SigninG a Publishing Contract

3A. Payment Frequency & Late FEES

It is critical to define the schedule that the publisher will use to pay you royalties. The contract should include two pieces of information: 

  • The accounting periods that will be used to calculate your royalties (e.g. quarterly), and 
  • The payment due date after that time period (e.g. within 45 days of the end of the quarter). 

Failure to include one or the other can put the designer in a difficult situation of not being able to hold the publisher accountable. 


According to Cardboard Edison, about half of contracts specify that royalties will be paid quarterly, and another third are twice yearly. Monthly and annually are also options.

The accounting periods for the accounting of royalties shall be as follows: January 1 to March 31; April 1 to June 30; July 1 to September 30; and October 1 to December 31. PUBLISHER will pay all royalties owed to DESIGNER for each accounting period within forty-five (45) days of said reporting period.

PUBLISHER agrees to pay DESIGNER on a monthly basis between the 10th and 15th of each month, based on gross sales revenue received by PUBLISHER the previous month.

Minimum Payments

Publishers will sometimes include a “minimum royalty” clause to avoid having to issue very small payments. If they want to include this, make sure that:

  • the amount is low enough that you are comfortable with it;
  • the publisher is still required to send a royalty statement; and
  • the royalty ultimately will be paid out at the end of some period, no matter what.

In the event that royalties that have accumulated for any reporting period are less than $X, PUBLISHER shall hold the royalties until the amount exceeds $X or until the end of the calendar year for said reporting period, regardless of whether the amount owed at that time exceeds $X. 

Late Fees

A payment schedule isn’t really a schedule unless there is some penalty on the publisher for being late. Publishers will rarely volunteer to include a late fee in your contract, but they will likely accept one if you ask for it. If they don’t, that might be a red flag that they regularly miss payment deadlines.

Any payment not made when due shall be subject to a late fee of 1.5%. An additional 1.5% late fee shall be charged for each additional month that the payment has not been made.

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