Is anyone knowledgeable about publisher contracts and the whole legal shmidoodle?

[Lorraine]

Hi everyone,

Trying to get some answers with regards to publishing contracts, but after days of research, I'm still confoodled. I was just wondering if someone was knowledgeable about law and contracts and kind enough to help me.

Basically, I'm trying to find out if a contract without termination clause can be cancelled for a reason other than a breach of contract, and this with no mutual agreement. Or, to know if the contract has to be respected unless/until there is a breach.

I've just been researching termination clauses, and they seem to be there to protect the publisher rather than the author. But if a signed contract can be cancelled so easily, what is the whole point of having a contract in the first place?

Is anyone able to shed any light on this? Been looking into all the dodgy stuff that's been going around the bad publishers and the all-round scammers that give everyone else a bad name, but couldn't find any reply to these specific questions.

Thanks a bunch in advance :)

[Belle]

My husband had an issue with a journal of which he was editor. He had always thought he owned it since he created it, but there came a time he wanted to break away from the poorly performing publisher. He had some people knowledgable in contracts look at it and they could not figure out if he or the publisher owned it. He was put in touch with a lawyer who specializes in publishing contracts. She said that in an industry that is based on words, you would think they would have the clearest and cleanest contracts but they are the worst and the most deceptive to read. She eventually came to the conclusion the publisher owned my husband's journal.

[Andrew]

Not sure if you know about ALLi- the Alliance of Independent Authors, but although I haven't used them, they certainly advertise a comprehensive legal team expressly for this situation. http://allianceindependentauthors.org/
Say I sent you.. Good luck.

[Lorraine]

Hi Jacquelyn, thanks for mentioning the Society of Authors. I did come across them, but I'm not a member and it looks like they reserve the services to members. Same with the ALLi mentioned by Andrew (which I had never heard of, but thanks for mentioning it, might come in handy in the future :) ).
Belle, I'm sorry to hear about your husband's experience. I've seen so many dodgy clauses being mentioned during my searches, it's scary!

[Geoff]

Lorraine,

When I received a contract from a UK publisher I had it checked by the Australian Society of Authors (had to join the Society and then paid their specialist for advice). Using the advice received I replied to the publisher and suggested changes, and didn’t hear from them for about a year, and thought that I’d put them offside with my suggestions.

The next thing I was contacted by the editor and work began on the book and I went along with the whole thing (after all I hadn't signed anything). At the last minute they realised that I hadn’t signed and sent a slightly different contract, which I did signed. I can get out of the contract if they fail to sell a certain number of books in a six month period.

I received a commission payment six months after release (the cash bought me a few beers, because in my opinion they made a mistake by publishing it in hardback, and offered it for sale at too high a price). I was told that if it sold well they would issue a paperback version, but I doubt that this will happen, because it has now come out at an e-book, and I think it is still too expensive.

I self published originally and the publisher picked the book up and wanted to re-publish under their imprint. They changed the name of the book, and the front cover. The new front cover is better than my original, it is more striking.
I have not paid any money to the publisher, so it is not a vanity / self publishing effort.

The publisher has first refusal of a sequel, and any further books that I write, but the contract does not say anything about me writing under another name.

[Lorraine]

Jacquelynn wrote: "Sorry it was no help, Lorraine."

No, Jacquelynn, thank you for trying :)

[Lorraine]

Thank Geoff. Just shows the need for a lawyer to look at every single line and translate it. It's amazing the number of possibilities in each contract. There is no real standard, from what I can see. Each publisher puts in the contract what they want to put in. I'm not saying that each one is different, there are certain things/requirements/clauses that are more common than others. But yeah, getting it checked by a lawyer before signing definitely seems to be in the best interest of authors. Thanks for sharing your story :)

[Catherine]

Hi Lorraine,

Just wondered if you might find this blog helpful - it's on the legal aspects of publishing and has posts on contracts:

http://www.thepassivevoice.com/catego...

Catherine

[Lorraine]

Thanks Catherine, I hadn't come across this blog before, but it's certainly full of information. I couldn't find an answer to my question, but there's definitely some info in there that I will be able to use for my own blog post :)

[Lorraine]

Hi everyone,

Thought I'd update you as I think I've found my answer. Well, it makes sense anyway, although it's not from a lawyer or someone with a background in law. Basically, most contracts are written in a way that an author, by signing it, gives permission to the publisher to publish the story. So the publisher has the right to eventually decide not to publish the story. It's apparently as simple as that.

Thanks for your comments and your help :)