What is the VG Wort?

The Verwertungsgesellschaft Wort (VG WORT) was founded in 1958 as an association vested with legal capacity and holds the copyrights of authors and publishers in trust as a nonprofit organisation. The Verwertungsgesellschaft Wissenschaft has been organised as a separate department within the VG Wort since 1978.

What is the job of VG WORT?

As a result of the increasing technological advancement of our society, reproductions and other secondary uses of works are becoming increasingly easier and more frequent. They have become unmanageable for authors and publishers. VG WORT collects fees for many of these uses, which it distributes once a year according to a special distribution key. The scope and modalities of this work are constantly reviewed and adapted to changing circumstances.

Where does VG WORT’s income come from?

The main sources of income are:

• Library royalties
• Reading circle royalties for borrowing/renting works
• Copying machine royalties for the manufacture, import, and operation of copying machines (e.g., copy shops)
• Levies on IT hardware for creating digital copies for private copying and storage of copyrighted content (CD/DVD blanks, memory cards, and flash drives)
• Press review royalties for the reprinting of articles in press reviews

What are the requirements for payment of royalties?

Remuneration for academic and non-fiction books is paid if the titles can be borrowed to a reasonable extent from academic libraries in Germany. The works must be listed in at least two regional library networks with at least five locations, donations are not considered. If the works are only listed in at least three locations or if at least 100 copies have been sold, a royalty of 50 % of the regular author's share can be paid.

How high are the VG WORT distributions?

2024, the remuneration for a published academic book was set at an average of 1,100 euros. The distribution will begin at the beginning of July.

Why are we informing you about the work of VG WORT?

As an author, you should take advantage of the opportunities available to exercise your rights as an author and benefit financially from the diverse uses of your work. For many authors, remuneration from VG WORT has now become an integral part of their income. When deciding to work with a publisher, you should therefore consider the following advantages of publishing:

• Cooperation and mutual complementarity of the work of author and publisher
• The opportunity to use the described work of VG WORT for you as the author and thus derive the greatest possible financial benefit from your work

Dates

Distribution

The Science Department's distribution takes place as part of VG WORT's main distribution at the end of June/beginning of July each year.

Registration Deadlines

The distribution agreement must be concluded by December 31 of the year of publication.

Books must always be registered with VG WORT by January 31 of the year following the year of publication.

You also have the option of registering your books up to three years after publication. For book and journal articles, the period is two years. The year of publication is included.