Royalty Payments Based on Reader Pricing Guidelines
Last Updated: 12/3/2024
This agreement was updated on the date listed above.
Theo has three pricing tiers for readers:
Free stories
Any Stories that are available for free elsewhere may only be made available for free on Theo as well. So, why should authors publish free stories on Theo? Free stories are a great way to gain followership and introduce readers to your works. This will positively impact your story reviews in the long term and has the potential to lift your royalty payments from Theo (see ‘Subscription’ below).
Pay-as-you-go
Instead of becoming a Theo subscriber for unlimited reading, readers also have the option to pay for individual Stories for greater flexibility. We suggest these pricing guidelines for a Story, depending on word count, but these are to be treated as suggestions only. Authors have the freedom to determine the final price for each Story.
Irrespective of word count, authors receive the following royalties on Stories that are read as part of a reader’s pay-as-you-go tier:
- 35% of the list price for Stories that are not exclusive to Theo. If the Story is being sold at a lower list price as part of a marketing promotion, this 35% will be calculated on the promotional list price. See Terms for royalties given to Founding Authors.
- 70% of the list price for Stories that are exclusively available on Theo. If the Story is being sold at a lower list price as part of a marketing promotion, this 70% will be calculated on the promotional list price.
Subscription
Readers may pay a monthly subscription of $14.99 / month or an annual subscription of $149.99 (or $12.50 / month) for unlimited reading. Royalties on Stories consumed under a subscription plan are calculated as follows:
- 70% of the Royalty Pool is allocated to payouts based on completed reads for each Story. Note that a story qualifies as a “completed read” if at least 50% of it has been read.
- 30% of the Royalty Pool is allocated to payouts based on number of reviews and average rating of each Story (number of reviews x Story rating).
To demonstrate how this would work in the real world, let’s say $1,000 is allocated to the Theo Royalty Pool in January; 70% or $700 would be allocated to payouts based on completed reads for each Story, and 30% or $300 would be allocated to payouts based on number of reviews and average rating of each Story (number of reviews x Story rating). For simplicity, let’s assume that this Royalty Pool will be allocated amongst three (3) authors:
| Author | Story | Completed Reads in a Month | Number of Reviews in a Month | Average Rating for Reviews in a Month | Number of Reviews x Average Rating | 70% of Royalty Pool = $700 (based on Completed Reads) | 30% of Royalty Pool = $300 (based on Reviews x Avg Rating) | Total Royalty Payout in a Month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Author A | Story 1 | 100 | 60 | 4.5 | 270.00 | $145.83 | $67.64 | $213.47 |
| Author B | Story 1 | 25 | 15 | 4.8 | 72.00 | $36.46 | $18.04 | $54.49 |
| Story 2 | 125 | 75 | 4.0 | 300.00 | $182.29 | $75.15 | $257.44 | |
| Author C | Story 1 | 20 | 12 | 4.6 | 55.20 | $29.17 | $13.83 | $42.99 |
| Story 2 | 60 | 36 | 4.4 | 158.40 | $87.50 | $39.68 | $127.18 | |
| Story 3 | 150 | 90 | 3.8 | 342.00 | $218.75 | $85.67 | $304.42 | |
| Total | 480 | 288 | 1197.60 | $700.00 | $300.01 | $1,000.00 |