Publishing — Catalog, Author Contracts, Rights and Royalty Statements (Odoo Online)

Publishing — DYONYSOS

Management app for an independent or mid-sized book publisher, on Odoo 19 Community.

Also searched as: publishing house management software, author royalty tracking, publisher royalty statements, tiered royalty schedule, royalty advances, publishing contract L132-17-3.

The work and the edition are two different things. The Little Prince is a work — a title, one or more authors. It exists in several editions: trade format, paperback, digital, audio, each with its own ISBN, list price and print run. Small publishers' spreadsheets confuse the two, and then become unable to answer the only question that matters to the author: how many copies of their book have sold, across all editions. This module separates the work from its editions right from the catalog record.

The royalty schedule works in cumulative tiers, not a single rate. A publishing contract typically provides 8% up to 5,000 copies, 10% beyond that, and 12% beyond 20,000: this is the calculation almost everyone gets wrong in a spreadsheet, because each copy sold must be placed in the right tier based on the cumulative total already reached, rather than applying a single rate to the whole. The module does it for you, copy by copy, across all editions of the work.

The advance is recouped before any payment. The author received an advance on future royalties; they receive nothing more until their calculated royalties have covered that advance. The module permanently displays the advance still to be recouped on each contract, and refuses to release payment until it is fully covered — showing the remaining amount and the royalties for the period.

Sales are only final after returns. In France, the distributor takes back unsold copies: a first-quarter sale can turn back into a return two quarters later. Each sales report therefore carries a number of copies sold and a number of copies returned; only net sales give rise to royalties.

The annual royalty statement is a legal obligation with prescribed content (article L132-17-3 of the French Intellectual Property Code, introduced by the law of November 12, 2014). For each edition, it must state the number of copies printed during the year, sold, returned, and in stock at year-end, as well as the royalties due and paid. An incomplete statement is the first complaint authors make against their publisher: the module refuses to validate it as long as any of this information is missing, naming the edition and the missing item.

A contract can be signed by several authors. An author and an illustrator, for example, with a rights split between them (60/40). The shares must add up to 100%; the check is performed when the contract is validated.