How to change royalty structures when a book already has sales history
Familiar calculates your royalties for all-time. If you change the contract, it may alter how historical royalties were calculated. When you need to change your royalty structure for a book that already has sales, Familiar offers two approaches:
Both approaches preserve accurate historical data and ensure contributors receive correct payments.
Before changing your royalty structure, make sure all royalties earned up to this point are properly calculated and recorded.
This ensures you are editing the most up to date royalties and won't alter existing royalties.
Best when you want to:
Best when you want to:
Adding a new tier at the current sales level is useful when:
For books with tiered royalty structures, you'll see an "Add Tier at Current Sales" button next to the regular "Add Tier" button.
Before:
After clicking "Add Tier at Current Sales":
Result: Past sales (0-5,000 units) remain at 10%, but all future sales (5,001+) earn 15%.
Before:
After clicking "Add Tier at Current Sales":
Result: Past revenue ($0–$15,000) remains at 20%, but all future revenue ($15,001+) earns 25%.
Important:
This feature does NOT:
It only creates a new tier starting at the current sales level, so future sales use the new royalty rate while past sales remain calculated at their original rates.
Archiving is the right choice when:
Go to your book's royalty structure page. You'll see the "Archive Historical Data" button.
This opens a dialog where you can select the archive date and review what will be archived.
Choose the month up to which sales data should be archived. All sales through the end of this month will be included in the archive.
The system will show you a summary of what will be archived, including total units, revenue, and the payment offset that will be applied.
Once you've reviewed the preview, confirm to archive the data. Existing royalty structures will be removed.
After archiving, you'll need to create new royalty structures for each contributor. The book's sales will effectively start from zero for the new structures.
Scenario:
A book has been selling for 2 years with a flat 10% royalty. The publisher wants to switch to a tiered structure starting fresh.
Before Archive:
After Archive:
New Structure Created:
Result: The contributor's $4,800 in past earnings are preserved via the payment offset. Future sales start fresh with the new tiered structure, and the sales counter begins at zero.
If you need to reverse an archive, an "Unarchive" button is available on the book's royalty structure page when no active royalty structures exist for the book.
Unarchiving restores the previous royalty structures and removes the payment offset, returning the book to its pre-archive state.
Document the change: Add a note in the contract or communicate with contributors about the structure change
Timing: Consider aligning changes with payment periods or statement generation
Verify calculations: After saving, check a few royalty calculations to ensure they're working as expected
Communication: If this is a significant change, inform contributors before implementing it
Generate statements before archiving: Run royalty statements for all contributors before archiving so there's a clear record of earnings under the old structure
Create new structures promptly: After archiving, set up new royalty structures right away to avoid a gap in royalty calculations
A: No. Both approaches preserve past earnings. Adding a tier only affects future sales. Archiving uses a payment offset to ensure contributors aren't double-paid or underpaid.
A: Yes. You can add multiple tiers at different sales thresholds to create complex royalty structures.
A: For tiers, you can delete the tier or adjust its threshold and percentage. For archives, you can use the Unarchive button to reverse the process (available when no active structures exist).
A: While not technically required, it's good practice to communicate significant royalty structure changes to your contributors.
A: Adding a tier keeps your existing structure and adds a new breakpoint at the current sales level — ideal for simple rate changes. Archiving removes all existing structures and lets you start fresh — ideal for major contract overhauls or switching structure types entirely.
A: No. Archiving does not delete any sales data. All historical sales records are preserved and remain accessible. The archive simply creates a dividing line so that new royalty structures calculate from a fresh starting point.
A: A payment offset is an automatic adjustment applied during archiving that represents the total royalties a contributor earned under the old structure. It ensures that when new structures are applied, the contributor isn't double-paid for historical sales or underpaid because previous earnings were "forgotten."
A: No. Archiving applies to the entire book and affects all contributors at once. If you only need to adjust one contributor's royalty rate, consider using the "Add a New Tier" approach instead.