Additional Rights in Agency Contract

Do you mean the agent having the ability to negotiate subsidiary rights, or getting the rights themselves?

Most larger agencies have specialized subsidiary rights specialists--ones that work with foreign publishers for translations, or studios for movie deals, etc. Smaller agencies or sole proprietors often partner with other agencies and split the commission (at no additional cost to the author).

It's important to an author that the agent have the ability to negotiate these specialty contracts, and how that agent works on sub rights is a really critical question to ask a potential agent. If the agent has no plan in place for handling sub rights, and the book has the potential for those additional sales, the author should really consider if they're the right agent to handle the book.

I guess it depends on the language of the contract. For myself, I wouldn't want to negotiate these rights by myself because I don't know what's normal or common for, as an example, a Russian publisher to offer. But my sub rights agent at the agency, DOES know what's normal and whether something is a good offer or a bad one.

If the agent negotiates the sale, they get a commission. But I have heard of some agent agreements that ask for their 15% on top of whatever the subrights agent requires, which is wrong.

I'd be interested to see the wording of the book you reference. Please don't quote it, but can you provide a link to the book at a bookseller site where I can take a look?

I agree with Cathy C on everything.

Cathy C said:

If the agent negotiates the sale, they get a commission. But I have heard of some agent agreements that ask for their 15% on top of whatever the subrights agent requires, which is wrong.

Click to expand...

True.

Most agents expect 15% on domestic sales and 20% on foreign sales: that extra 5% allows them to pay their subagents and keep a bit to cover their own time and expenses: it's a reasonable amount, in my opinion.

It all depends on the agency, and what you want to do as the writer. Some agencies simply don't handle film rights, but have sister agencies that do. Some agencies handle everything. Too, some publishers are finicky about film rights, and want to be in the loop, should a film be made.

I retain control of film rights whenever possible because I think it's teh smartes move. This does not mean I'm going to negotiate these rights, it just means I want to be able to say who will negotiate them, when they will be negotiated, etc.

Some agents want 15% of everything, even if someone else negotiates a contract for you. This is wrong.

You always hear about an agent negotiating a contract for the writer, but too few pay enough attention to the contract an agent offers. Most writers are no more able to negotiate a contract with an agent than they're able to negotiate a contract with a publisher.

No matter who offers you a contract, you need someone strictly on your side to go over it. This is where an IP attorney comes in handy. If I sign a contract of any kind, an IP attorney, one who has much experience in such areas, goes over it first.

It isn't just publishers who will write a contract to their advantage, many agents will, and often do, the same.

Old Hack said:

Most agents expect 15% on domestic sales and 20% on foreign sales: that extra 5% allows them to pay their subagents and keep a bit to cover their own time and expenses: it's a reasonable amount, in my opinion.

Click to expand...

Just so I'm clear - it's 20% on foreign but that's totally separate from the 15% on domestic (sorry, just woke up and still thinking Cathy C's "on top of"...)

Correct. I'd forgotten about the 20% standard on foreign sales. Old Hack is right on that.

But, as I say, I have heard of some that partner with other agencies that go well beyond the standard. For example, let's say that sub rights agent in Paris requires 10% to negotiate the French translation (because the US agent might not speak French). A bad deal for the author would be the US agent requiring their 15% on top of the 10%, meaning a 25% deduction from the author's payment.

Project Deadlight said:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0470059109/?tag=absowrit-21 Is the book in question.

The section suggests you might want to get a separate agent to represent film rights, although rereading it, this is instead of letting your publisher negotiate film rights.

Thanks for all the help.

Click to expand...

I wonder if the book isn't clear.

If you've licensed all rights to your publisher then your agent won't get involved in the sale of any rights after that initial contract.

It's often a bad idea to license all rights like this, as your agent is almost certainly going to be far more motivated to make good deals for you; and because if your publisher does license subsidiary rights you'll probably only get 50% of the advance as the rest goes to the selling publisher.

If you retain such rights, and your agent doesn't work with a subagent in other territories, or work with a foreign rights agent, then you are going to have to find another agent to deal with this for you--but you'll have to make sure your original agent is happy about that. A friend of mine who is with a very good agency which doesn't have a film and TV department used to be represented by an agent at another agency solely for her film and TV rights. It does happen. But it's simpler to have all your agents under one roof.

Let's start with the fact that Lizzy Kremer is an agent in the UK and things might be different there.

I'm a US agent. My author/agency agreement says that the author has retained me to negotiate all rights associated with the book. If that means I need to work with a co-agent for translation, or film, then the agreement says I can do that.

The commission structure is 20% on translation: 10% for the co-agent, 10% for the US agent.

An author that wanted to have me represent ONLY the US publication rights would not be signed as a client.