Publishing Contract a Work-for-Hire?

The reputability of the firm appears somewhat at odds with this suggestion. I'd walk away. No royalty? Nothing on the back end at all? You give up copyright? Nah.

Walk away. Do it courteously, but walk away.

If one publisher is interested, another one will be.

Please let this reputable publishing company be one of the little, almost-no-one-knows-them publishing companies.

I'm so sorry you lost a year to this. Find another, better publisher and let them treat you right!

Might have been this a packager and not a publisher? Reece, PM with this company and I'll check my bad list/questionable archives, if you wish. Something's not quite right here.

ETA: Better yet, contact Victoria Strauss or Ann with this and let them see if they know what's up with this publisher. If any complaints have been filed, they'll have it on record.

tri

I had a similar experience with a very reputable, not small publisher. It wasn't for a children's book, but a different form of specialty book. The upshot was the same, flat fee, no royalties (I don't think I'd have been signing over the copyright for good, but still.) I didn't accept the offer because the payoff wasn't worth the effort.

Sorry they kept you on the hook for so long and then changed the terms.

PS--not all work-for-hire projects are bad deals. I did a couple where I fulfilled the publisher's idea and it was more research and organization of material than it was using my original ideas. To me, that's the distinction between a work-for-hire project I'm interested in and one I'm not.