- Joined
- Feb 18, 2005
- Messages
- 2,536
- Reaction score
- 522
- Location
- Fort Worth, Texas
- Website
- www.carlaharker.com
so could i purchase one or two for myself then say i'm done or would i get in trouble?
Unless your contract specifies a certain number of copies you're required to purchase, no, there's not much they could do at that point.
They use the words "at their discretion" for a very good reason. That gives them an out to do anything they don't feel like doing. And they never seem to feel like doing any marketing or promotion on their authors' behalves.if they said it's in the contract that I have to promote it can't I say it's in there that you have to too?
You will have used up first publishing rights, so your other options are few and far between, especially regarding legitimate commercial publishing options. Don't count on being able to cancel the contract. Sometimes they do it; sometimes they don't. But if you give them your money, they may hold onto the book in the hopes of getting even more cash out of you.basically i'd like to get a few copies for myself then get the contract voided so i could pursue other options.
To be honest, your best option is to forget about this book and write a new, better one and try to place that with a commercial publisher. Many, many of us have books that never sold, and in that you're no different. They're the books we wrote to learn how to write novels.