Author's fee

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The author's fee is the grant that a freelance writer receives for the creation of texts. Accordingly, it is a form of fee that can be narrowed down to a professional group. The current practice of fee payment is based on the claim of the author of a text against the user of the same, which results from the copyright .

history

The earliest forms of author's fees and fee payments for other services in the field of text creation and editing ( editing , proofreading, etc.) can be traced back to the 15th century. In the 16th century it was common practice to claim authors' fees in the form of dedications , the dedications , from potential sponsors . As a rule, they were not asked in advance and received a share of the prints after the work was printed with the request for payment with reference to the dedications.

From the 17th century onwards, fixed fees were established, known as flat fees and calculated on the basis of the number of pages and the circulation of a publication . These early author's fees were, however, very often paid in the form of barter goods, for example by the fact that the author received other printed works, food or other things as payment. In addition, many publishers and authors refused to pay or accept money for intellectual products ( philosophy , poetry , poetry ).

“Until well into the 18th century, there was an awareness that prevented the scholar from making extensive economic use of his works. For his literary work he was granted a fee or some other kind of monetary consideration, but this was not the actual purpose of his literary activity, at least it should not be. "

Fees were dependent on the author's reputation. The inconsistent regulation of authorship and the handling of pirated prints posed a further problem. Only with the introduction of copyright law and the formation of various interest groups such as the Börsenverein der Deutschen Buchhandels in Leipzig, founded in 1825 (today the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels ), this practice could be standardized.

Today's fee practice in Germany

The fee payment for authors in Germany is regulated today according to the copyright contract law § 32 UrhG in the version of March 2002, whereby the final version is currently still being discussed and improvements are being demanded by both the authors' representatives and the publishers . An agreement between the Association of German Writers and a number of publishers in the field of fiction essentially provides six points for the binding fee regulation:

  1. A share in the hardcover editions sold in the amount of eight to ten percent of the net retail price as well as a staggered fee for special sales successes.
  2. A staggered participation in the sale of paperback editions depending on the number of sales: five percent for a circulation of up to 20,000 copies, 6 percent for up to 40,000, seven percent for up to 100,000 and eight percent for over 100,000 copies. In addition, there is a participation of four to six percent in a special edition, the price of which must be at least a third below the price of the original edition.
  3. The author receives 50 to 60% of the license fees when exploiting ancillary rights such as using them in non-book media or converting them into scripts .
  4. Usually, the author receives an advance payment from the publisher.
  5. At the request of the publisher, the author transfers the rights of use to the publisher.
  6. Depending on the market economy potential and literary value, authors' fees and distribution of profits are now freely negotiable.

In addition to these agreements, there are still various models of remuneration for children's books , scientific works, non-fiction books , guides and other forms of books and media, as well as translations . In the case of licenses from abroad, a guarantee fee , rather than a staggered fee , is generally paid.

literature

  • Erhard Schütz u. a. (Ed.): The book market book. The literary business in basic terms. Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, Reinbek near Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-499-55672-3 .
  • Harald Steiner: The author's fee - its development history from the 17th to the 19th century . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1998, ISBN 3-447-03986-8 ( Scientific articles from the German Book Archive Munich , Vol. 59).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Harald Steiner: The author's fee - its development history from the 17th to the 19th century . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1998, ISBN 3-447-03986-8 ( Book scholarly contributions from the German Book Archive Munich , Vol. 59), p. 32.