Lately, I've been seeing a lot of blog posts about writing contracts and clauses. As a lawyer, the contracts part of the publishing business is one of the interesting parts of the business for me, and since I don't do publishing contracts myself, I thought I would gather up all the posts into one giant linkfest. Enjoy!*
1. Here's Jane at Dystel and Goderich Literary Agency on the importance of reading your contract, a post that was inspired by a publisher sending out a notice of amendment for their contracts.
2. Here's a post over at Bookends LLC by writer Sally MacKenzie, about how she realized there's no such thing as a "boilerplate" contract.**
3. Here's Agent Kristin at Pub Rants talking about why you might not want a multi-book deal. (Hint: it involves the term "cross-collateralization."
4. And here's Agent Kristin again, on how one unethical person can ruin things for the rest of us. (Long story short: an agent tampered with a PDF version of a contract and made unauthorized changes and tried to get it through at the publishers. This is NOT a good idea, people.)
5. And here's Stroppy Author's blog, a whole blog about reading your publishing contract.*** Note that she's in the UK, where contracts vary from those in the U.S.
6. And finally, here's Agent Kristin again with why publishers shouldn't be holding a reserve on returns on ebooks.
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* And even if you don't "enjoy" reading about contracts, they are a really important part of the publishing journey.
** Sally also talks about some other aspects of the business of writing that might not occur to writers before they get a contract.
*** Please note that Stroppy Author is just that, an author, and isn't a lawyer. And that your results should you follow her advice, may vary. It's still a good introduction to things to be thinking about when you read your contract.
1. Here's Jane at Dystel and Goderich Literary Agency on the importance of reading your contract, a post that was inspired by a publisher sending out a notice of amendment for their contracts.
2. Here's a post over at Bookends LLC by writer Sally MacKenzie, about how she realized there's no such thing as a "boilerplate" contract.**
3. Here's Agent Kristin at Pub Rants talking about why you might not want a multi-book deal. (Hint: it involves the term "cross-collateralization."
4. And here's Agent Kristin again, on how one unethical person can ruin things for the rest of us. (Long story short: an agent tampered with a PDF version of a contract and made unauthorized changes and tried to get it through at the publishers. This is NOT a good idea, people.)
5. And here's Stroppy Author's blog, a whole blog about reading your publishing contract.*** Note that she's in the UK, where contracts vary from those in the U.S.
6. And finally, here's Agent Kristin again with why publishers shouldn't be holding a reserve on returns on ebooks.
~~~
* And even if you don't "enjoy" reading about contracts, they are a really important part of the publishing journey.
** Sally also talks about some other aspects of the business of writing that might not occur to writers before they get a contract.
*** Please note that Stroppy Author is just that, an author, and isn't a lawyer. And that your results should you follow her advice, may vary. It's still a good introduction to things to be thinking about when you read your contract.
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