Amazon Publishing to Speed Up Royalty Payments to Authors

Posted on March 19, 2013

The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon Publishing will now pay authors faster than before. The WSJ got ahold of a letter sent to literary agents yesterday in which Amazon.com's publishing arm says it will now pay monthly royalties to authors within 60 days of the end of each month. Before this, Amazon had been paying its authors every three months. Book publishers normally pay authors less often, most often semiannually. The change is going to put pressure on book publishers to start paying authors more regularly.

Amazon will make this change this month. Authors who are due royalties for March will receive the March royalty payment by May 31st. April royalties will be paid by June 30th, according to the letter which was signed by Amazon Publishing Vice President Jeff Belle. Belle wrote, "In this digital age, we don't see why authors should have to wait six months to be paid."

Belle's letter also discussed some of the amazing sales figures for its authors. The romance novel Crazy Little Thing by Tracy Brogan has sold more than 100,000 copies. The four books in the Hangman's Daughter series by Oliver Potzsch have sold more than 800,000 copies in all formats.

The change is a welcome one for authors. Anything that gets authors paid faster is a good thing.