From Random House/Wylie Detente, a New Royalty Rate Emerges

News that Random House had “won” its showdown with The Wylie Agency, over the inclusion of titles by RH authors in Wylie’s backlist digital publishing imprint Odyssey Editions, spread quickly through publishing circles last week, after joint statement released by Random House and Wylie.

The statement said that Random House will now be the exclusive e-book publisher of its 13 titles originally part of Odyssey Editions and that, as a result of the agreement, Random House will lift its ban on doing business with the agency.

Discussion over the weekend centered on news of a new royalty rate scale that has emerged from the dispute.  A source at Random House, uncovered by Publishers Weekly, revealed that RH will implement this new royalty rate scale on digital editions of backlist titles, which goes up to 40 percent.  PW reports: “The source explained that the royalty is based on a certain number of books selling over a specified period of time and, depending on what’s negotiated, the rate will rise per the rate of sale.”

Time will tell if other publishers adopt similar royalty rate scales.  If they do, it seems likely that this will motivate other authors to more actively promote their backlist titles, and motivate publishers to begin offering more e-book versions of their backlist titles.