PART ONE:  CLAUSES

There is nothing more intimidating to a first-time author, than to receive their first book contract and not know what to do with it.  Many authors are so happy to get the contract they simply sign and return in.  Unfortunately most of them have clauses in them that are not favorable to the author.  Every contract should be looked at carefully.  If you see clauses you don't like you should negotiate them.  You're not going to get everything so take out for five things that you would like to change and see what changes you can make.  We will go over some of the causes here and point out changes you can make.

THE GRANT CLAUSE

This designates the territory you grant the publisher. The choices are generally world rights, all countries in all languages, English language rights.  This includes the United States and its territories Canada and the British Commonwealth and English-language rights in the United States and its territories and possessions. When possible you want to limit this to the US and its territories only.

THE DELIVERY CLAUSE

This is the delivery date of your finished manuscript to the publisher.  Before you sign the contract make sure you can finish your book by that time.  If not you will need to negotiate for a different date, usually several months later than the time you think you can finish your book. It nearly always takes longer than you think.  As you work on your manuscript, if you decide that you can't meet that date you need to notify the publisher as early as possible and ask for an extension.  Sometimes book contracts are canceled because of the author’s failure to meet the due date so let your editor know several months ahead that you need an extension.

·         Acceptable manuscript: the problem here is the language.  Usually it says, “acceptable to the publisher.” This needs to be changed to acceptable to the publisher for editorial reasons.  This protects you from a number of things.  Publishers have been known to cancel the book if they discover another publisher is bringing out a similar book, or your editor changes and the new editor doesn't like your concept.  You are entitled to normal editorial assistance where the editor will suggest changes, although there seems to be less of this today. 

·         Permissions: Many publishers now require that you get permission in writing from the copyright owner to use pictures or to quote material from a copyrighted book. In the past authors relied on what was called the doctrine of fair usage.  That is a thing could take 250 to 500 words without written permission as long as they gave credit to the author.  Unfortunately some courts have allowed the copyright owner to protect the less than this amount creating too much confusion. Some publishers have printed forms that they will send you, but it is up to you as the author to obtain this permission

·          Artwork: the author is usually responsible to provide all artwork photographs and drawings; maps, charts, and graphs.  The publisher will sometimes select the illustrator and arrange to have any artwork done, but the author is responsible to pay for it.  Always ask to have this money taken out of royalties.  Sometimes I've had to pay for this out of royalties and other times I've been able to get the publisher to pay for it.  It is important to always ask.

·         Index.  I never do the indexing, it would drive me crazy. There are people however who really like to do this. I always ask the publisher to have somebody they know to index the book and take it out of royalties.  Always ask and put it in this clause.

·         Revisions Sometimes the publisher will ask for revisions.  You need to do this as quickly as possible and get them back to your editor.  If you don't do this within the stipulated time the publisher has the right to hire another writer and charge you for it, sometimes the cost comes from the author.

·         Return of royalty: This is one of those things the publisher would like to change.  Generally if the book doesn't make back its royalties you do not return the advance to the publisher.  If the publisher cancels your book you repay only when and if you sell that book to another publisher. If you can get this clause in here it could be useful.

·         Tie-across clause (this is my name for it): This is one you need to avoid at all costs. It ties together for royalty purposes all of the books you've done for that one publisher.  For instance, if I have two books for the publisher they can take back any money that you still owe out of the advance from the royalties due from both books.  One of my friends got a two book contract for which they paid him in advance on both books.  When the royalty statement came out they took back the advance from the second book out of the royalties owed on the first book.  This may mean that any payment due on the first book is eaten up by having to pay back the advance on the second book early.                                     

·         Editing and proofs: At some point the publisher will send you the proofs to go over after they have been copyedited. These are the first printed sheets of your manuscript. You need to look for any mistakes made by you or the editor. Correct them and send them back as quickly as possible. At this point some authors attempt to re-edit their entire book.  Don't do this as you will have to pay for any changes that exceed 10% of your manuscript other than publisher's errors.

·         Non-competition: This clause says that you, the author, will not compete with your book by selling it to another publisher. This clause is also meant to prevent you from signing a contract with another publisher before you complete this book.

·         Publication: The clause committing the publisher to publication within a certain time.  This is usually covered by contract and can be anywhere from 12 months to 36 months.  Twelve months is a reasonable publication date.  Twenty-four months is too long and thirty-six months is unreasonable. If it goes over 12 months you need to question this and asked for a shorter time period. Without this clause a publisher can put your book back a season or two.

Sometimes here a publisher will commit to hardcover or to hardcover            followed by soft cover.

·         Jacket art-catalog copy: Generally the publisher has control over both of these although in some cases the publisher will listen to the author.  I have seen a number of cases where the publisher has changed the cover copy because the author objected to it.  Usually you can get a clause that says the publisher will consult with the author on jacket art and catalog copy.

·         Advertising: Sometimes the publisher will commit in the contract to do advertising.  But if they don't what are you going to do? In most cases the book is already out so the point becomes moot.

·         If the publisher doesn't publish: For reasons usually unknown to the author, the publisher decides not to bring a book out.  You need to include this in the contract with rights to the book reverting to the author when this happens.  The same is true when the book is remaindered.  It must be in the contract that when the publisher stops selling a book and remainders it the rights revert back to the author. Having this in the contract has allowed me, a number of times, to resell the book to another publisher.  This is important.

Free copies

The publisher usually stipulates that the author gets from five to twenty-five copies of the book.  On occasion, I have asked for his many as 50 copies to use for publicity purposes.  Sometimes, however, it's been difficult to get these copies.  The publisher will also sell the author additional copies at a 40 to 50% discount.