Q. I’m okay with the provision in my new contract giving the publisher 60 days to tell me if it’s interested in publishing my next (as yet unwritten) book. I’m not sure, however, when it’s appropriate for this 60-day option…
Q. My publisher wants to include this sentence in my new contract: ”Sales of e-books, whether by Publisher or by a licensee, shall be considered sales by Publisher for purposes of the royalty provisions of this Agreement.” It’s not in…
Q. Royalties on two textbooks I wrote are being watered down because my 1980s contracts didn’t anticipate sales of e-textbooks or rentals of my textbooks in regular and digital formats. More importantly, the contracts didn’t anticipate that my publisher would…
Q. Is there a standard definition of “electronic rights”? A. No, not for “electronic rights” nor for the many different rights encompassed in that term. (Some contracts use “multimedia rights” instead of “electronic rights,” but there is no agreement on…
Q. I’m granting e-book rights, but not other electronic rights, to my publisher and I have been very specific in saying that the publisher can’t make any changes to the text or illustrations. The publisher is insisting on a clause…
Q. I have licensed both print and e-book rights to my publisher. Are they obligated to publish the book in both editions? A. Only if your contract says so. Prudent authors will provide that simply publishing the book in an…
Q. My publishing contract doesn’t define “net.” It’s used in both the royalties and subsidiary rights sections. What does it mean? A. “Net” is one of the worst terms for authors to leave undefined in a contract. “Net” – more…
Q. What is an “earn-out bonus”? A. An “earn-out bonus” is an additional advance against royalties that is paid only if the total amount of royalties and subsidiary rights income payable to the author equals or exceeds the original advance.…
Q. I recently set up a one-person corporation and assigned all my copyrights to it. Can the corporation sign my next publishing contract so I could avoid personal liability in the event of a lawsuit against the publisher involving my…
Q. My publisher just sent me its new contract for my next book. Among the rights I’m being asked to grant are “derivative rights” in my book. The term is not defined in the contract but my editor tells me…
Q. Is a book out of print if it is available only in a POD (print-on-demand) edition? A. Unfortunately, the answer to your question in large part depends on how “out of print” or “in print” is defined in your…
Q. What does “coupled with an interest” mean? The phrase is used in the agency section of my contract. A. This phrase is a confusing one, and I’m willing to wager that most agents who have it in their agency…
Q. How typical is it to get approval in a contract for the design of the book’s cover? A. It is extremely difficult—generally nigh to impossible—to get a provision in your contract giving you approval over design of the book’s…
Q. Should the typical provisions about reduced royalties on copies sold at high discounts apply to e-books? Answer: No. Unlike print-on-paper books, where each copy sold at a deep discount represents significant expenses incurred by the publisher which pertain specifically…
Q. I notice that the listing in books of other books by the same author often includes only other books published by the same publisher. Is there a way to avoid that? A. If you want to make sure that…