To Our Friends in the Bookish Community

Written by Kat Meyer

For a variety of reasons large and small, Quartet Press has decided to discontinue operations. Sometimes, even with the best of intentions, a hard-working team, and the support of the community, things just don’t work out. This is one of those times. It’s disappointing to all of us, but it’s reality and we will all move on.

We are truly grateful to all of you who have wished us well.Your support and enthusiasm for our venture was humbling, and we hope you will not see our company’s disbanding as an indication that any of us doubt the viability of digital publishing. Far to the contrary — if nothing else, we have learned that the future of digital publishing, while overwhelmingly complex, will be bright indeed, and we will each be working toward that bright future via our individual efforts.

I chuckled at this because I’ve been running Ubuntu Linux for 3 years and completely avoided the entire Vista debacle, not to mention having a sleek, functional, stable, and gorgeous OS.

But I’m in IT, too, and everybody who’s stuck with Windows is sticking with XP for as long as they can, and until Redmond pries it from their cold, dead, and geeky fingers. It’ll be a sad day in Mudville when we have to turn the lights out on XP.

I chuckled at this because I’ve been running Win 7 Beta for MONTHS and can’t wait for my official disk to arrive. Just bought a new slimline tower running Vista so get the upgrade for nearly free. (I let the geek husband handle that.) Win 7 is my fave OS ever.

As for the royalty structure, I think it was actually the detail that may have been the original source of confusion. I think based on the commentary I’ve seen go back and forth, each party was asking the other to define net and gross. You did so in your response to me when you went into exactly what consituted gross, adjusted gross and net and defined them as such. Prior to that, your explanation was expansive but never really stated exactly which it applied to for the purposes of QP’s payment structure. Without that definition attached to the explanation, there’s still plenty of room for misinterpretation by the reader or a need for more focus so that the person wondering how royalties are paid aren’t still walking away asking “So, which is it? Gross or net?” Adjusted gross can bear a striking resemblance to net in many incarnations.

I realize this is probably beating a dead horse, but I don’t want you to have the impression that those of us asking this question aren’t listening or aren’t getting it. We are. We just want to make sure we understand exactly which slot in the often complex structure of contingent compensation this payment structure falls.

Even the most savvy number twisters and contract negotiaters will take this to the mat on occasion for clarification. A merchandise dispute between Disney and a company called Cry Wolf is a great example of how one entity interpreted royalty payment as opposed to another. http://www.fwrv.com/news/article.cfm?id=100788

As for responding in various forums, I think it’s a good thing. Just mirror it at your website as well–which is something you’ve said you have in the works and which I think is great.

Gah, like you, I’m zipping it and will just stick to reading the comments. Sorry, Karen and readers, for hijacking the thread.

Denise — I’m glad we’ve cleared this up. I don’t think I said anything different this time (looking back at my answers here and on our site), except to go into *extreme* detail about royalties. The original issue was a commenter who stated that she (he?) had heard we paid on the net, and I asked that that term be defined because it gets thrown around without a clear definition. My first response stated that we don’t charge expenses as well.

(And even though it probably bores most people to tears to read this stuff, I think it’s really critical for authors to understand how the money flows. I think the reason this discussion has gone on as long as it has is because most people don’t dig into the bits and pieces — and I certainly don’t blame them!)

So the reason I respond in various forums as well as our site (and I am fast-tracking the FAQ to make it easier on everyone) is because the information is being disseminated in these venues. You indicated you’d go to a publisher’s website for answers first, and I appreciate that. The truth is that many people get their information from other sources. I can’t expect that the people who read (the very patient) Karen’s site will do more research. I hope they do, but if someone like “areader” continues to post similar comments in various forums without clarification, then, well, you know. You’ve been online long enough.

Now I really am going away. I again apologize to Karen for monopolizing her site.

Now if you want to get detailed, gross — pure gross — is receipts. Adjusted gross is the calculation I outlined above — it’s the basis for most publishing calculations. Net is adjusted gross less distribution expenses (marketing, distribution, storage).

We don’t charge expenses.

These, right here, are what I believe many are looking for in an answer once it’s boiled down. From a number-cruncher’s standpoint, I can appreciate the very detailed explanation you listed above, but cutting to the chase like the above quotes is probably what most wanted to see.

If I’m reading this correctly, then QP’s royalty structure is adjusted gross, which is what I’ve seen from my publisher. Yes, they do pay gross, but it is adjusted gross.

Was it Fae who asked the question? I’ve checked the website again and didn’t see a spot where answers are posted to questions submitted. I make no accusation that QP is avoiding questions, but I’ll reiterate that the current scatter-shot method of answering them on various forums is inefficient. I’m glad to hear there will soon be a FAQ on the site. I’ll resubmit my question at the QP site as well and hope it gets through a second time.

Again, thanks for popping in to continue addressing the issue of royalty structure and for answering my individual questions.