Resetting Sales History with New Royalty Tiers

How to change royalty structures for books with existing sales

Overview

Familiar calculates your royalties for all-time. If you change the contract, it may alter how historical roylaties were calculated. When you need to change your royalty structure for a book that already has sales, you may want to createa a new tier at the current sales quantity. This effecticaly "resets" the sales counter so that new tier thresholds start from the current sales level. This ensures that future sales are calculated using the new royalty rates while preserving accurate historical data.

Update Royalties First

Before resetting sales tiers, make sure all royalties earned up to this point are properly calculated and recorded.

  1. Ensure all sales data has been uploaded and processed
  2. Run royalty calculations to capture all earnings under the current structure
  3. Verify that contributor statements reflect all sales to date
  4. Only after confirming everything is correct should you proceed with creating new tiers

This ensures you are editing the most up to date royalties and wont alter existing royalties.

Why Reset Sales?

Resetting sales is useful when:

  • • You're increasing royalty rates and want them to apply to future sales immediately
  • • You're restructuring your royalty contract to better align with current performance
  • • You want to create a clear transition point between old and new royalty terms
  • • You're adjusting tier thresholds based on actual sales performance

How to Reset Sales with a New Tier

Step 1: Navigate to the Contract Page

  1. Go to your book's royalty structure page
  2. You'll see a warning banner if the book has existing sales, showing:
    • Total units sold
    • Total revenue earned (in USD)

Step 2: Add a Tier at Current Sales

For books with tiered royalty structures, you'll see an "Add Tier at Current Sales" button next to the regular "Add Tier" button.

  1. Click the "Add Tier at Current Sales" button
  2. The system will automatically create a new tier with the threshold set to:
    • For tiered-units contracts: The current total number of units sold
    • For tiered-revenue contracts: The current total revenue in USD

Step 3: Set the New Royalty Rate

  1. Adjust the royalty percentage for the new tier to your desired rate
  2. The new rate will apply to all sales above the threshold (i.e., all future sales)

Step 4: Save Changes

  1. Review your tier structure to ensure it's correct
  2. Click "Save Changes" to apply the new royalty structure

Examples

Units-Based Reset

Before:

  • • Tier 1: 0+ units → 10% royalty
  • • Total units sold so far: 5,000

After clicking "Add Tier at Current Sales":

  • • Tier 1: 0-5,000 units → 10% royalty
  • • Tier 2: 5,000+ units → 15% royalty

Result: Past sales (0-5,000 units) remain at 10%, but all future sales (5,001+) earn 15%.

Revenue-Based Reset

Before:

  • • Tier 1: $0+ revenue → 20% royalty
  • • Total revenue so far: $15,000 USD

After clicking "Add Tier at Current Sales":

  • • Tier 1: $0-$15,000 revenue → 20% royalty
  • • Tier 2: $15,000+ revenue → 25% royalty

Result: Past revenue ($0-$15,000) remains at 20%, but all future revenue ($15,001+) earns 25%.

What This Doesn't Do

Important:

This feature does NOT:

  • • Delete or modify historical sales data
  • • Recalculate past royalties with new rates
  • • Change what contributors have already earned
  • • Reset the actual sales counter to zero

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.

Best Practices

1

Document the change: Add a note in the contract or communicate with contributors about the tier change

2

Timing: Consider aligning tier changes with payment periods or statement generation

3

Verify calculations: After saving, check a few royalty calculations to ensure they're working as expected

4

Communication: If this is a significant change, inform contributors before implementing it

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Will this affect royalties already paid to contributors?

A: No. This only affects how future sales are calculated. Past payments remain unchanged.

Q: Can I create multiple reset points?

A: Yes. You can add multiple tiers at different sales thresholds to create complex royalty structures.

Q: What if I make a mistake?

A: You can delete the tier or adjust its threshold and percentage. Just make sure to save your changes.

Q: Do I need to notify contributors?

A: While not technically required, it's good practice to communicate significant royalty structure changes to your contributors.

Technical Details

  • • The system pulls real-time sales data from all uploaded royalty statements
  • • Currency conversions are applied using FX rates from your organization's settings
  • • Thresholds are set in whole units (for unit-based) or dollars (for revenue-based)
  • • The threshold represents the minimum value at which the new tier applies (inclusive)