The FAQ Series: Can I Expect to be Paid for Publication?

Many of you have sent us the same questions over and over via email. That is why we created a very detailed FAQ and Philosophy pages to help you.

But we wanted to make things even easier by breaking down all the questions into easy-to-digest posts.

Today’s question is: “Can I expect to be paid for publication?“

Yes! We are now offering royalties to adult paying contributors (who have opted for the $6 submission fee) via our distributor Draft2Digital. All you have to do is open your own Draft2Digital account, complete your payment settings and fill in your tax interview directly on the D2D website.

The next step will be to send us the email address you used to sign up for the account, so we can let D2D know that they can finalize the royalty payment process with you.

Please note the following:

• We cannot set up your D2D account for you.
• We cannot help with the issues you may encounter with the site. Please contact the support team instead.
• D2D will handle royalty payments, not us. D2D will also handle sales reports for your publication, which you can access via your D2D account. Questions about the royalty payment process should be sent to them, not us.

How Much Money Can I Make?

We cannot answer this question directly, as royalty payments depend entirely on sales. We can only share potential (and very conservative) numbers with you. With that said, we anticipate sales to be higher than the sample ones quoted, especially if featured artists actively promote our anthologies to their networks, family members and friends. 

• Entry fee: $6 per piece or $15 for three pieces.
• Average sale price per anthology copy: $8.99.
• Revenue per copy: 60% of the sale price, which works out at about $5.30. 
• NB: Draft2Digital and the bookstores that sell our anthologies keep the other 40%. 

Potential Earnings for Writers

Royalty rates are based on the total number of words we accept from your submission. Everything starts at 1% royalties for 6-100 words, up to a maximum of 3.5% royalties (6,001+ words). 

We receive a lot of poetry and the written submissions we accept average 350-400 words or at a 1.5% royalty rate. Here is your earnings potential: 

• 1 copy: $0.08.
• 10 copies: $0.8.
• 10 copies / month over 1 year: $9.60.
• 10 copies / month over 2 years: $19.20.
• 10 copies / month over 4 years: $38.40.
• 10 copies / month over 6 years: $57.60.
• 10 copies / month over 10 years: $96.
• 10 copies / month over 20 years: $192.

Now, let’s do the math with 1,550 words, at a 2.5% rate. Here is your earnings potential: 

• 1 copy: $0.13.
• 10 copies: $1.30.
• 10 copies per month over 1 year: $15.60.
• 10 copies / month over 2 years: $31.20.
• 10 copies / month over 4 years: $62.40.
• 10 copies / month over 6 years: $93.60.
• 10 copies / month over 10 years: $156.
• 10 copies / month over 20 years: $312.

Potential Earnings for Visual Artists

We offer a 1.5% royalty rate per image, up to a maximum of 4.5%  for 3+ images.  

Here is your earnings potential for one image: 

• 1 copy: $0.08.
• 10 copies: $0.8.
• 10 copies per month over 1 year: $9.60.
• 10 copies per month over 2 years: $19.20.
• 10 copies per month over 4 years: $38.40.
• 10 copies / month over 6 years: $57.60.
• 10 copies / month over 10 years: $96.
• 10 copies / month over 20 years: $192.

As you can see, even with very low projected conservative numbers regarding sales, you can quickly recoup your submission fee and start earning money over an indefinite amount of time. All you have to do is help us promote the anthologies as often as you can, so you can really increase your earnings potential. It is seriously a worthwhile investment for anyone who is interested in submitting to us!

As a reminder, you are free to submit your art that is published in our anthologies elsewhere. You retain all of the copyright and publishing rights to your work. We ask for first international publication rights to your work that we publish, which then revert back to you after three months.

See you soon for another topic covered in our FAQ series and don’t forget to check out our latest submission calls!