About once every few days on the Amazon KDP or Createspace forums, I see a question that goes something like this:

If I've co-authored a book with another author, how do we go about getting 50/50 royalties?

I can only assume that these good folks haven't reviewed either the Amazon TOS (Terms of Service) or created and logged into their own Bookshelf, at the KDP.  Once you've done that, it's fairly clear that there's nothing automatic that can be done about it. One person is the publisher, and the other has to trust the publisher to pay them their due royalties. Amazon will not pay out royalties to multiple people.  That's the job of the publisher, which isn't what Amazon is; they are, in essence, your distributor and your storefront.  Your retailer. You, as the publisher, are the publisher, and those jobs, along with all those other publishing duties, are yours to fulfill.

This doesn't mean that multiple authors can't all share a single Amazon account--of course they could, if, say, it were some type of publishing cooperative.  But the payments will still go solely to the person in whose name the account is held.  Period.  Don't try to ask Amazon (or B&N, iBooks, etc.) to do the accounting and the payment work for you. They won't go for it.  

Bear this in mind when you enter into Publishing partnerships with your friends, or fellow authors. Will your friendship stand the test of auditing Amazon payments, to ensure that you've received your due?  Alternatively, perhaps you can set up a Kindle publishing account, into which you can both log-in.  At least that way, you can always keep abreast of what's been paid out.  Generally speaking, authors, as a group, tend to think that their publisher (or in this case, their retailer) didn't pay them everything that they were owed, so if you decide to jointly publish with someone else, keep this in mind. Set up all your accounts, agreements, etc., to address this almost inevitable scenario. 

Happy Publishing!

 

T'was the Night Before Christmas... 

 (With apologies to Clement Clarke Moore, may he forgive my doggerel...)

...and all through the shop,
all we minions were working,
   until ready to drop.

The ebooks were flying,
the covers were spare,
The edits were crazy,
   with "one more thing I must share!"

We waited for Santa,
'Cuz we love old Saint Nick,
But Hitch made us work,
   Waving 'round an old stick!

So slave we all did,
And made all your books,
So that Hitch would say now,
   that we're off the hook.

Come today we're off,
to rest up our fingers,
Our hats we will doff,
   No books they do linger.

But we'll all be back,
Don't give it a thought,
for like all wage slaves,
   we're easily bought.

We'll be back on the fifth,
all eager and fresh,
All ready for you,
   after a well-deserved rest.

So Hitch wants to say,
very strongly and loud,
THANKS ALL YOU GUYS,
  you're the best type of crowd.

Indy and Len and Hitch and the gang,
will be back on the 5th,
to do books with a BANG!

In the meantime don't worry,
if you're in a hurry,
'cuz some poor guy got stuck
   sitting here like a duck.

Your emails we'll receive,
so no need to grieve.
We'll be a bit slow,
but we're raring to go.

Your books will be worked on,
your edits still made,
we're just resting a bit,
   before we all fade.

So please excuse the delays;
It won't be for days;
we'll jump on your queries,
   for your wondrous new series.

We waited for Santa,
'Cuz we love old St. Nick,
And sure 'nuff he came,
   It wasn't a trick.

And as he rode off,
into the night,
I could swear I heard Hitch yell,
   "That Edit's Not Right!"

~~~~~~~~~~

We'll be back on the morning of January 5th; we'll be here parttime between now and then, thanks.