The Why of Bifurcation
If you are a writer who works with an agent, you probably ought to embrace bifurcation. That means that any royalty payments due you by your publisher come directly to your bank account instead of taking a bizarre zigzag to your agent’s account first. My wife and I have bifurcated our payments with numerous publishers, and the process wasn’t too onerous. I spell out the process, step by step, today at SleuthSayers, the mystery blog, in a post entitled,
Writers of the World: Bifurcate Now!
As I explain in the post, there are at least two different reasons for bifurcating. Writers are ripped off by agencies all the time. But embezzlement isn’t the only reason you should do this. It just makes good business sense. I venture to say that if you described your financial arrangement with your agent to any friend of yours who works in the real business world, they would laugh and ask why you would trust someone else with your money.
It’s a question you should at least consider. As I say in the post, back in the early 20th century…
publishers directly paid writers, who were then responsible for paying their agents. That arrangement was altered in the Pleistocene, when it was decreed that writers could not be trusted with Other People’s Money and that agents were infinitely more trustworthy.
Moreover, when checks, royalty statements, annual tax statements, and currency itself had to be hand-chiseled on stone tablets, it was so much easier for the publisher to send a giant wad of money to, say, sixteen agents, and let them dole out minuscule amounts to the respective writers. Relieved that of that onerous paperwork (and the associated labor costs), publishers could get on with the rarefied work of curation.
But OMG, guys! Have you heard? Funds can now be electronically electroned to the money store of your choice, so why not bifurcate? It’s the smart thing to do.
I chalk this all up to author empowerment. If you are reading this, you might well be having uncomfortable feelings right now. I can‘t possibly ask my agent to do that, you might be thinking. I can’t rock the boat. Agents and publishers have all the power. Besides, I just want to write. It’s not about money for me, anyway.
And so on.
Ask yourself who that kind of thinking serves? Them. Not you, the creator of the work.
Creative people are hard to deal with. Sorry, but it’s true. The people who work for us know that keeping us insecure and dependent makes their lives easier. We don’t question them too much. We stay in our lanes.
You know what I think? It’s a lousy way to run a business.
If that sounds harsh, go read the post, and see if anything resonates with you.
Thanks for stopping by! While you’re here, I hope you’ll check out my latest books.
