Mostly been away from Twitter because I've been working 12-hour days, but: royalties season, my old nemesis, we meet again. Some exasperating things I’ve noticed on clients’ statements recently...

-Publisher bought world rights and made 3 translation sales in mid-2019. Why is there still no income shown for these sales? Has the money come in, but not been allocated to the author’s account? Or is the publisher just not chasing up the money? (Editor is now investigating)

-Publisher bought world English rights to a trilogy and all 3 books have now been published. There are no US print sales shown for book 3. Where are they? (Royalties dept. hasn’t answered my email about this yet)

-Another statement has no line item for ebook royalties. Book is definitely available in electronic format. Where are these royalties? (Royalties dept. hasn’t answered my email about this yet)

-Publisher bought world rights, made a translation sale, 100% of advance due on signature. Statement indicates that a 20% withholding tax was deducted; seemed high to me. Quick look at past remittances from our own deals show the usual tax rate is 10%. (Publisher is rectifying)

-Publisher didn’t apply the royalty escalator agreed in the contract. (Royalties dept. has promised to rectify on future statement)

The takeaway: No publisher will ever care about your money as much as you do. Learn to read your statements. Ask your agent if you have questions. Make the most of what little transparency publishers provide about sales.