William Shakespeare, Millionaire

"My love’s more richer than my tongue," Shakespeare wrote in "King Lear." The playwright did just fine in the material world, too: In his lifetime the savvy businessman was able to amass enough money to buy, among other things, the second-largest house in his hometown of Stratford-Upon-Avon.

But as heirs of writers like J.R.R. Tolkien, Theodor (“Dr. Seuss”) Geisel and Charles Schulz are well aware, a scribe's real income can come years after death--assuming the estate is handled by an active, savvy, manager. The Bard's heirs are long dead, and there is no copyright on his work, so that's not possible. But what if it were?

We asked experts in the publishing, licensing and agenting world to try to imagine what a Shakespeare estate could expect to receive annually. Their conservative estimate: $15 million a year.

The bulk of that would come from publishing royalties on the 37 plays Shakespeare wrote before his death in 1616. Because Shakespeare's works are in the public domain--in the U.S., copyright on intellectual property generally expires 95 years after its creator dies, and international laws are similar--any publisher in the world can print his plays. And they do: Eighty-nine new editions or translations of plays were released last year alone. In all, millions of anthologies, single plays and acting copies of plays are sold to individuals, schools and theaters every year.

In the U.S., 657,000 Shakespeare titles were sold in 2004, according to Nielsen BookScan, though that total doesn't include the copies bought in bulk by libraries and schools. Given that Shakespeare has been translated into 118 languages, including sign language and Klingon, publishing industry experts say it is easy to imagine the Bard moving 10 million copies a year worldwide, with the estate receiving an average of $1 a copy.

His estate would also be looking at well over $1 million in performance royalties for his plays, which are put on some 5,000 times each year in amateur and professional theaters worldwide. That includes everything from full-blown equity productions on world-famous stages like the Royal Shakespeare Company to a Hamlet put on at the Tiny Ninja Theater in New York with, you guessed it, tiny ninja dolls.

Hollywood would kick in, as well: Eight Shakespeare films were released last year including an Indian version of "Macbeth" titled "Maqbool" and a new "Merchant of Venice" starring Al Pacino.

“It gives actors a certain credibility. Nothing says ‘I can act’ like handling the language and weight of Shakespeare,” says Patrick Herold, a theatrical agent with International Creative Management. Gravitas doesn’t come cheaply: Rights for last year’s productions would have totaled at least $2 million.

And even consumers who don't want to read, perform or watch a play might be willing to pay for some Shakespeare-themed merchandise: T-shirts, mugs and calendars are easy bets. Martin Cribbs, who specializes in branding dead celebrities at Corbis, an image-licensing firm that represents the estates of Albert Einstein, Mae West and Sigmund Freud, among others, says Shakespeare’s estate would easily see $1 million a year in licensing rights. And that's assuming the estate was conservative in the use of his image and likeness.

“On the surface, Shakespeare was this genius writer, but what’s really relevant is that his plays were filled with sex, violence and political intrigue,” says Cribbs, who can imagine playing up Shakespeare’s smuttier elements to appeal to a more contemporary audience. Picture Eminem rapping stanzas for a ringtone.

And in case any of this seems blasphemous, consider that Shakespeare himself wasn't averse to making a buck. “This is a guy who really worked hard, and it paid off,” says Gail Kern Paster, director of the Folger Shakespeare Library, the world’s largest Shakespeare archive.

An ambitious businessman, the playwright got in on the ground floor of the playhouse business in the late 16th century and became a stockholder in the Globe, one of London's most successful theaters. At a time when writers sold their plays for a flat fee to an acting troupe, this meant he got a cut of the box office and any publishing fees for his plays--essentially getting paid twice for the same work.

The play's the thing, but getting paid isn't bad either.

