My experiences with publisher's contracts

[[deleted user]]

I am now on my fourth publisher as the first three went out of business. Read about the knowledge I gained from so many contracts on Tina Gayle's blog.

Here is the link:

http://www.tinagayle.blogspot.com/

I hope my experiences help you when you are presented with a contract.

Richard Brawer
www.silklegacy.com

[D.C.]

I agree with most of what you've said there, but for me, right of first refusal isn't a deal breaker, because if I don't trust the publisher to handle my titles correctly, I should not be signing a contract with them. That said, it's not in any of my current contracts.

Also I own my own characters, and I have a strong preference for contracts in which I do, but that can vary from publisher to publisher, and genre to genre. I would not necessarily turn down a lucrative contract from a major publisher on those grounds.

I don't actually have a lawyer look them over, but I'm comfortable with legal language (and what a publishing contract should and shouldn't contain), and it's excellent advice. I know more than one person saved from a bad one by it.

The important thing is to know what you are agreeing to, and be comfortable with it.

However ALL legitimate publishing contracts specify royalty amounts, payment schedules, and any special circumstances (paying for marketing, or deferring payment until the publisher has recouped their expenses are not legitimate terms). You should be making money on the very first copy a publisher sells.