Contract Offer... Now What Do I Do?

This is why Agents are useful.

Don't say yes until you know the terms, however it sounds like they're just asking you to agree to changes this point.

If you haven't already, check out The 'Bewares' forum to see if anyone else has experience with this publisher.

Usually the make corrections thing is part of the contract...

Nothing is legal until you sign so they can't force you to make any changes. Sounds a bit wierd they are making seeing the contract dependent on you agreeing to make the changes. can you not ask what sort of terms they are thinking of? Good publishers usually tell you in advance what the terms are before they send the contract (at least in my experience)

What does your agent say?

An agent for an epublisher? I think that would depend on the publisher. If there's no advance (or a very tiny $100-$200 advance) and royalties, such as with most erotic romance publishers, are you suggesting someone get an agent for that, or that an agent would be worth or be interested in 15% of a few hundred dollars over several months, that might be what a new author makes?

I don't know what epub this is, but since the OP didn't specify, isn't jumping to 'agent' kind of presumptive? I wouldn't seek an agent for something like that, and I doubt many or most romantic epub authors have agents negotiating the deals for them.

OP, if you'll Google "How to Read a Book Contract" and/or "How to Read a Literary Contract" there's some good information. The first site that comes up with many, many link is a very knowledgeable person who bangs the self-publishing drum hard, and I think she tends to make contracts sound like you're signing with the devil in blood. Just look at the specific points she makes. Watch for the rights you're signing away (don't go with all rights, anything in perpetuity, etc.). You might privately contact some people who have signed with the same epub and ask some questions.


Shelley

Don't say yes until you let everyone else who is considering it know. Someone else might make an offer that is just as good,

Congratulations, Alisha!

I'd tell them you'd be willing to make those changes, and that once you receive the contract, you will need a few weeks (not sure what is acceptable here but I'd want a month) to consider it and inform the other publishers who are reading the work. Also, you should ask to be put in touch with other authors who are published by them.

In other words, say yes to the changes but not to the contract until you've had a chance to fully vet it, the company, and your options with other pubs.

AlishaS said:

However, I do have partials/fulls with other publishers (print and e-book)
I'm wondering what my next steps should be. Do I say yes to e-pub to see the contract, and then while looking it over, do I e-mail the other publishers with my MS and say, "hey I've been offered a contract"?

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I am assuming you did your pub research before sending so I'll leave that step out.

First step should be to let the other publishers know you have an offer. It's basic etiquette to keep other publishers informed on the status of manuscripts. This will give them an opportunity to either look at the MS and make their own offer or to bow out.

Next, I'd discuss the changes the editor wants made with her. Often if you can give a general idea of the changes being made it satisfies the editor and you can see the contract. From there you can get the contract for review. Another option, if you have a friend who is with that publisher, you might be able to see the standard form contract and get a look at what to expect.

Nothing is final until the contract is accepted and signed by both parties, so progressing to, "Send me the contract," isn't going to legally commit you to anything.

I'm presuming that all those pubs are cool with simultaneous submissions.

Hi Alisha! I got a google alert about this and wanted to drop by and address this issue. ;o)


If you had asked about the contract, I would have happily sent you one to review while you thought over everything. I'm an author too, so I know how everything works. And I'm still relatively new at publishing, but I encourage you to email some of the authors that are published with me and check on their experience. I did this when I first published and I got lots of responses!

As for the other epublishers, I'd email them and let them know as other's have suggested. There's nothing more frustrating than reading a book only to find it's been picked up by someone else. I also had to do this with one of my published books. If you have another publisher you'd rather go with, you have a legitimate excuse to email them for a faster answer. lol

I would never want you to publish with me until you've had time to check things out. We are a relatively new publisher, which can cause some to be hesitant. But I'm actively involved with all aspects and I created Astraea based on the kind of experience I wanted to have. I might be fooling myself, but I believe almost if not all of my authors are pretty happy with me! ;o)

Feel free to ask me any questions, have a lawyer look over the contract or ask people here to help you figure things out. Just keep me updated where you are so I'll know what's going on!

