, some see these new approaches—from no-advance models to special e-book deals to self-publishing—as a sort of cherry-picking of proven talent, leaving traditional publishers to take all the risk in developing, for instance, good fiction. (RosettaBooks CEO Arthur Klebanoff was quoted as saying, of the Covey deal, "There are superstars, and superstars are entitled to more.")
- People:
- Ethan Ellenberg
- Stephen Covey
- Places:
- New York