What are the payment periods? When do quarters start and end?
1st Quarter: January 1st to March 31st 2nd Quarter: April 1st to June 30th 3rd Quarter: July 1st to September 30th 4th Quarter: October 1st to December 31st For each quarter, you are paid for the books sold and shipped in the given time frame. If a book was purchased online on March 30th, but the book was not actually printed and shipped until April 2nd, then you would be paid in the 2nd quarter, not the 1st, since the book didn’t ship until the 2nd quarter. You will only be paid once for the original book sale. For instance, if a book is resold in any kind of second-hand store, you will not earn a royalty on the purchase. Also, you earn a royalty when a retailer purchases your book for their store (when the book is printed), but not when the consumer actually purchases the book off the shelf.
