When did Authors Start Paying for Software?

I know when I started paying for software.  It was in 2003.  No one announced it, I noticed its effect on my royalty statement.  It was one book that had a net price drop on the royalty statement of around $10, but the actual price of the book students bought had actually increased.  When I contacted the royalty department, they knew all about it.  They even had a name for it - Value Added.  If something was packaged with a book it fell under the category of Value Added.  The book became a package that included the book and software, quick start guides, and other items.  Each of the additional items were called Value Added, and each of the items was assigned a value. The textbook price became the price of the package, but royalties were only paid on the textbook portion of the package price. In other words, software was added an a Value Added item, but no royalties were paid on it.  I told them I never agreed to this and, to their credit, they corrected all the royalty statements. But I wonder how many other Cengage authors are unaware that this is a common practice with Cengage. And I wonder if this is happening across the board with the new Cengage Unlimited pricing model.

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