When Verso Books needed an integrated system to fully handle contract data and improve workflow between the Editorial, Rights and Royalty teams, it chose Virtusales’ BiblioLIVE publishing software, implementing the Bibliographic, Production, Contracts, Rights and Royalties modules.
The Challenge Verso Books was relying on an unsupported royalty processing system that could not handle eBook sales and had limitations surrounding currencies, which meant manual intervention was required in order to process the royalties. The system was also not able to give visibility of contract information, which meant staff had to look up physical copies of contracts, access a separate subrights database and disparate financial records before being able to reply to queries. The company wanted to remove disparate, outdated systems and improve workflow between departments and locations. The Solution BiblioLIVE: Bibliographic, Production, Contracts, Rights and Royalties Project Objectives The key goals for the project were to increase the automation of processes in order to reduce errors and data duplication and enhance decision-making capabilities through the provision of accurate and up-to-date information. To support growth, Verso Books required a unified publishing system that would incorporate the management of bibliographic, contracts, rights and royalties data.
Why Virtusales
Fully managed SaaS solution
Browser based system accessible from any location
Tailored user access and permissions
Able to handle multiple currencies for sales and royalty processing
Proven record of supporting publishers globally
Updates at no additional cost
Caters for all of Verso's contract, rights and royalties requirements, while also providing benefits from the other functionality available
BiblioLIVE increased Verso's visibility and efficiency in it's contracts, rights and royalties operations
Prior to implementing BiblioLIVE, Verso Books used multiple, disparate systems to manage its contracts, rights and royalties operations. Not all staff had access to all of the systems so querying details of a contract was a time consuming task. With BiblioLIVE in place, contract, rights and royalties information is in a single online system that all staff can access as and when they need to. Duplicated data entry has been eradicated and the time spent searching for information and replying to queries has been drastically reduced. Jake Stevens, Managing Director, is delighted that, "One of the positive effects is an 80-90% decrease in time spent looking for contractual and financial information for a title."
Improved Data Accuracy
Jake also explains how, “head contract information is now entered and approved by specific users, resulting in more reliable information.” Previously, there was no verification or sign-off for crucial head contract information and subrights sales would have to be manually added to royalties....
...With BiblioLIVE, inbuilt validation and verification removes the opportunity for errors and ensures data is reliable." Jake comments, “BiblioLIVE can process complex contracts, including multiple works and editions, with all possible combinations of discount breaks, grouped escalators and different rates by sales channel. All with detailed statements, which clearly show the basis for royalty amounts, advance and retention calculations, royalty deductions, and subrights income.”
Improved Service for Authors
BiblioLIVE’s detailed royalty statements containing full subrights information provide fuller and more detailed information to agents and authors, and have reduced the number of queries. Jake summarises that, “In effect, it’s given us the power to answer questions before they’ve even been asked.” "You have no idea how impressed I am by the new system of reporting royalties - great work." Mike Davis, Verso Books Author
Benefits of BiblioLIVE
TIME SAVINGS
Huge time savings processing and preparing statements
Reduction in author royalty queries due to greater detail in statements
OPERATIONAL IMPROVEMENTS
Increased accuracy of statements
Reduced bottlenecks in responding to author enquiries as more people have access to information
BiblioLIVE retains imported sales files that can be provided to agents
BUSINESS EFFICIENCIES
Access to shared data from any location, 24/7
Integration of systems has provided real-time, accurate data across the business