Publishing Contract- What It’s Meant for an Author

You have won the day, a publisher has finally acknowledged your ‘letter of inquiry’. You literary agent has called you upon saying you have got an offer from a publisher. He sends along a contract to have a look at with the exciting news. The contract hits you like a bolt out of blues. What’s this publishing contract is all about, you don’t have a clue. The contract is a legal thing that your lawyer will surely be much aware of. But, there are no reasons why you can’t have at least a basic understanding of what’s exactly in the publishing contract.

In an effort to make you familiar with the publishing contract, we have unpacked all the complicated terms associated with the contract. Have a look at all the elements that a publishing contract is constituted of:

Bundles of Rights

When there is a contract, there are rights. A publishing contract addresses all the basic elements of publishing that have an association with law such as the grant of rights, payout schedule, advance, and territory and royalty percentage. The contract actually provides details on outright transfer of rights enabling a publisher to be the real owner of the transferred rights. Though publisher becomes the real owner of the copyright, copyright goes in authors name in the standard publishing practice. The contract will also be comprised of the details of audio rights, dramatic rights, motion picture rights, TV and radio rights, merchandising rights, and, electronic rights.

The term of the Publishing Contract

How long will the legal implications of a publishing contract be applicable? A publisher usually seeks to acquire publishing rights for a full term. However, there are circumstances explained in the publishing contract under which rights may get reverted to an author. The revert of rights may be in case of a publisher’s failure to keep the book on print or to publish the book within the assigned time or in a scenario when a publisher fails to produce book copies for mass market after an initial hardback run.

Advance Payment and Royalty Share

The note on advance payment and royalty share is surely the thing of matter for an author in the whole publishing contract. Contrary to the popular propositions, the amount that is paid to an author is not measured by an agent’s negotiating skill. Rather a publisher determines the commercial value of a book when making an advance payment to an author. Royalty rates, on the other hand, may or may not be subject to negotiation. Royalty can be calculated as a percentage of a book’s retail price or the percentage of a publishers’ net revenue made by selling a book.

Publisher’s Right to Terminate

The contract clearly specifies the date when an author is bound to deliver a completed manuscript his book in an acceptable form to the publishing house. A writer is not supposed to go beyond the deadline that he and publisher have agreed upon as per the contract. In case a writer fails to meet the deadline, a publisher has the right to terminate the publishing contract.

Though the above post is not elucidative, the points of the legal publishing contract hit the nail on the head. The overview of the rights and legalities associated with book publishing as provided above are essentially required for an author to know about, especially the one who is planning to put his first book on the train.