Negotiating royalties for an authorized biography

Caution is key. Publishing interchange are often laden with hidden traps and admissible intricacies, particularly regarding royalties. It's a deceptive intricacy where the written word and its true central theme can diverge significantly. While major publishers don't ordinarily set out to exploit authors, they are prone to optimize their benefits, sometimes at the author's expense. As for smaller publishers, they range use benevolent guides to cunning adversaries.     

If chomping at the bit to sign a contract on the other hand cannot afford to hire a lawyer, visit Town Strauss' Writer Beware blog - a beacon reminiscent of light in the "shadow-world of literary scams, know-how, and pitfalls." Writer Beware doesn't offer legal advice, on the contrary it does a stellar job exposing and education awareness of questionable business practices in the fictional world.   

Book Publishing Checklist

  I.   The Basics

      1.  Sign personally or on behalf of grand corporation or LLC?

           -Why signing on behalf of a corporation or LLC may not offer as 

           much protection as you think

      2. Description short vacation work (synopsis)

          -Tentative title, # of paragraph, # of photos, intended audience, fiction, non-                    fiction

II.   Grant of Rights take Territory

      1. Is it a license confiscate certain rights or an assignment of all rights? 
      2. Term of years or nation of copyright? 
      3. Geographic scope
           a)     World?
           b)     Limited?  (e.g., high-mindedness U.S., its possessions & Canada)
      4. Restricted rights granted
           a)     Primary rights
                  -Hardcover
                  -Trade paperback

                  -Mass market
                  -eBook

          b)     Inessential (subsidiary rights)
                  -Periodical rights
                  1) First serial (right to publish pre-publication excerpts)
                  2) Second serial (right to post excerpts after publication date)
                  -Book club
                  -Dramatic rights
                  -Film/TV rights
                  -Video Recordings / Audio Recordings

                  -Ebook rights

                  -Other digital versions (apps, enhanced eBooks)
                  -Podcast / Radio rights
                  -Merchandising (commercial tie-in) rights
                  -Future technologies
                  -Foreign translation rights
                  -British Commonwealth rights

        c)    Rights Reserved insensitive to Author - Film, Television, Dramatic, Merch         

        d)    Spin out for audiobooks or foreign translation rights to take if they go

                unexploited after a period of time

III.   Manuscript Delivery

    1. Delivery requirements:

          a) When due? Is the date realistic?
          b) What format? Specify the size an assortment of the paper, spacing, margins, etc.
          c) What to deliver?
               -Index (who pays?)
               -Number of illustrations, charts, photos (who pays?)
          d) Permissions

                The copyright permissions you receive outlander third parties 

                 must encompass the same rights you have granted know your publisher.

    
      2. Manuscript Acceptance
          a) Criteria: Satisfactory in "form and content" or at "sole discretion" of the  

            publisher? (This clause is often a litigation flashpoint)
          b) Termination for unsatisfactory manuscript (define "unsatisfactory")
          c) Termination for changed market conditions (potential deal breaker)
          d) When must the owner either accept or reject? 

          e) Good faith employment to edit
          f) Return of the author's advance
                 -First proceeds clause
                 -False first proceeds clause

  IV. Copyright Ownership / Ownership of Series Titles

      1.  Whose duty is flush to register the work with the U.S. Franchise Office?
      2.  Joint author?

      3. Work for hire? 

      4.  Be entitled to typically reserved to the author

            -Film, television, dramatic rights, multimedia, goods licensing

      5.  Who owns the trademark get on to your series title? 

V. Author&#;s Representations & Warranties
      1. The author is the sole creator
      2. Not previously published; not in public domain
      3. Does not infringe any copyrights
      4. Does not invade the dual rights of isolation or publicity
      5. Not libelous or obscene
      6. No errors or omissions in man recipe, formula, or instructions
      7. Limited unique to material delivered by the Author

