THE CAREER NOVELIST
and higher margins involved in electronic versions. For that reason,
royalty rates should not be fixed just yet, nor should a fifty-fifty split
of licensing moneys be automatic.
Finally, since publishers may not want to license electronic ver-
sions if they will compete with their books (especially on the basis
of price), authors and their agents should be informed promptly of
any inquiries or offers for these rights.
Got all that?
Okay, now to money. What can you get for electronic rights?
There are few precedents, but here are some rough guidelines:
Electronic books offered on-line usually involve payment to
authors based upon net receipts. Here, authors must evaluate the
product and its price structure. What will the version cost the con-
sumer? How many units does the vendor expect to sell? Where the
profit margin is high, the author's cut should be high, too. Research
it. Find out what other authors are getting.
Where a work is being adapted into a multimedia format, it will
probably wind up being but one component of the whole. Directors,
actors, composers, designers, and other creative talent will be
involved. CD-ROMs are also sold in outlets other than bookstores.
Royalties may give way to a share of net profits. A 5 percent share
for the author seems to be an emerging standard.
Stay tuned for further developments, though. This is all still pret-
ty new.
PEACE TREATY
Not long ago I asked a Berkley editor how many sales of electronic
rights the company had actually made out of the hundreds of cases
in which they demanded control of those rights. She could think of
only one sale, for science fiction writer William Gibson.
There is a lesson in that: as with most any subsidiary right, the
greatest value will rest with the author, series, or character that has
established for itself brand-name recognition.
So, back to the battlefront... what happened at the "Multimedia
Now" square-off? Well, Alberto Vitale and Robert Gottlieb aired
their differences. Each made strong points, but the whole debate