Ask Your Question
How Helpful is the Bankruptcy Clause in Publishing Contracts?
Not very, but you would be ill-advised to remove it.
When a publisher is in bankruptcy, both the company and people dealing with it are prohibited from taking many actions without court approval. Among these is enforcement of the typical clause in publishing and certain other contracts that says the contract terminates when the publisher…
Read The Rest of This Answer
How Is “High Discount” Defined?
Is there a commonly accepted definition of what kinds of publisher’s book sales are “high discount” and result in a lower royalty rate than the basic royalty rate I negotiate in my contract for sales at the publisher’s standard discount?
No one definition is accepted by everyone in publishing. Indeed, rather than using…
Read The Rest of This Answer
Don't Sign a Book Contract without reading this book!
Previous Questions
Important Cases
Read what the courts say about fair use, e-books, copyright, advances, publisher bankruptcy, libel, databases and more. Read major court decisions on these and a dozen other important topics.
Fair Use: The 4 Factors
The Copyright Act lists four factors to use in determining fair use. See what they are.
Agents: Friend or Foe?
A good agent will protect you from overreaching clauses in your publisher's contract. But who will protect you from the overreaching clauses in your agent's contract? Appointment of Agent and Author-Agent Contracts.
The 5 Rights in Copyright
According to the Copyright Act, there are five rights contained in every book's copyright. Learn what they are.