[Let's see, yesterday I was snowed in, today I'm in Arizona meeting with some new writing clients. Life remains interesting.
Ace agent Chip MacGregor shares his wisdom at www.chipmacgregor.typepad.com. In the following insights and advice on a wide range of questions dealing with writing. Enjoy. Now, let's see if I can find my way to the airport. AG]
I've had a bunch of questions about the business side of writing lately...
Dawn asked about a reprint issue: "I noticed that Amazon
allows people to search inside my books -- but that means they've
posted a sample chapter. Is that legal? Isn't that giving away a
section of the book in violation of my publishing contract?"
If you'll take a look at your publishing contract, you'll see in the
"marketing" section some wording that allows the publisher the right to
use short sections of your book for marketing purposes. That's the
clause allowing publishers to work with Amazon's "Search Inside"
feature. They monitor how many pages a customer can actually view, and
they limit the page count so that nobody can read the entire book. In
cases where the Table of Contents is critical, they don't make that
available. Amazon also blocks readers from copying the text, so they've
created a feature that helps sell your book, but tries not to give too
much away.
The folks at Amazon have noted that this is their way of competing
with your local bookstore. If you walk into any Borders or B&N, you
can take a book off the shelf and flip through it. (In fact, you could
sit at their cafe and read the whole thing -- a feature you cannot
do on Amazon.) So the "search inside" aspect is a form of marketing --
letting potential readers get a peek at your book. Perfectly legal.
Jessy wrote this: "I'm a volunteer writer for a quarterly
publication. Recently the publisher told me he would be issuing a
special anniversary edition, and would include all my stories. I've
never received any monetary compensation for my writing, so my question
is: To whom do those stories belong -- the magazine or me?"
First, take a look at your publishing agreement, Jessy. If you've
got a written contract of some kind (whether it's for a story, or for
your work for the publication), it should spell out ownership. Second,
it's customary for writers to retain the rights to stories in
periodicals, so you'll probably find that others in your situation have
retained their reprint and secondary rights. Third, talk to the
publisher. If you've been volunteering, there must be some sense of
good will that's been built. I doubt he or she will want you to come
away from this with a bad taste in your mouth. My guess is a quick
discussion could resolve much of this. If there's a dispute, rely on
what's written. If there's nothing written, both you and your publisher
are going to need to resolve this in a way that's fair to both sides.
Oh, and fourth: I'm not a lawyer, so I'm not giving you legal
advice. If this looks like it's headed toward what you feel is a
violation of your intellectual property rights, go chat with a lawyer.
It's possible all is will take is for him or her to write a letter to
the publisher.
Kaye wrote and said, "I have published four children's books
with the same publisher. The books were all written on assignment.
Would they be considered impressive to another publisher I want to
pitch an idea to? Or do publishers prefer to only hear about books that
were not assigned?"
Absolutely, Kaye. Assuming you're listed as the author, it won't
matter if the books were assigned or if you came up with the ideas. The
fact that you've done four of them should impress publishers.
Jean wrote and noted, "I had submitted a proposal to a
publishing house, and they sent me back a 'co-publishing' email in
which they basically invite me to pay them to publish my book. They say
they'll print it, market it, distribute it, warehouse it, and pay me
royalties on it. The cost is about $20,000 for 2000 copies of the book.
A good deal?"
Let me get this straight... You sent a proposal to a publisher, and
they wrote back to say, "If you give us twenty grand, we'll do your
book?" Egad. That's a sure sign that you might want to check into the
legitimacy of that publisher. Frankly, I've never had that happen --
either as an agent or as an author. Seems like the publishing side is
nothing more than a front for a vanity press, which is probably where
they really make their money. And I would have serious doubts about
them doing much in the way of marketing or sales for your book (there's something to get in writing).
On top of that, you're talking about spending $10 per book with that
arrangement. That's higher than you would do with one of the several
legitimate vanity press operations. It's even higher than your cost
would be if you were to simply use some of the Publish On Demand
services that are available. My advice? Walk away. And warn others.
Breanna wants to know about right of first refusal clauses: "I've
seen contracts with the right of first refusal on future books, but I'm
confused about what that entails for the publisher. How long do they
have before they have to give the author an answer on the next
proposal? And does a rejection on the next proposal free the author
from having to send other books for consideration? What's the standard
clause?"
There's not really a "standard" clause -- different houses do it
different ways. That's why this always gets negotiated. But it's
reasonable to think that your publisher, who has made a huge commitment
to your career in doing your first book, can ask for a first look at
your next book. It's common to negotiate into that first look clause a
window of time (something saying the publisher has 90 days to review
the next book and make a decision). And yes, if you grant your
publisher a firsts look at your next book, once you've shown them your
next book, you have probably fulfilled your contractual obligation.
Got a question about writing or publishing? Send it to me and we'll discuss it.
