I actually had hopes for this press. After some mix ups, I did get an acceptance, but then the contract came. Honestly, it's more than awful. I indicated I was open to negotiation, but was unwilling to take the contract as is.
Rights: they ask for lifetime for the SERIES.
The "net" in net revenues isn't defined.
Reversion/cancellation of contract: The publisher can do this at any time, but authors have to pay $5000. There's no reversion for going out of business or declaring bankruptcy. If a book goes out of production, the author can request it be put back into print, but even if they decide against doing so, they can hang onto the book for 12 months.
A couple of clauses prevent the author from independent publishing or signing with another house,.
The option for the next book allows them to take 6 months to decide whether or not to accept/publish it.
Zharmae takes ownership over the title, the author's nom de plum, and the series. If the author decides to leave Zharmae, they can hire someone else to write in the author's world. In addition, they can use the author's characters, etc in anyway they wish.
Royalties. I was told on the phone $1/copy regardless of promotion prices etc. While this works for ebooks (which appear to sell at 4.99 each), this is a rip off for hard copy sales (at 15.99/book, from what I've seen at B&N). And according to the actual contract, it isn't $1/copy regardless of promotional prices. Instead, promotional copies are subject to a percentage royalty.
These were the most egregious parts of the contract found on a skim by a contract expert. In general, their response was "we won't negotiate/strike that." The exceptions were clause 33, which would mean I would have to submit any additional books the traditional way rather than through my editor. They didn't even address the issue of taking ownership of my title, pen name, characters, etc.
I politely declined once their response made it clear they were unwilling to negotiate. I can't understand why other authors were willing to sign this. Regardless of how nice the people working the press are now, as Dorchester, Ellora's Cave, and other presses prove, when the shit hits the fan, it's what's in the contract that counts, and this one takes everything from the author and ties his/her hands forever.