Contracts can make or break you. Most people, especially writers and other business people deal with a variety. Today we’ll take a look at publishing contracts.
Please keep in mind the purpose of this article is as an educational resource only, it is not to provide legal advice.
Publishing Contracts
The decisions you make today can have profound consequences that can haunt you for years. Also, keep in mind that just because they are listed in a reliable source as a publishing house to consider, doesn’t mean that a particular publisher is ethical or follows industry standards.
Case-in-point
I will use myself as a case-in-point. My second child was Trisomy 18 and was stillborn. The doctors wanted me to terminate my pregnancy after receiving a test result and I refused.
I wrote a book that was cathartic for me, and my intention was not to make money off of it, but to buy them and distribute them to people who might benefit from the message. Now this was before the e-book era when self-publishing was very costly. At that point I had never been to a writer’s conference and did what most people do — bought a book of publishing houses and agents and started to send out query letters.
The rejection letters rolled in. Finally, I got the “yes” from a publisher. I read the contract and there were a number of clauses I did not like but they refused to negotiate. Their position was that I was a first time author and I could take it or leave it. I felt I had no choice if I wanted to get my message out and I signed on the dotted line.
Release Day
My book came out and frankly they did a nice job on the final product. This was one of the first publishing houses who did print on demand — they did not have the ability to store thousands of books. Under the contract, they had the right to determine the price of the book and my discount came off their price. Their retail price was $14.99 for a 99 page book and my 30% author discount brought my price down to the retail price it should have been sold at. I couldn’t afford to buy it and give it away. But then God stepped in and took control.
I got a call from the publishing house telling me that they had an order for three books, and they mistakenly printed 300 books — Would I like to buy them? I told them I couldn’t afford to buy them. They offered 50% off. No… Then 60% off. No… I ended up buying them for 80% off and donated most of them to charitable organizations. God did use my book to save lives.
The Right of First Refusal
This publishing house had the right of first refusal to my next book and I did not want them touching it with a 10 foot pole. I researched what books they did not publish and there was only one — children’s picture books. Guess what my next book was? — A children’s picture book. I submitted this next book, received the rejection letter, and I framed it.
With e-books and the ease of Indy publishing, authors have more negotiating power. The days of take – it – or – leave – it are pretty much a thing of the past. But the author still needs to understand what they’re getting themselves into.
The next article in this series will take a look at author representation contracts, the common parts of a book contract, and important considerations.
(c) 2020 Karen Van Den Heuvel Fischer
