I'm trying to find out information about packagers and a fair split of revenue. I was recently approached to write a book in my specialty area. It was the packagers idea to write this particular book concept and this is my first book.

The contract states they would take 15% of the royalties (a standard agent percentage, I understand). Then we would split the remaining net royalties 40% (me) - 60% (packager). The way I view it is that they view themselves as equivalent to a co-author and are taking their split. My question is: is this reasonable? Is it conceivable that they could invest enough time in the editing, promotion, publishers search, to take such a split.

The book is a relatively straightforward one, with short sections, so I can get a decent estimate of how much time it will probably take me to write it (maybe 300 - 400 hours).

Thanks, MM

I spoke with Jim Salisbury (book packager and co-author of "Smart Self-Publishing") about this. Although he does not hire writers for ideas he comes up with, he knows of authors who have been in this situation. In one case he cited, the author was approached by a book packager and asked for a couple of sample chapters and an outline. In this case the packager never did manage to sell the idea to a publisher and so the author was never paid.

This is definitely something to bear in mind if you are only being paid on condition of a sale to a publisher. You may feel it is worth 300-400 hours of your time if the end result might be a book. On the other hand, you might not feel that way.

If the book packager was publishing the book, I might say that yes, it is conceivable that they would invest enough in marketing and editing to justify the 60% of net royalties. However, the publisher they sell it to will take final responsibility for all those things. In this case, the deal seems a little unfair, even if it was their idea.

And remember, I have rarely heard a writer say how thrilled they were with their agent or publisher. If you go in feeling that you are being taken advantage of, imagine how much harder it is going to be if you don't feel they are working hard enough for the book...

If it was me, I'd try to negotiate a 50-50 split on the royalties and I would limit how much work I promised to do before they obtained a publishing contract.

HOWEVER, this area of publishing is not one I am expert in, so I will continue to research this and see if I can come up with a more definitive answer.