10 tips for your next book deal

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10 tips for your next book deal

from Stephen Gillen, Attorney and Partner, Wood Herron & Evans LLP

® 2013 Text and Academic Authors Association (TAA)

Editors are under ever increasing pressure to sign new titles, meet publication dates, and deliver sales results.

If you have attracted interest or a contract offer, then you have already made the cut -- a reasonable list of tactfully stated concerns and requested amendments will only reinforce the impression that you are a competent and thorough professional.

1. You have more leverage than you think.


Beware of "work-for-hire" provisions, grants of "all right, title and interest," and broadly stated grants of electronic rights.

Alternate editions can be addressed by amendment to your book contract if and when the publisher expresses an interest in publishing them.

2. Only sell them what they intend to use.


Most form contracts will require that you deliver a completed manuscript that is acceptable to the publisher in form and content. This arguably allows the publisher to reject your completed work for any reason (provided it is not acting in bad faith). You should strive for an acceptability clause that requires only that the finished manuscript conform in coverage and quality to the sample chapters provided with your prospectus or, alternatively, a clause that requires the manuscript to be professionally competent and fit for publication.

3. Don't leave the back door standing open.


Publishers usually require their authors to make certain representations and warranties about the work submitted -- that it isn't libelous, that it doesn't infringe third party copyrights, and so on. Be careful that these representations apply only to work as supplied by you and not to the work of other contributors or editors.

4. Don't promise what you can't deliver.


Contracts typically give the publisher the right to select an editor to edit the work. However, you can win the battle for editorial control (or at least negotiate a peace with honor) by asking that the editor's authority be limited to copyediting and changes reasonably necessary to conform the manuscript to house style and further that substantive changes not be made without your approval.

5. Don't let the editor put words in your mouth.


U.S. Copyright law vests the copyright in the human creator at the moment the work is fixed in a tangible medium of expression -- put pen to paper and the copyright is yours. Ask that the publisher register it in your name.

6. The copyright is yours -- to have and to hold.


Watch out for the "no compete" provisions. Publishers often ask that you not publish or assist in publishing any other work that might compete. These restrictions are usually very broadly drafted and open-ended in scope. As such, they may be unenforceable as an unreasonable restraint of trade. Better, however, to try to narrow them before you sign.

7. Don't take yourself out of the market.


Royalties are the proverbial two birds in the bush. Far better to negotiate for non-refundable advances.

In any event, know whether your royalties will be based on list price, invoice price, or net receipts. And if they are based on the latter, ask the publisher for its discount schedule and for some historical averages so that you can compare apples to apples in the event you are the happy holder of two or more contract offers.8. A word about

royalties.


Some publishers still routinely include options clauses in their publishing contracts. This gives the publisher dibs on your next manuscript. Tell them that if they do a great job with the current one, you will certainly be back with the next.

9. Don't become an indentured servant.


Publishers are merging, consolidating, and selling lists. The best thing you have going for you is the support and confidence of the editor who felt strongly enough about your manuscript to try to sign you -- now, his interests parallel yours and his reputation is on the line. You lose this advantage if your book is sold to another house, so it is in your best interests to try to negotiate for the right to approve any assignment of your book contract. A great reluctance on the part of the publisher to agree should send you a signal about its own feelings of security.

10. Don't become trade bait.


Odds are, you will not prevail on all of these issues. But odds are equally as good that you will not lose on all of them either.

In any event, you will not get that for which you do not ask. So ask away. At the end of the day you will have a better deal and a more informed relationship with your publisher.

Find more great tips & advice on textbook authoring at www.TAAonline.net


This slide presentation is an authorized adaptation of a longer paper Copyright © 2002 by Stephen E. Gillen. [email protected]


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10 tips for your next book deal