Edda Pay: Ex Storytel executives' solution for the book industry

Sofia Svärdh, Angel Kirkegaard and Daniel Bodner all held managerial positions at Storytel and worked closely together for several years. Now the team is part of our incubator. With their own experience of the problem their new payment service will solve - namely the financial rules of the game for authors and publishers - they are now founding Edda Pay.

- We believe we can create a faster, more flexible, fair and sustainable model. In 2024, we will launch a first beta version of our digital solution that not only addresses a financial challenge faced by both authors and publishers, but also increases transparency in the book industry at large," says Sofia Svärdh, CEO and co-founder of Edda Pay.

Long wait for compensation

Although the global book industry has an annual turnover of around $140 billion, Sofia and her team say it is lagging behind when it comes to data maturity. Angel Kirkegaard, co-founder and published author in his native Denmark, has experienced the consequences.

- The payment model for authors published by traditional publishers is ancient, complicated and challenging. You may have to wait up to 18 months before you receive the proceeds of your sales, and you rarely get any insight into how things are going. This is generally the case around the world - suddenly there's a hard-to-read document and a bag of money that you have no idea how big it will be," says Angel.

Financial risks for publishers

The other side of the problem is for publishers who often pay an advance to provide financial security to the author during the period when the book is being written and when they are waiting for their royalty payment. The advance is then offset against the royalties earned.

- Even if publishers wanted to pay and inform authors on an ongoing basis, they lack the digital and technical resources. So they pay high advances that, in the worst case, are never recouped, which is a major financial risk. The process is complex and we want to make a difference for both authors and publishers," says Austrian co-founder Daniel Bodner.

Edda Pay thus wants to facilitate both sides of the problem and the focus of the solution is on flexible payments and increased data insights for everyone involved.

- Our solution is a platform where publishers give both themselves and their authors a single, real-time view of sales and allow authors to withdraw their earned money when it suits them, reducing the need for risky high advances. "To create a clear picture of sales in this landscape, we need to use an AI/ML model," Daniel further explains.