Publishing Guide

Author Royalty & Payments

We wrote this to be read.

Last updated on December 3, 2024

1. Free Stories2. Pay-as-you-go3. Subscription

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:

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.
Tiered Royalties (35% to 50%) for Stories that are not exclusive to Theo. Non-exclusive royalties reward depth of catalog—the more you publish, the higher your percentage climbs across your non-exclusive stories.

How non-exclusive stories count toward your tier:

Story Length	Counts Toward Tier
Full-length (70,000+ words)	1 count
Novella (20,000 to 69,999 words)	0.5 count
Short story (under 20,000 words)	Doesn't count (stays at 35% base rate)

Non-Exclusive Royalty Tiers:

Your Catalog	Royalty Rate (Stories > 20k words)
Default	35%
3 to 4 counts e.g., 3-4 full-length, 6-9 novellas, or any mix	40%
5+ counts e.g., 5+ full-length, 10+ novellas, or any mix	50%

Important Conditions for Tiered Royalties:

The higher rate applies to every non-exclusive story you have on the platform (except short stories), not just the one that pushed you over the threshold.
Short stories (under 20,000 words) remain at the 35% base royalty rate.
This tiered royalty rate applies to non-founding authors.
For Founding Authors, this tiered rate kicks in only after their initial three-year promotional period is over. We started counting the three years from May 24, 2025.

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
Author B	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