Custom software for author royalty statements
Appfront builds software for publishers who pay their authors, translators and illustrators: contract-based percentages and tiers per edition and channel, sales from distributors, webshops and e-book platforms brought together, advances and returns reserves settled, income from translation and subsidiary rights allocated, and a statement per period that the author can read and check. So the royalty period doesn't cost a month of spreadsheet work, and an author never has to ask how their amount was arrived at.
What is software for author royalty accounting?
A publisher pays its authors a royalty on each book sold: a percentage of the price or the revenue, often rising with the print run, and different for each edition and format. An e-book and an audiobook have their own terms. There is an advance that must be earned back first. And when a translation appears abroad, the author receives a share of that income. Royalty accounting software calculates this per contract and produces a statement from it.
Without such software, someone has to pull sales figures from the distributor and the platforms each period, look up which contract applies to each title, apply the tiers in a spreadsheet, deduct advances and correct for returns. A title with two authors and an illustrator is a puzzle. A tier that spans two periods goes wrong. And an author who cannot follow their statement sends an email that nobody can answer quickly.
We build custom solutions because the statement must match your imprint and your contracts: which types of contract you sign, which tiers and formats you use, which distributor and platforms supply the sales, how you handle returns and advances, how subsidiary rights are split, and how you pay. A publishing system knows your titles and stock; it often only knows half of the arrangements with each author.
Calculated per contract
Percentages and tiers per edition, format and channel, for every author, translator and illustrator working on a title.
Everything accounted for
Advances, returns reserves and earlier statements taken into account, and income from translation and subsidiary rights divided according to the contract.
A readable statement
A statement per period with the breakdown per title and channel, in a portal where the author can find it.
How we build your royalty accounting software for authors
We start with your last royalty period: how many authors, how many contract types, where the figures came from, and which statements took the most time.
Your contract types and tiers, the distributor and platforms, advances, returns and subsidiary rights, and your accounts.
Transferring contracts with percentages, tiers and rights holders per title and edition.
Importing sales and returns, calculating per contract, and settling advances and reserves.
The statement per period, the author portal, payment through your accounts, and ongoing management.
What royalty accounting software for authors actually does
The components below come up at almost every publisher. Which you need depends on your imprint and your contracts.
Contracts
Percentages, tiers and terms per title, edition, format and channel, with multiple rights holders.
Importing sales
Sales and returns from the distributor, webshop, e-book and audiobook platforms, per title and period.
Calculation
Royalties per rights holder according to the contract, with tiers that run across periods.
Advances
Advances and how much of them has been earned back, per contract and per title.
Subsidiary rights
Income from translations, film adaptations and other rights, divided according to the contract.
Author portal
The author sees their statements, sales per title and any outstanding advance.
Who we build royalty accounting software for authors for
The software is intended for publishers for whom the royalty period is currently mostly spreadsheet work.
Literary publishers
Many titles with advances and translations. Settlement and subsidiary rights are the core.
Children's book publishers
Titles with an author and an illustrator. Division between rights holders matters most.
Educational publishers
Methods with many authors and licences. Calculation per channel is what is needed.
Trade publishers
Books, e-books and subscriptions. Formats and the portal are the core.
Test your idea first: a working prototype in 1 day
With OneDayBuild, we turn your idea into something tangible in one day for €1,150, so you can see whether further development is worth the investment. Decide to go ahead with the full build? Then we credit the full cost.
Explore OneDayBuild →Technology and integrations
This page is about royalty settlement with authors. For publishing as a whole, see our page on publishing software; for image rights, our page on an app for managing image rights; and for media in general, our page on media apps. Read about our approach at building software.
Why choose Appfront for your author royalty statement software?
An author who doesn't understand their statement trusts their publisher less. That's what we build on: calculating according to the contract, everything accounted for, and a statement that can be followed.
Less spreadsheet work
Sales come in from the sources and contracts are fixed. The period goes on checking, not calculating.
Tiers that add up
Tiers carry across periods and editions. An author who passes the threshold gets the correct percentage.
Fewer questions
The author sees by title and channel where their amount comes from. Questions are about exceptions.
Security and privacy in author royalty statement software
The software holds contracts, sales figures, advances and authors' bank details. Access is set by role: the author sees only their own statements, the rights department the contracts, finance the payments. Every change to a contract is logged with name and time.
The software runs in a European data centre, with encrypted storage and daily backups. Integrations with distributors and platforms use their own keys, which can be revoked.
Frequently asked questions about author royalty statement software
Questions publishers ask before they start.
It records each title's contracts with percentages and tiers, reads in sales and returns, calculates royalties per rights holder, offsets advances and returns reserves, distributes subsidiary rights income, and produces a statement per period in a portal for the author.
Yes. Authors, co-authors, translators and illustrators each receive their share according to their own contract.
From your distributor, your webshop and the e-book and audiobook platforms, as files or via an integration. We will look at which sources you have in the first step.
According to your contracts, for example with a returns reserve that is released in a later period. Incoming returns are offset against the title and period they belong to.
Yes. Contracts are recorded from your current administration, with a check for deviating agreements that need attention.
Yes, in a portal showing their statements, sales per title and the outstanding advance. Statements can also be sent as a PDF.
Check that first. Many publishing systems have a royalties module, and that is enough for simple contracts. Custom development makes sense if you have many contract types, if sales come from several sources, or if authors want to view their statement themselves.
A royalty period that doesn't cost a month of spreadsheet work?
Tell us how many authors you pay, which contracts you sign and where the sales come from. We'll show you what the calculation, the statement and the portal look like.