Quote:
Originally Posted by natasha_fawn
Hi folks,
I'm asking for advice for my mother, who recently finished writing a biography of my father (aka "The Book."). Last summer she sent out proposals to University presses, and has had favorable responses from two. The first asked for some revisions, which she sent, and has since offered a contract. (The contract specifies a hardcover version and an electronic version, including a certain number of images.) While she was doing the revisions for the first, a second asked for revisions.
She's at a bit of a loss as to how to proceed. Neither of us are familiar with book contracts: What to look for, what to expect, what's reasonable and what isn't, how much negotiation can she do? (Her lawyer can explain the legaleze but doesn't generally work with this kind of thing.) Then there's the question of leaving the first publisher hanging while waiting for a response from the second.
I realize that most(?) people here are self-published, but I'm hoping at least a few of you will have some insight and advice for us. Are there resources that you have found helpful? Is the process likely to be different since these are University presses? We're ecstatic that publishers are interested in The Book, but a little intimidated at this point, so any advice is welcome.
Thanks!
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You should really ask a professional in this area who will look out for your interests, either an agent or a lawyer specialising in the publishing industry.
If you're really interested in comments from a random stranger on the internet, I'll give you my thoughts.
1) You shouldn't be paying anything to the publisher. This may seem obvious, but a surprising number of people vanity publish without quite realising it. (This doesn't seem to be the case here.)
2) The contract should specify for how long the publisher has the rights to the book, and exactly what rights they have, and how you get the rights back. Exclusive rights for a certain territory for the print editions is usual. I'd hold out for non-exclusive world-wide ebook rights if I were you, or else grant them exclusive world-wide English rights. (Exclusive territorial ebook rights don't really make any sense.)
3) Advance. You should probably expect a small advance. This might be all you get from the publisher if the book doesn't sell well.
4) Royalties. For the paper books, these should be on the Suggested Retail price, and for hardbacks should be 10%-15%, for paperbacks 6-8%. For ebooks, I'd suggest a minimum of 25% of Suggested Retail Price, preferably 50%. Or perhaps 50% of gross income from the ebook sales.
5) Sales to other publishers and translations. The contract might give the publishers rights to sell the book to other publishers in other territories and/or translation rights. You should be getting at least 50% of any income from these sales.
Does this help?