Yes, strictly speaking, that headline is true. Random House and The Wylie Agency have reached an understanding about who gets to publish the ebook versions of Random House's backlisted titles (i.e., Random House won). You can read more details about the dispute here.
This came to light last Tuesday after Random House and Wylie issued a joint statement on the matter, which said that "Random House shall be the exclusive e-book publisher of these titles for those territories in which Random House U.S. controls their rights. [Um, and if the contracts don't address e-rights, how do they determine if Random House controls those rights? Oh, never mind.] The titles soon will be available for sale on a non-exclusive basis through all of Random House's current e-book customers. Random House is resuming normal business relations with the Wylie Agency for English-language manuscript submissions and potential acquisitions, and we both are glad to be able to put this matter behind us."
The article goes on to say a lot of stuff about Odyssey, talks with literary agents, blah, blah, blah. But let's get to that "new royalty" bit, shall we?
According to one source, "Random is offering a royalty, on digital editions of backlist titles, built around a sliding schedule that can approach 40% 'rather quickly.' [What's that mean? I don't know.] The source explained that the royalty is based on a certain number of books selling over a specified period of time and, depending on what's negotiated, the rate will rise per the rate of sale."
So, if your agent is a good negotiator and you sell enough ebooks, an author could get as high as a 40% royalty? (I guess. And is that before or after the agent's cut? Again, I don't know.)
The article goes on to state:
"The presumption is that Random House's improved offer on backlist digital royalties--the source said this new approach is a 'good rate' and notably better than the standard 25%--will spark the other major houses to follow suit with similar offers."
Well, isn't that nice? But, um, 25% was piss poor to begin with and 40% still doesn't beat the 70% royalty offered by Amazon (subject to certain conditions) if authors self-publish their ebooks. A sum that goes entirely to the author.
I'm not knocking agents. I know agents often handle other deals involving ancillary rights (e.g., audiobooks, foreign translations, movie adaptations and so on), making them useful. I just think that if you're going to have an agent, make sure there's something more to be gained than a (possibly) 40% (possibly gross) royalty on your ebooks.
Just saying.
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