says in the covering letter: "we cover all costs of book production, marketing, and distribution, and it comes with 20% royalties for the author."
"Net receipts" is in the contract. It states: "Net receipts are the payments that [Publisher's name] actually receives from sales of _____, less any printing and distribution charges, returns, taxes, credit card charges, shipping and handling costs." This would seem to contradict the cover letter's assertion.
They're not in the BR&BC.
In existence for only a year but they've already published over a dozen books.
I would be delighted to share the particulars via pm with anyone on the forum more knowledgeable about these matters that I am (which means most of you).
I made a big mistake with a biography I wrote by signing the contract without sticking up for myself. It was scholarly yet sold over 10,000 copies and in the end I made peanuts from it. A very good publisher too.
One thing I got burned on with the biography was translations (into Greek and Italian) which I made but a few pennies on. In the contract just offered I control translations, tv, film, etc. so in regard to some considerations the present offer looks better than what I had. This turned out be to be important with the biography because the book was under contract to Oliver Stone for two and a half years although never turned into a movie. I did make a few bucks from the option contracts.
So, help!
Any advice shared here or in private will be immensely appreciated.
One thing any author should have is access to a good intellectual properties attorney. I don't care if you have an agent or not, before you sign anything you should be having your IP attorney give it the once over. So many authors have been screwed over with bad contracts that a simple $50 or $100 fee would have detected and stopped cold. This is a business, and you can't go wrong treating it like one.
Give me a good agent any day.
People struggle for literally years trying to get agented, and once agented, might be and frequently are willing to overlook a lot in order to stay agented, especially the type who want nothing to do with the actual business side of writing.
So many people have given up trying to get agented and just decided to go it unrepresented that I thought that the recommendation might be called for. Hey, it's better than flying blind!
One thing any author should have is access to a good intellectual properties attorney. I don't care if you have an agent or not, before you sign anything you should be having your IP attorney give it the once over. So many authors have been screwed over with bad contracts that a simple $50 or $100 fee would have detected and stopped cold. This is a business, and you can't go wrong treating it like one.
A good agent will tell you if your contract is good or not, and will do so much more for you besides.
An IP lawyer will only tell you about the legal issues in your contract. He or she won't negotiate that contract, or work out how it might affect you, or show you how it could be improved.
Give me a good agent any day.
Sure, a good agent, no question. A good agent would do all those things. Two problems with that idea, unfortunately. It presupposes that A) you have an agent, which seems to be harder to achieve by the day, and B) that you have a GOOD agent.
In the state of New York there are exactly no standards of any kind you are required to meet to call yourself a literary agent. None. Therefore, your "agent" might know exactly zero about contract law, IP Law, or just about anything else having to do with the legal (or financial) side of being your advocate.
People struggle for literally years trying to get agented, and once agented, might be and frequently are willing to overlook a lot in order to stay agented, especially the type who want nothing to do with the actual business side of writing.
So many people have given up trying to get agented and just decided to go it unrepresented that I thought that the recommendation might be called for. Hey, it's better than flying blind!
Look, in this day and age, "published" authors without agents outnumber the ones who have agents. If you're published thru any means other than trad publishing,
then it behooves you to learn the actual business side of this business. You need to learn marketing, for certain, even IF you have an agent. You need to learn the financial side, at least enough to have an intelligent conversation with your accountant. You need to learn enough about literary contracts to know at least what the terms mean, and where to go to find out more.
You cannot run a business without knowing something about business. This IS a business. If you don't treat it as one, you will get absolutely screwed. Some very talented authors have really been taken to the cleaners by crappy contracts. A good agent can prevent that, but ultimately YOU are the one signing the contract, and not knowing what you are signing is the height of folly in business, any business, period, full stop.
says in the covering letter: "we cover all costs of book production, marketing, and distribution, and it comes with 20% royalties for the author."