Sales Data Needed to Compute Royalties

To compute royalties, PubGizmo requires sales data.

Sources

You will generally receive sales data in spreadsheet form (Excel or CSV) from various sources:

• vendors like Ingram, eBound, iTunes, etc.
• from your sales platform, e.g., Square, WooCommerce
• exported from your accounting software, if the sales are initially recorded there
• sheets you generate yourself, e.g., at a sales event

Regardless of the source, a minimum set of data is required to make the computations. When we are discussing spreadsheets, we mean the columns in the sheets, or, if that data is not provided in a column, as a definition to apply to the entire import, e.g., if all the sales are in the US, you don't need a Country column; you indicate at the moment of import that for all sales Country = US.

Required Columns

1. ISBN: the unique International Standards Book Number that identifies each edition.
2. Quantity Sold: the number of books sold or returned (expressed as a negative value). Note that some sheets separate counts of books sold and books returned into individual columns, and may offer an additional net sales column, that adds these values together. Be sure you check all available columns, and define this column, and Quantity Returned (see below) appropriately.

Required Data, in Either a Column or Defined for the Entire Sheet

The following data is required, but may be unavailable in a column on the sheet. When that happens, you can set at import a value to apply to all the sales on the sheet.

1. Invoice Date, date of sale, process date: the date to use to determine the royalty period within which the sales transaction falls. Note that if this date is not available, PubGizmo will allow you to define a single date for the entire import, and each imported sales record will assume that date. For example, you could use the date 31 December 2024 to ensure the sale is recorded in a royalty year that runs from 1 January 2024 – 31 December 2024.
2. Amount Remitted: the amount the vendor pays your press for the sale of the book. This is necessary only for royalties based on net. To calculate royalties based on list price, the Edition record must include a list price for the region where the book has been sold (defined in the Country of Sale column, below).
3. Country of Sale: the two-letter ISO code for the country where the sale occurred (although PubGizmo will attempt to look this up if the country is spelled out in full).
4. Currency: the currency in which the sale occurred. Like Country of Sale, these must be in correct ISO format, e.g., CAD = Canadian dollar, USD = American dollar, EUR = euro, etc. If your vendor does not provide these in the correct format (looking at you, University of Toronto Press), please talk to your sales rep about using it for your exports, otherwise you will have to convert these in all your sheets before import.
5. Exchange Rate: (only if the sheet contain sales in alternate currencies) for sales not in your native currency, an Exchange Rate needs to be defined, to convert the funds. If this column is not defined, PubGizmo will look up the exchange rate in effect on the Invoice Date, date of sale, process date (see item #1), and convert it to your native currency. If your sheet includes a column for the sale in your native currency, you can use that for the Amount remitted field, and omit the Exchange Rate.

Optional Data

This data is "nice to have," and can aid in sales reporting, but isn't required to compute royalties.

1. Invoice number
2. City
3. Province or State
4. End Customer
5. Quantity Returned: this may be defined in a column separate from Quantity Sold. If you use it, ensure Quantity Sold contains outgoing sales only, not returns, i.e., no negative, amounts. Sometimes there is a Net Sales column which represents Quantity Sold plus Quantity Returned. Do not use this column if you are using both Quantity Sold and Quantity Returned columns.