Case Study: A Small Publisher Makes Royalties Easy with MetaComet 

Nikki Krysak is the publishing manager at the Seth Center (also known as New Awareness Network). She started her job during a period of significant structural change. Taking over the publishing arm of a small, informal organization meant that Nikki needed to modernize operations while maintaining the high level of trust among the members of the close-knit, longstanding Seth Center community.

Throughout this process, MetaComet Systems has been more than just another software provider. MetaComet helped Nikki:

• Understand and organize years of complicated publishing contracts; 
• Overcome the overwhelm of setting up a new system; 
• Cut 2 ½ weeks of biannual royalty management work down to 2 ½ hours; 
• Start to process royalties on her own, without the support of an accountant; 
• Ensure accuracy and audit-readiness in all the Seth Center’s royalty calculations and payments; 
• And manage diverse media formats and complex royalty structures, including planning for an innovative new product derived from existing publications: an oracle card deck. 

In Nikki’s own words, here’s how MetaComet’s easy-to-use software and dedicated customer support team has transformed her job for the better.

How MetaComet “Saved the Day” for the Seth Center

We’re a really small organization. When I got this job, everything was in a state of massive change. It took me almost a year to just do a complete inventory of what we have, so that I could even tell the MetaComet folks, “Okay, so this is what we’re working with.” 

There’s all these different formats and there’s different royalty percentages for different formats. And even though we’re small, some of our contracts are rather complex. It can be very difficult for someone unversed in legal language to decipher many of the nuances without the assistance of a lawyer. 

But meanwhile, the royalties were just trucking along twice a year. 64 spreadsheets that they would go through, multiple currencies, and it’s all hand calculated, like with an abacus practically. It was crazy. 

And so I can’t tell you how much MetaComet just saved the day. It is the best money ever spent each month. Like, you know how you’re actually happy to pay a bill? That’s kind of how I feel about MetaComet because if you guys didn’t exist, it would just be the most overwhelming thing. 

The contracts were so confusing that Khalid (MetaComet Systems Integrator) actually took the time to meet with me and help me kind of be like, “Okay, this is the information that we need.” I was so overwhelmed with even trying to figure out what you guys needed in order to help us get set up.  

It takes the royalty process from 2 1/2 weeks with me and the accountant to just uploading a bunch of stuff, asking questions if I need to. It’s so easy. All I’ve got to do is put a new product in there. And once I figure out what the percentage is, put that in there. It’s so…GREAT. 

You don’t have to be a big, huge company to need a royalty tracking software. Because at the end of the day, it’s saving one’s sanity to use it. And it’s also, of course, a lot more accurate than cobbling together a bunch of handwritten math. 

Everybody wants to publish something, but everybody forgets about all these little important legal details like royalties until it’s kind of snowballed, especially with all the formats. If somebody decides to question you, then you have to be able to show them what you did and why you did it that way. MetaComet just takes care of all of that. 

Unlike the large companies who can afford to staff entire departments with people (plural) whose skillset lies in: royalties, legal (understanding the unique legalities of each author contract), author/heir correspondence, an audiobook division, an ebook division, a print division, new projects division, retail & wholesale distribution – with small companies, there is often one or two people that do all of that. And it’s impossible for any one person to be an expert in all of those areas. So the money spent on something like Metacomet will indeed be life-saving in its various capacities. 

If somebody’s undecided between MetaComet and someplace else,  if they don’t pick MetaComet, I guarantee you in a year or two, they’re gonna come calling back. When I think of the customer service and the just the general quality and the ease of use and the intuitiveness, I’ve never worked with a better company. 

Cut Your Royalty Workload Down to a Few Hours

Royalty Software: Not Just for Big Publishers!

If your royalty process is stressing you out or just taking up too much of your time, MetaComet can help. Contact us for a free consultation.