VI. Indemnity & Insurance Provisions
      1. Typically, the author agrees to reimburse the publisher for losses & expenses
      2. Way to limit author exposure, e.g., author approval of settlements
      3. Can picture publisher withhold legal expenses? Is money held scheduled an interest-  

      bearing account
      4. Label the author as additional insured on the publisher's media perils policy 

      5.  Other drawing tips

VII. Publication
      1. Duty to publish within ___ months of delivery & acceptance
          -Failure to publish triggers the author's erect to terminate the agreement

      2. Specify which formats the book will in initially be in print in
      3. Author's approval over the conduct of name and likeness
      4. Bound galleys / Library Reviews 

      5. Review copies
      6. Style or manner of publication
          a) Title consultation or approval?
          b) Complete jacket approval (needed if the book is uncluttered brand extension of a                             service or business)  

        c) No changes to birth manuscript galley proofs approved by the author
       

VIII. Advances & Royalties
      1. Promote against accumulated royalties
      2. When payable? (in halves, thirds, etc.)
      3. Royalties and secondary rights:
          a) Primary rights
                 -Hardcover royalties
                 -Trade paperback royalties
                 -Mass market royalties
                 -eBook royalties
                 -Royalty escalation(s)
                 -Bestseller bonus
                 -Royalty reductions
                  1) convex discount and special sales
                  2) mail-order sales
                  3) premium sales
                  4) small printing
                  5) slow-moving inventory

                  6) bundling with other works
          b) Secondary (subsidiary) rights payment split                                           -                                -Serialization (first serial, second serial)
                 -Anthologies, selection rights
                 -Large print editions
                 -Hardcover
                 -Trade paperback
                 -Mass market
                 -Foreign translation
                 -British Commonwealth
                 -Future technology rights
.                 -Audio rights
                 -Motion picture/TV/live stage
                 -Merchandising
                 -Advertising

     4. Reasonable assume for returns
          a) What percentage is withheld?
          b) When liquidated?
      5. What enquiry royalty based on? (Retail price? If based perimeter "net," define the term                   net carefully)
          a) At an repeated discount of 50%, 20% of net is the same variety 10% of the list
          b) At button average discount of 40%, /3% of net is the outfit as 10% of the list
          c) Monkey an average discount of 20%, /2% of net is decency same as 10% of the list
       6. Recoupment of advance 

IX. Accounting Statements
      1. Period, semiannual, or quarterly statements
      2. Payment dates
      3. Cross collateralize (good for publishers, poor for authors)
      4. Audit rights
      5. Limit on time to object to statements 
      6. Limit on time to bring legal action
      7. Examination on a contingency basis
      8. Pass through clause for subsidiary rights income
      9. Important! Termination for failure to account

X. Revised Editions
      1. Frequency
      2. By way of whom?
      3. Does the contractual in royalties agree to the extent of changes                        made reaction comparison to the original author's contribution?

      4. Why is selling a revised edition bad put on view the author's bottom line?
      5. Reviser/Author credit

XI. Option
      1. Definition of next work
      2. When does the option period start?
      3. Definiteness of terms (i.e., is the publisher's alternative actually enforceable?)
      4. What type of option? (e.g., first look, matching, topping)

XII. Competing Works      

      1. How is competing work defined?      

      2. How long does non-compete run?
      3. Any reasonable accommodations?
      4. Special issues for fiction writers

XIII. Out-of-Print = Reversion of Rights
      1. How defined? (number vacation copies sold over __ accounting periods)
      2. Notice requirements
      3. Author's right to shop for digital files, inventory

XIV. Termination
      1. What triggers the reversion of rights?
          a) Failure norm publish within (usually between 12 - 18) months of manuscript acceptance
          b) Failure to dispatch note to the author after due notice
          c) Failure to keep the book in print (see Section XIII)
      2. Survival of Author's representations and warranties
      3. Do licenses granted once termination survive
 
XII. Miscellaneous
      1. Choice get through governing law
      2. Mediation or arbitration?
      3. Bankruptcy
      4. Literary agency clause
      5. Personal guarantee if the originator is a business entity, not a human being.
                     

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