Make More Money From Your Ideas

"I am wondering if you would be willing to give an indication of how you structure the arrangement between yourself and your co-presenters/co-interviewers on your information CD's. Obviously you and the other presenter are promoting your areas of expertise and so can both sell the product."

It's pretty easy. We just split the cost of producing the master version, and then each have master duplication rights. In other words, we each sell them ourselves and keep all the profits.

Because we're both selling the product, this arrangement works well. But if the other person was just contributing their expertise without intending to sell it, maybe I would pay them, or give them some low-cost copies, or pay a royalty, etc.

The idea of royalty payments (e.g. you pay me 10% of all sales that you make, and vice versa) sounds attractive, but it reduces your flexibility. For example, what if I give away a product or sell it at a lower price? Do I still pay you a royalty?

That's why I tend to use the simple arrangement where we each sell the product independently. I have a one-page letter of agreement that we both sign.

Labels: joint ventures