Publishing negotiations

I sold my first book to a small press without an agent. However, looking at the contract was very overwhelming. I elicited the help of my cousin (criminal lawyer), who put me in touch with a friend working in entertainment law. She was able to make sense of all the mumbo-jumbo. I then scratched off the clauses I was unwilling to accept and sent it back to the publisher. They didn't have a problem with it at all, and I'm told most small publishers are much more negotiable than the Big Boys. I would, however, suggest you have someone with a legal background take a look at it if possible.

Hope the deal goes through for you.

Be sure to hire a literary rights attorney when the time comes. If you go it alone, without an agent or a literary rights attorney, you will probably get eaten alive.

Yeah, I did. Although the terms of royalties were acceptable (I think they were something like 12% for the first 1000 books sold and then escalating up to 15% thereafter), I was able to negotiate on what that number was based on. The original contract based rotayalties on wholesale price as opposed to retail price. Watch this very carefully. Publishers offer bookstores and distributors a huge discount, and if your royalties are based on wholesale, that's the number used in the caluculation. On the other hand, royalties based on retail are calculated using the actual price the consumer pays for the book. I was able to negotiate this clause in my contract.

cx7c said:

Thx for the advice. Does a literary rights attorney charge by the hour? Or do they take a percentage of income like an agent? Id prefer a one time fee to review the contract and give advice...

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Usually by the hour, but don't figure on one visit and/or review. He'll read the contract, tell you of changes that have to be made and others he'd like to see made to benefit you. You may need him draft a letter-or email-which should sound like it came from you. After the publisher responds you'll probably want him to review changes made and discuss those not made.

Depending on your relationship with the editor, after you've first reviewed the contract with the attorney, you might ask her if she would mind meeting with you and the attorney to discuss the contract.

As you know, attorneys don't come cheap. Figure on at least $2000.00, probably more.