Thanks, Alisha!
Stephanie

AlishaS said:

So I've just been offered a contract by an e-publisher. Now what do I do?

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Caveat: I'm not a lawyer, so please don't take my advice as such. Just take it as layman advice based on experience.

I got in a sticky-wicket because of a contract with an e-publisher. Make sure you look at rights reversion and contract termination area. Also, look at what they call a completed work. If you can, try to reword these in your favor. Such as if they agree to publish the work no later than 18 months after acceptance of the completed work? Then see if they will accept a change there, so that instead of it counts from the date the original submission was accepted, not the product after all editorial edits are made. Especially, try to change the area concerning what happens "if reasons beyond the control of the publisher" cause delays. Try to get it to mean not "completed" work but your original submission that they start counting from. Otherwise you might get stuck in a kinda . . . limbo if they never sent you edits but don't count your original submission as "completed work."

Definitely look at that. Also ask questions before signing. What happens if your editor takes a leave of absence or is sick? Who will take over your work? Is there communication between editors in such case? Ask them how fast they tend to get a project out, and how fast they will get yours out.

Ask them all sorts of questions before signing on the dotted line. Because I have to tell you, after my experience, I am extremely leery of e-publishers, and if I ever go with one again, I'm going to be asking a lot of questions and trying to change the contract.

Remember, it is better to not get a story published through them than to sign a bad contract. So, take your time, at least a week, looking over and researching the contract language if you can't afford a lawyer.

Jodi

Look at the option clause, the reversion clause, and the definition of the royalties.

Look at everything else, too.

If you don't have experience with publishing contracts, try to go over this contract with someone who does.

Help

I am now in the same situation as the person who made this thread. I have been offered a contract by what according to my research is a very fine epub. But my full is with two other epubs I'm even more keen on. One just lets people submit fulls and so there is no particular interest shown there, but the other asked for the full and seemed keen.
So anyway what is the polite, the correct thing, to say to the wonderful epub who just offered me a contract. My full is with the epub of my dreams so I don't know what to do, or what the correct thing to say is. I want to find out if the epub of my dreams is interested but I don't want to be rude or miss out on the other epub.

Don't panic. You have time. You have an offer... that's good. Contact the other e-pubs, let them know you have an offer, and see if they can hurry up their decision making.

E-pubbing works fast, and I think it trains authors to think they need to respond to everything IMMEDIATELY. But we don't. Imagine you were on vacation when the offer arrived... would you expect the offering publisher to retract their offer because you didn't accept it immediately? They want to publish your book; they're not looking for reasons to screw up the deal.

If you contact the other e-pubs and find out it's going to be more than a few days before they can get back to you, I'd contact your offering publisher and let them know you need more time. Personally, I wouldn't give them details, but I would try to give them a timeline ("I'm just reviewing a few things, I'll let you know by the end of the month"). Or, you could say you're interested (you are, after all) and ask to see the contract, and then tell them you'll need some time to properly review it (you do, after all).

TL;DR - don't let the speed of e-pubbing pressure you into flash decisions. Nothing's on fire. Take your time.

If you don't have an agent I'd suggest contacting your local Bar Association and arranging for a meeting with an intellectual property attorney. Many times the first meeting is free or for a fee as low as $25. I believe the same sort of service is offered in the UK.

Explain your situation to the attorney and find out what his fee for going over the contract would be. If you can pay it, do so and have him or her go over that contract line-by-line. He or she, in the absence of an agent, might also be willing to act on your behalf with the publisher, but they can definitely tell you about what the contract terms mean and if there is anything particularly aggregious contained in it.

Alisha, hope your deal went well with the publisher. Wishing you the best.

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On a separate note, with regards to simultaneous submissions, some e-publishers don't like that. Not that they'd check if you did send to them and then off to someone else in order to cover all your bases, but some insist on them and only them. This sort of thing may make the author feel wanted (especially if their manuscript is accepted) but at the same time limits their options. The e-pub field is growing--albeit slowly--and hopefully this kind of "attitude" (in some cases) will soon be a thing of the past. (I don't think so but one has to have hope).