After having come close to experiencing the Presence last night, I got to wondering:
If a writer writes for a magazine, I assume he is paid for the article. What is a typical division of future profits from the writings, especially if books are made? Is it typical that the magazine owns 100%?
If a writer writes for a magazine, but it is credited to another writer, say even a non-human trademarked entity, and said entity is owned by said magazine, does said writer typically get a lower cut initially and/or a lower cut for future royalties?
If said writer leaves and another writer takes over writing under the name of said entity, does the initial writer still maintain any ownership over the writings of the future writer?
Are there typical situations and divisions here?
The above is purely hypothetical and not to be considered relevant to any workings here, of course. Since clearly there is no relevance to any workings here. Of course.
Books, from Shelley Leedahl (Famous Saskatchewan writer, her daughter is really hot and a friend of mine) usually get the author 10% (that’s standard, writers are advised to never go below that) but for articles and poems, 50 dollars is usually average - assuming you’re an independent contributer.
Not sure that’s what you wanted, but that might help.
Writers don’t sell the articles; they sell various publication rights to the article. Typically, the author sells First North American Serial Rights (in the U.S.) and keeps everything else. So if you put the article in the book, you usually get to keep any money.
However, some magazines (usually small presses) buy all rights, so they own the work outright and can do anything they want without further payment. In fact, if the author wants to use the work, the magazine has to agree (they usually do, but still). That’s one reason you want to avoid selling all rights unless you’re getting a big payment.
The situation you describe is extremely rare. Authors nearly always use their own name or pseudonym. Magazines hardly ever set up “house names” (as they used to be called) anymore. What happens to the future rights is determined by the contract between the magazine and the author.
The closest thing to what you describe is V.C. Andrews. After her death, an author was hired to write using her name as a pseudonym. I assume he got an advance and a lower than standard royalty, much like the Star Trek books.
When there were “house names,” each author would get a set fee and that was it. It was turned into work for hire. As I said, this situation is extremely rare. Few authors are going to let a magazine control their work in this manner.
Standard payment for books range from 6-8% for a paperback to 10-15% for a hardcover. Star Trek and other tie-in books pay only around 2%, but you make more money since they sell more copies.
Magazines pay by the word. A glossy may pay 50 cents or more; smaller magazine pay much less.
