royalties

For two months a year, Christmas music is inescapable. As a result, Christmas albums can be real cash cows, year after year. Which led us to wonder: Who's getting all that money? The recording artists? The songwriters (or their heirs)? Or some corporate fat cats in really sharp suits?

Many writers are discovering the wonders (and extensive rewards) of self-publishing, but there are still places where professional representation can be be well worth the trouble. The confusing but often lucrative world of international sales is an example.

A novelist realizes that a book she wrote 20 years ago -- now out of print -- can be revived today as an e-book. Here's the story of how she took that old print volume and turned it into an e-book, complete with new title, new cover -- and new royalties!

Veteran novelist Catherine Ryan Hyde (Pay It Forward and 15 other books) describes the monetary underpinnings of the novelist's business. Did you know authors generally get just two royalty checks a year? That is, if there are any royalties at all.

Random House is throwing down the gauntlet with an announcement that it will stop doing English-language business with a top literary agency, Wylie Agency, because the agency signed an exclusive deal to sell e-books to Amazon.

Back in 1983, Ola Ray was a 22-year old model and aspiring actress. Her greatest accomplishment was an appearance as Playmate of the Month in the June 1980 issue of Playboy.That all changed when she was Michael Jackson's love interest in Thriller, the game-changing music video that hit MTV on...