Contract question

Idlewild said:

Hi,

Not sure if this is the correct forum for this, but I'm looking for input regarding author agent contracts.

An agent with a legitimate agency just offered me representation for my novel. It specifies universal rights for my current novel and the next novel I would write. It's a one year contract with no termination clause within the one year period. Standard stuff?

Thanks,

Idlewild

Click to expand...

Checked my agency agreement and it isn't limited to one year but rather that either party can terminate the agreement by giving 30 days notice. It also doesn't contain a clause that I MUST go through them on any other projects just that if I explicitly authorize them to represent me on another project there is no separate agreement needed unless we have to make changes to the agreement. Hope that helps.
Linnea

Kristin Nelson blogged about contracts and you should read to doublecheck, but I think she said a termination clause should be standard fare. You wouldn't want to be stuck with them for a year if for some reason things don't work out, do you?

I'm not wild about them asking universal rights either. Agents are usually stars at selling to publishers, but they need an entirely different skill sets to exploit film and audio rights. I would not recommend giving those unless they can show they sold those.

By the way, perhaps it got lost in the posting, but the contract specifies rights they want to sell right, not ones they want to acquire themselves...

Does Writer Beware of any sample contracts that would be appropriate available online?