This FAQ deals with money issues related to TorrentBoy. It’s intended to be read by creators, rather than the audience (but you can still read it if you like).

How does an upgraded license work? It depends on the specific product. For books, shirts and posters, we will produce and sell your work for you (see below). In other cases, you will be in charge of the production and distribution yourself. In either case, the TorrentBoy project retains 20% of the profits from each sale, and the rest goes to you. So depending on the situation, either you or we will end up sending each other a cheque.

How often are payments made? Within 105 days of sale. The reasoning is very simple: in most cases, earnings are not remitted to the seller for 90 days, to allow for returns etc. Add to that another 15 days for processing, and you get 105 days. In many circumstances, payments should be made much earlier, but we can’t guarantee that as a general rule.

Why does the Project sell some things itself? For books, 1889 Labs will be producing and selling, because we have experience in that department and can get it out the door with less hassle (and cost) than you probably could on your own. For shirts and posters, we prefer to have a trusted centralized shopping experience, so that there aren’t a dozen TorrentBoy shops around the web, making customers leery of each one’s official-ness. We will make every effort to handle as many logistics as we can, but it’s inevitable that there will be some products that we can’t sell ourselves, in which case you’re free to do it however you see fit.

Why do you take 20%? To be clear, the 20% is net profit, after production costs. The maintenance of this site (as well as our other satellite shops), plus the “soft” production costs of assembling and setting up each product for sale, is all covered in that 20%. It’s what allows this operation to run. It does not go to line anyone’s pocket.

Give me an example of a book deal… A typical TorrentBoy book would be 140 pages, which would sell at Amazon and other shops for $9.99 (USD). All shops have a seller profit margin, which we set at 40% ($3.99); further, subtract $3.00 in production costs, and you’re left with $3 in profit. Of that, you would keep $2.40.

Do I get an “advance” for my book? No, we don’t pay advances. Instead, we give you a much bigger slice of the pie than you would normally get in the publishing industry. Even so, there is no guarantee your book will turn into profit at all: you may only sell two copies (or one, if your parents are stingy).