Author Portal
Give rights holders self-service access to their royalty data, statements, sales, contracts, advances, expenses, and donations.
The Author Portal gives rights holders self-service access to their royalty data — titles, statements, sales, contracts, advances, expenses, and donations — without needing to contact the publisher directly.
- For authors — transparency and convenience. View royalty data, download PDF statements, and track advances and expenses at any time.
- For publishers — fewer support requests and granular control over what’s shared, without building a separate app.
Note: The portal uses a separate authentication system — rights holders never see the publisher’s admin interface.
Authentication
The portal uses passwordless magic links — no passwords to create or remember.
- The rights holder visits the portal login page and enters their email address.
- A login link is emailed to them.
- They click the link and they’re in.
Magic links expire after 15 minutes. If a link has expired, the rights holder requests a new one from the login page. Once logged in, the rights holder has 2 hours of access.
Dashboard
After logging in, authors are taken to the portal’s dashboard, providing a summary at a glance.
Summary cards
- Lifetime Royalties Earned — Total royalties from all completed royalty runs. Links to statements.
- Titles — Number of title formats linked to this rights holder. Links to titles.
- Advance Balance — Outstanding advance balance. Only shown when there is an outstanding advance.
- Expense Balance — Outstanding expense balance. Only shown when there is an outstanding expense.
- Units Sold — Units sold in the previous calendar month, with a trend indicator. Links to sales.
Recent statements
The five most recent royalty statements are shown below the summary cards, each with the statement name, period, and a PDF download button.
Tip: Not all cards appear for every rights holder. Publishers control visibility via portal settings.
Titles
Lists all title formats the rights holder is linked to. Use the search bar to filter by name, ISBN, or ASIN.
Each title card shows the cover image, title name, royalty period, and next expected run period. Under each title, format details include:
- Status — Active or inactive
- Identifier — ISBN or ASIN
- Lifetime royalties and units sold
- Contract link — View the contract rules for this format
- Sales button — Jump to the Sales page filtered to this title
Statements
Lists all royalty statements from completed royalty runs.
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Royalty Run | The name of the royalty run |
| Period | The date range the statement covers |
| Royalties Earned | Total royalties for this run |
| Payout | The payout amount from the associated bill |
| Download | Download the statement as a PDF |
Contracts
Shows the rules that determine how royalties are calculated for a specific title format. Access a contract by clicking the Contract link on a title format.
Each contract contains one or more rules, evaluated in priority order:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Priority | Evaluation order (1 = first) |
| When | Conditions that must be met (e.g. “Units sold > 1,000”). Shows “No conditions” if the rule always applies. |
| You Receive | What the rights holder earns (e.g. “35% of net receipts”) |
The first matching rule is used — subsequent rules are skipped. For more detail, see Contracts.
Sales
Detailed sales reporting with two tabs: Charts and Monthly Report.
Charts tab
- Filters — Filter by title and date range (presets or custom).
- Summary cards — Units sold, pages read (KENP, ebook only), and returns for the selected period.
- Charts — Sales over time, sales by format, geographic distribution (world map), and returns over time.
- Title breakdown — Per-title totals when viewing multiple titles.
- Top markets — Top 12 countries by units sold.
Monthly Report tab
A detailed per-month sales breakdown by title, format, product ID, sales channel, country, units sold, and KENP pages read. Downloadable as a PDF.
Note: Previous month data may be incomplete as sales figures can take time to finalise.
Advances
Shows advances and their repayment status, with the outstanding balance displayed at the top.
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | The advance name, with associated titles |
| Original Amount | The initial advance amount |
| Repaid | Amount repaid from royalties |
| Remaining | Outstanding balance (green when fully repaid) |
| Start Date | When the advance began |
| Status | “Repaid” or “Outstanding” |
Advances are repaid automatically from earned royalties until the balance reaches zero.
Expenses
Works identically to Advances, but tracks expenses — amounts owed by the rights holder (e.g. editorial services, cover design) that are repaid from earned royalties.
Donations
Two tabs: Transactions and Donation Rules. For background, see Donations.
- Transactions — Actual royalty amounts donated or received per royalty run, showing the run, title, other party, percentage, and amount.
- Donation Rules — Ongoing rules governing donations, showing the title, other party, percentage, active period, total to date, and any maximum cap.
Contextual help
Each portal page has a floating Need help? button. Clicking it slides in a help panel from the right edge with guidance relevant to the current page. Close the panel by clicking Close help at the top, or by pressing the Escape key.
Account details
Rights holders can update their first name, last name, and email address. The email address must be unique across all rights holders.
Portal settings
Publishers control the Author Portal through Team Settings > Author Portal. Each section can be independently toggled on or off.
| Setting | Controls |
|---|---|
| Enable Author Portal | Whether the portal is accessible at all |
| Show Titles | Titles page and title count on dashboard |
| Show Statements | Statements page, lifetime royalties on dashboard, and PDF downloads |
| Show Contracts | Contract pages and contract links on title formats |
| Show Advances | Advances page and advance balance on dashboard |
| Show Expenses | Expenses page and expense balance on dashboard |
| Show Donations | Donations page |
| Show Sales Reports | Sales page, units sold on dashboard, and sales buttons on titles |
Per-author access
Individual rights holders can be granted or revoked portal access from the rights holder’s Portal tab.
- Portal Access toggle — Enable or disable portal access for this rights holder. The rights holder must also be active.
- Send Login Link — Sends the rights holder a magic link email for immediate portal access. Useful if the rights holder needs help logging in.
- View Portal — Opens the portal as this rights holder, so your team can see exactly what the rights holder sees when they log in. This opens a temporary session with a yellow banner indicating preview mode.
When the portal is enabled, royalty statement emails automatically include a link to the Author Portal. You can also email monthly sales report PDFs to rights holders — see Monthly Sales Reports.
Tip: A reminder email is sent to your team on the 5th of each month to upload sales data. Team members can opt in or out via the Notifications tab on their user profile.