I am starting a business that publishes technical/medical documents. 
For business reasons, most of the writers that will be producing
documents for me are PhD's or MD's working as independent contractors.
 I would like to arrange the contracts with these individuals such
that they receive payments based on net sales of the documents they
produce.  I have 2 questions.  1) In general, what are the typical
royalty percentages given to authors of technical/professional
articles?  and 2) In situations where independent contractors are
authors of works to be used by a business, who retains intellectual
property rights to the work?  Good answers will receive a tip.

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Clarification of Question by svannes-ga on 29 Oct 2002 15:09 PST

Sorry for the typo in the subject line.

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Request for Question Clarification by kriswrite-ga on 29 Oct 2002 16:21 PST

Will the writers be working on books (which receive royalties) or
articles (for which writers are paid a flat fee); your question uses
the term royalties in conjunction with articles, it appears, and this
is far from industry standard.

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Clarification of Question by svannes-ga on 29 Oct 2002 17:27 PST

Thanks for your reply.  I've revealed my ignorance of industry
standards.  I suppose that the works would more closely be defined as
an article (but it is really more of a technical report).  It would
certainly not be classified as a book.  It therefore seems, as you
suggested, that royalties are not appropriate for this sort of
writing.  If that is the case, what are typical rates for a ~15pg
technical reports.  A general range (with some supporting references)
would be sufficient to answer this question.

Hi Svannes-

Often articles such as you describe are written under a "work for
hire" agreement in which the author sells all rights to the publisher.
However, many writers prefer a contract in which they sell "first"
rights of one sort or another, meaning you get to publish the article
first but the author retains the copyright and may sell the article
again.
Obviously, an author expects to be paid more for work for hire. 

Given the level of expertise of your authors you should expect to pay
at least $1 per word and probably more like $2.


You can see some fee schedules at:
http://www.writers.ca/whattopay.htm

The National Survey Freelance and Contract Writer's Rates was
conducted in 1999 but gives a very good idea of pay scales.
http://www.nwu.org/hotline/hotsurv.htm

See a discussion of various publication rights
http://www.writers.ca/copyright_basics.htm

A full legal discussion on hiring freelance writers is at
http://www.nwsltr.com/indep-contract.shtml
Even though it is aimed at newsletter publishers most of it pertains
to all freelance hiring.

And this site offers 50 tips for dealing with freelance writers.
 http://www.writers-editors.com/Need_a_writer_/Meet_Writers/E-mail_Edit/50_Tips/50_tips.htm

If, however, you are publishing reports that will be marketed for high
fees, then authors may work on a fee plus percentage basis, more like
book contracts.  That percentage would vary depending on the price of
the report and projected sales.


Hope this helps.

Nellie Bly

Thanks.  Very informative.