#publishing contract

For this month’s column, I’m going to try and unpack the question of how “options” work in publishing contracts. I’m guessing this will be more relevant to writers publishing books with traditional presses than for magazine/journal articles, but it can come up in either contract. And if you’re self-publishing, you don’t have to worry about it at all.

Often when you sell a book—and sometimes an…

I’m happy to be able to show you all the brand-spankin’ new cover for The Beauty of Bucharest, but before I do I’d like to tell you how it came about.

I had been flailing around with various attempts at designing it myself and coming up with results that looked little better than the cat I colored in kindergarten using only a black crayon, not even hinting at staying in the lines and on which I…

On contracts and negotiations in publishing and in life in Brexit Britain

Contracts executive and literary translator Marta Dziurosz provides the most recent installment in our monthly series of insights into the publishing industry.

You hear: “a job in publishing”; the first things you think of are probably editorial, marketing, publicity. Maybe design, possibly finance. But how about operations? Production? And how about contracts? Bigger publishing houses frequently have a dedicated department which deals with drafting and negotiating contracts regarding the purchase of publishing rights from their owners: authors, illustrators, translators, foreign publishers. I work in the contracts department of Pan Macmillan, one of the largest publishers in the UK. My job combines negotiations, drafting contracts, and something that seems quite similar to my other profession, literary translation: being an intermediary between a text (in this case, the contract) and people who don’t understand it (in this case, a lot of people, both in the company and outside it).

To put it simply, the process is as follows: the editor commissioning the book sends the contracts department the basic terms of the deal they've agreed with the rights holder (frequently through an agent); we fit those terms into an appropriate contract template (one of very many), adjusting as necessary, to make sure it suits the specifics of the deal, the book and the author as well as possible, and send this draft to the rights holder; then both sides negotiate the details of the contract, and once everyone's happy, both parties sign the contract and we process the paperwork. This basic pattern gets complicated if a US publisher is involved, or if we're dealing with a book in translation – then the contracts with the original rights holder and the translator have to dovetail.

It's a job that requires an in-depth understanding of the ins and outs of the business, oodles of patience, masses of tact, and a willingness to do a lot of digging in archival files and contracts so old that they might mention “wax cylinders” or “magnetic tape” among their audio formats. Drafting a contract successfully requires familiarity with precedents of other, similar deals, and an awareness of how much those precedents can be tweaked. You might need to consult the legal department to see whether a particularly atypical request from the rights holder can be accommodated, or whether a certain provision will work across country borders. The detail you need to focus on is sometimes truly Byzantine, but at the same time you must be able to then discuss it with people who might not be as fluent in legalese – say, a self-employed Korean children's illustrator, or, indeed, a literary translator – and make sure they understand what you're saying during the negotiations.

This is definitely a behind-the-scenes job; yes, the contracts people do go to launches and raise flutes of prosecco to celebrate authors, but we are not the ones bringing in the big names, the big sales, or the spectacular rights income, not the ones designing the witty, eye-catching and beautiful covers. Still, the contracts stage of a publishing deal is, of course, vital.

One of 64 is a novel that will happen

I have a signed contract from a solvent publisher to produce One of 64, the first novel in what could become a sprawling series of space opera hijinks.

Radion Media, my publisher, projects a late January 2017 release date (which is really fast for these things). This means I will have the book in my hand in time for summer convention season.

So this blog, having been dormant for so long, will now…

The Non-Compete Clause in Publishing Contracts

Bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch wrote about “Short- and Long-term Thinking”, a phrase that describes what every author (or other artist) should do – well before signing any contract.  In her piece she insists that no one should EVER sign a non-compete clause. Look up your own publishing contract(s) if you can find the word compete and read on:

Kristine explains: “for the past several…

$35,000 Book Contest – partnership from Penguin & We Need Diverse Books

ROLL OF THUNDER PUBLISHING CONTEST In 1974, the Council on Interracial Books sponsored a writing contest seeking out diverse voices. Mildred D. Taylor was the winner of the African-American segment for the manuscript that became Song of the Trees (Dial, 1975), her first book. It introduced the Logan family and was followed by Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (1976), which won the Newbery Medal.

Forty…

What happens if your book gets cancelled or series doesn’t continue to get published?

There are many reasons to have an agent in your corner, but the dreaded book cancellation–or having the plug pulled on your series–is a big one. Your agent will be your shoulder to cry on and help you with next steps.

Unfortunately, it happens and it’s not fun for anyone. This is not legal advice, but some experiences that you might have heard about.

Here are a few scenarios:

1. Your book gets cancelled before you sign your contract. This is heartbreaking, especially for debut authors. You’re so thrilled to have a book deal. Your agent negotiated the terms and accepted the offer. Next is the contract. However, sometimes things happen in this stage that stop it in its tracks (the publisher gets bought, the editors leaves, the publisher shutters an imprint, you can’t agree on terms etc). This is why agents usually like to wait until publishing contracts are signed to announce deals: to prevent this heartbreak from being too public in case we need to shop it again. But yes, we can shop it around again. Until the contract is signed, it’s nearly impossible to keep anyone accountable without suing them and even then you might not win if you don’t have a paper trail. So instead of taking legal action we dust ourselves off and continue to seek out a new home. You want a book deal because a publisher is crazy about your book (and will promote it with excitement), not because they have to.

2. Your book gets cancelled after you sign your contract. This can be a breach of contract if done without reason, but also could be that someone didn’t hold up their end of the bargain. Did you deliver late? If so, you’re the one holding things up, but because publishing is an art not a science editors are usually okay with this sort of thing (for a few weeks, not a few years!). Being honest is always the best policy. Did you deliver really, really late? Then publishers are less forgiving. If you deliver a year late and it’s not quite the book the publisher hoped it would be (more the case with non fiction) then the project can be cancelled. (I won’t get into the scenario if someone cancels a book without reason. That’s another publishing law issue. Follow Susan Spann on Twitter for more copyright law.)

3. Your series stops after a few books and you hadn’t wrapped it up yet. This scenario is hard to attribute to anything other than low sales or a publisher closing its doors. One is somewhat in your control and the other isn’t at all. Publishers will offer a multi-book deal for a series, but that could be 2 books or 10 books and they’re only required to publish those under contract. If your books didn’t find their audience it’s hard for a publisher to continue to invest in your storyline. It’s purely a business decision and not personal. They signed it up originally because they loved it. If so, you can shop around the rest of your series (which can be hard because the new publisher can’t cross promote easily and it’s hard to find a new audience for something they can’t rebrand) or self publish it.

Publishing is time-intensive endeavour and careers are long. The best thing to do is get sad and get mad (to your agent only) and then learn from the experience and start on your next project. Everyone is trying to make the best business decisions they can–even if they’re not the ones you want to hear.

Feel free to share experiences or concerns in the comments below.