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How to Track Your Royalties

Artists and creators earn royalties from published work, ideas, music, inventions, games and more. Anything that you own the rights to and someone else uses is subject to royalties. Think of royalties as rent paid on the home you own. The landlord owns the home, but the tenant pays a small amount of money to use the home for a certain length of time. Tracking your royalties is a bit tricky because you don't know exactly when your work or product is sold or used. There is a way to keep track of your royalties that only takes a little patience.

Instructions

    • 1

      Get copies of your quarterly statements from the publisher or company paying the royalties. These statements will give you the most accurate snapshot of what your royalties are at the end of each quarter or bi-annual period. Use statements to track cumulative royalties from sales.

    • 2

      Contact your agent or manager periodically for a royalty number. This number will be less accurate than the one on your statements as it may not reflect sales or uses from all sources. However, it will give you an idea of how well your product is currently performing.

    • 3

      Ask the company or clearinghouse paying the royalties for an audit. Depending on the letter of your contract, you may be entitled to an audit upon request. Prepare for the result. It will be a stack of sales logs that are a far cry from the royalty statement you are used to. You will have to compute the royalties from the documents on your own.

Book Publishing

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