Residual Earnings

Posted by Lizz Shepherd Aug 2, 2008

I hear more and more about residual income from online publishing- perhaps mainly because that's becoming a big draw that lures people away from print markets.

Print publishing may seem more lucrative on the surface, but most print publishing items are bought for a one-time fee. Unless the writer wrote a book and has a royalty agreement, the up-front fee is generally all they will ever be paid.

Online publishing, however, is far easier to promote. You might be able to promote a print book with a review and a link to buy, but a print article can be promoted with a direct link to the material. That makes it cost effective for publishers to offer marketing incentives to the writers they publish. More promotion leads to more page views which leads to more money.

When writers promote work that was written under a residual agreement, their earnings on the items in question keep coming in long after the items were written. It's not unusual to receive payments for items that were written years ago. I have a few examples of popular sites that operate under these agreements here. But, take a look around the 'net and you will likely turn up countless more.