Category Archives: Publishing Contracts

First Publishing Deal

It’s arrived –your first traditional (not an e-book!) publishing contract: ten pages of single-spaced Times Roman.  All the work, the revisions, the seemingly endless waiting for replies from publishers has finally paid off.  And you’re grateful, right? Of course you are.  Especially because your editor told you it’s a “standard” contract.  “Just sign and send it back,” … Continue reading First Publishing Deal

Q&A: Foreign Rights

Q.  I’m self-publishing my out-of-print novel, in both digital and print.  Please tell me about “foreign rights” and “foreign licensing deals.” A. Foreign rights are typically part of the “subsidiary rights” of your copyright, and can take different forms (also called “translation rights”).  Foreign rights, as a whole, are the granting, (or “licensing”) of your … Continue reading Q&A: Foreign Rights

Collaboration Agreements

A collaboration agreement is a contract between the authors of a joint work setting forth respective ownership, rights, credits, royalties, expenses, and responsibilities.  If you are collaborating with someone on any significant work – a short story or a novel – you should have a collaboration agreement.  Let’s look at the key issues: Responsibilities.  How … Continue reading Collaboration Agreements

Out of Print Clauses in Publishing Agreements

Your grant or assignment of copyright to your publisher generally is limited only by the out of print clause.   It therefore is critical that “out of print” be defined reasonably, especially now that digital and on-demand publishing can make the literal meaning of the clause obsolete.  Ideally, the definition should be pegged to the publisher’s … Continue reading Out of Print Clauses in Publishing Agreements