Who Owns Your Book? Rights, Royalties and Accounts Explained

You wrote the book. It seems obvious that it belongs to you. But once you start working with editors, designers, ghostwriters, platforms and publishing services, ownership gets split into pieces: the copyright, the ISBN, the publishing account, the files and the royalties. Each piece can sit with a different person if nobody pays attention.

This guide explains each piece in plain English, so you can protect your work no matter who you hire. It is general information, not legal advice. For a specific contract, talk to a lawyer who works with authors.

Copyright: you own it the moment you write it

Under U.S. law, copyright protects an original work as soon as it is fixed in a tangible form, such as a file on your computer. You do not need to register it or put a copyright notice on it for the protection to exist. The U.S. Copyright Office explains these basics.

Registration still matters. Registering with the Copyright Office creates a public record, and in the United States you generally need a registration before you can sue for infringement of a U.S. work. Registration within certain time limits also affects what you can recover in court. Filing is done online through the Copyright Office’s registration portal, and the fee depends on the type of application.

What about ghostwriting and hired work?

When someone else writes or creates part of your book for you, such as a ghostwriter, an illustrator or a cover designer, who owns the result depends on your agreement. U.S. law has a concept called “work made for hire,” and the Copyright Office has a circular explaining how it works. For independent contractors, a work is only made for hire in certain categories and when there is a written agreement saying so. Otherwise, the safest path is a written assignment that transfers copyright to you.

Bottom line: whenever you pay someone to create content for your book, make sure the contract says in writing that you own the copyright to everything delivered.

ISBNs: who is the publisher of record?

An ISBN identifies an edition of a book and records who published it. In the United States, ISBNs are issued through Bowker’s MyIdentifiers.

• If you buy your own ISBN, you, or your imprint name, are the publisher of record. You can use that ISBN with any printer or distributor.
• If you use a free ISBN from a platform such as KDP, the record typically lists that platform, and the ISBN may only be used there. See KDP’s ISBN help page.
• If a service company buys the ISBN in its own name, that company is the publisher of record. This is not always a problem, but you should know it, because moving the book later may mean a new ISBN and a new edition.

Ask anyone you hire: whose name will be on the ISBN record?

Publishing accounts: the most overlooked question

Your book is sold through accounts on platforms like Amazon KDP, IngramSpark, ACX or Draft2Digital. Whoever controls the account controls the book’s listing, its price, its files and where the royalty payments go.

The strongest setup for an author is simple: the account is in your name, with your email, your tax information and your bank details. If a service company uploads and manages the book for you, they can do that as a helper on your account, or you can give them temporary access, rather than publishing it under their own account.

Questions to settle in writing:

• Whose account will the book be published under?
• Who receives the royalty payments directly from the platform?
• If we stop working together, how do I get full control of the listing?

How royalties actually work

A royalty is your share of each sale. On self-publishing platforms, the platform sets the royalty formula and pays whoever owns the account.

• KDP eBooks offer a 35% or 70% royalty option, with eligibility rules for the 70% option such as list price ranges and delivery costs. See KDP’s eBook royalty page.
• KDP paperbacks pay a royalty rate on the list price minus the printing cost, with the rate depending on the marketplace and price. See KDP’s paperback royalty page.
• IngramSpark pays based on the list price, the wholesale discount you set for retailers and the print cost. Its compensation calculator shows the math.

A quick example of the print math, using made-up round numbers so you can follow the logic: if a paperback lists at $15.00, the platform’s royalty rate is 60%, and printing costs $4.00, the royalty is ($15.00 x 0.60) minus $4.00, which is $5.00 per copy. Plug in your own platform’s current rate and print cost.

In traditional publishing, it works differently. The publisher pays the author an advance and a royalty set by the contract, and the publisher owns the account relationships with retailers.

Watch for royalty splits with service companies

Some service companies keep a percentage of your royalties on top of the fees you paid. That is not automatically wrong, but it should be stated clearly, and you should know how long it lasts. If you paid for every service upfront and the contract does not mention a split, you should receive 100% of what the platform pays.

Your files: get the masters

Ask for the final, editable files when the project is done: the manuscript, the print-ready interior PDF, the eBook file, the cover source files and any illustration files. Without them, you may have to pay again to fix a typo or release a new edition.

Contract red flags

Read every agreement before you sign. Be careful when you see:

• A copyright transfer to the service company or a “license” that gives them long-term rights to your work.
• The book published under the company’s account with royalties paid to them first.
• No clear list of what is included in the price, or “unlimited” promises with no definitions.
• Pressure to buy add-on packages quickly, or a discount that expires in hours.
• Guaranteed bestseller status, guaranteed sales numbers or guaranteed five-star reviews. No one can honestly guarantee these, and buying reviews breaks Amazon’s rules.
• No way to cancel, or a refund policy you cannot find.

The Authors Guild and Writer Beware, run with support from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, publish free guidance on publishing contracts and services. They are worth reading before you hire anyone.

Questions to ask any publishing service, including us

1. Who will own the copyright to everything you create for my book?
2. Whose name will be on the ISBN?
3. Whose account will the book be published under, and who gets paid by the platform?
4. Do you take any share of my royalties? For how long?
5. Will I receive all final source files?
6. What exactly is included in the price, and how many revisions do I get?
7. What is your refund policy, in writing?

At Books Publishing House, our Terms and Conditions state that you hold full copyright to the content we develop and deliver for you, and that we hold no copyright on it. We provide services only. The rights to your book belong to you, and so do 100% of your royalties. We do not take a share of them. Ask us any of the questions above before you start, and we will answer them in writing.

The short version

You own your copyright from the start. Keep it by getting written agreements with anyone who creates content for you. Buy your own ISBN if you want to be the publisher of record. Keep the publishing accounts in your name. Know how your royalty is calculated, and get your files at the end.

Ready to talk about your book? Contact us for a personalized quote.

Written by the Books Publishing House team. Founded in 2017, Books Publishing House provides writing, editing, design, publishing and marketing services for authors. The rights to your book and 100% of your royalties stay with you.