Ongoing payments to an author based on a percentage of each book sold, typically the primary way writers earn money from their published work.
Royalties are the percentage of revenue or cover price you earn every time someone buys your book. The exact rate depends on the format (print, ebook, audiobook), your contract, and whether you are traditionally published or self-published. In traditional publishing, royalties first go toward repaying your advance. In self-publishing, you keep the full royalty from sale one, though the percentages and calculations differ by platform. Royalties are the long game of writing income.
Royalties are how most authors actually make a living from their books over time. Understanding royalty structures helps you compare deals, choose between traditional and self-publishing with real numbers, and set honest expectations about what your book needs to sell before you see meaningful income. A savvy author reads the royalty clause in a contract the way a musician reads the fine print on a record deal.
Rowling's royalties from the Potter books alone generate tens of millions annually, demonstrating how a backlist phenomenon creates compounding income over decades.
Howey famously retained his ebook rights when signing a print-only deal with Simon & Schuster, keeping the higher self-publishing royalty rate on digital sales while gaining traditional distribution for print.
Pick a book in your genre and find its retail price in hardcover, paperback, and ebook. Calculate what the author earns per sale at standard traditional royalty rates (10% of cover for hardcover, 8% for paperback, 25% of net for ebook). Then calculate the self-published ebook royalty at 70%. Compare the numbers and think about what volume of sales each path requires to make a living.