Do Publishers Normally Lock you in for 7 years

Nope

Duped said:

Dear All,

I would be interested to know if Publishers or publishing houses normally lock an author in for a 7 year duration period, as with Publish America.

Please reply

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No, they don't.

Generally speaking, a publisher can hold onto the publishing rights only as long as they are actively selling the book. After that, it reverts to the author. The exact details are included in the Reversion Clause in the contract.

There are minefields here, and many variations. See this discussion of reversion clauses: http://www.ninc.com/sample_articles/cntrt.asp

However, the basic situation is this: If a publisher isn't selling the book the author gets it back. A time period (and a seven year time period in particular) rather than a sales test is both unusual and abusive.

I think oneluv you'll just have to wait for their response to saying you couldn't afford your own books. I hope you get out of it.

@Bo - not an expert, but I'm pretty sure there's a clause in a normal contract that the publisher holds the rights until the book stops doing well.

@oneluv - well, since your book wasn't long enough, wouldn't doing nothing dissolve the issue? (Again not an expert, please chime in.) Failing that, you could send them a pile of lorem ipsum...

oneluv said:

To James D MacDonald, i am new to this site and honestly don't know how to use it, please can you help me with my problem. I just signed a contract with pa on Feb 9th this year and i haven't sent them my completed manuscript.

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If you signed a contract you are bound by it, until it's terminated.

its a poetry book that wasn't long enough for them to publish so they gave me till April 1st to finish it and send to them.

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Whether you send them more poetry is entirely up to you.

You should be aware that there is almost no commercial market for poetry books. Most of your poets self-publish and use non-traditional means of distribution (e.g. selling copies from the back of the hall at poetry readings). You could just use PA as a (very expensive, poor quality, unable-or-unwilling-to-deliver-books-on-time) printer, since virtually all the books you'll sell are ones that you sell yourself (like almost all the other poets in America).

i have sense then found this site and now want out of the contract. the only process we have done is getting my information. what can i do .? please help me. i sent them a letter both via email and snail mail that i was sorry and to terminate my contract because i can not afford to buy my own books. what else can i do...thank you MR. MACDONALD for your time

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The news that you're unable to buy copies of your own book may well cause them to release you from the contract. If it doesn't ... just go forward and forget this book for the next seven years. You'll write more and better, and sell them better places.

Check here for markets for your poetry. Where do you find the poetry that you read? Get those places' guidelines and submit your work in accordance with those guidelines. Consider publishing chapbooks via lulu.com and electronic editions through smashwords. Or, for hard-copy books, rather than POD, you might do better getting short runs made up at a local print shop (check your phone book). Yes, you'll be selling them yourself, just like the PA product, but you'll very likely have a better-looking product, that you can sell for a lower cover price yet still get a better dollar return than buying the equivalent number from PA for resale.

oneluv,

Have they seen your poetry yet? If not, send them a text file containing 50,000 copies of the string "AAA ". That ought to be long enough.

oneluv said:

since everyone one seems to know a bit more on this than i , i was wondering if anyone knew the legal ramifications if i do not send them the rest of my work?

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What does the contract say?

In the normal world of publishing, failing to turn in an manuscript on time might result in making it harder to sell another manuscript to the same house.

That probably isn't a concern here.

Be aware that Larry and Miranda read this area, and Miranda (or someone claiming to be her) posted here. So if you make your plans in public, they already know them.

And they have a mean streak. They're just as likely to refuse to terminate the contract just to screw with you.

And anything signed by Jessica Forrester is not valid... in any state.

Here you go, Jessica Forrester from the Bold and The Beautiful, played by the winsome Maitland Ward.



Ms. Ward played "Jessica" from 1994-96 leaving about a year prior to the InfoMonster's launch of her fake hate crime debacle.

Coincidence of the names? Or was the IM that sure no one in the police department was a fan of The Bold and the Beautiful?

Blonde on blonde crime is really something.

Bo Sullivan said:

Dear All,

I would be interested to know if Publishers or publishing houses normally lock an author in for a 7 year duration period, as with Publish America.

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Larger publishers tend to have life-of-copyright contracts (with provisions for reversion, as Uncle Jim described). But smaller publishers often have fixed-term contracts, so it's not uncommon for a contract from a small press to lock you in for X number of years.

7 years is way too long, however. Better is 3 to 5 years, which gives the publisher a chance to make some money on the book, but doesn't enable it to sit on the book forever. Many small press contracts have even shorter terms.

If the contract has a fixed-year term, the publisher should be willing to at least consider negotiating this. I recently re-sold two of my out of print books to a small publisher. Its original contract called for a 7-year term, which I negotiated down to 5 years. I agreed to that long only because this publisher actively markets its backlist (unlike many small presses, which just throw books out there and forget them).

- Victoria