An Overview of Book Publishing Agreements
A book publishing agreement, also known as a publishing contract, is a legally binding arrangement between an author and a publisher. Such an agreement aims to protect the rights and interests of both parties in the creation and distribution of written works. The primary purpose of a book publishing agreement template is to establish clear terms for the author’s rights in their work and the publisher’s obligation to promote, publish, and sell it. In doing so, they create a mutually beneficial partnership that empowers authors financially and otherwise while allowing the publisher to maximize profits from the sale of literary works. A publishing agreement will typically cover key aspects such as: These elements ensure that all relevant details about payments , confidentiality, rights, and responsibilities are agreed to in advance, providing protection for both author and publisher. A book publishing agreement is important for both authors and publishers. For authors, it protects their intellectual property by clearly defining their ownership of the rights to their work. Most importantly, it can provide a steady stream of royalty payments for the duration of the contract. For the publisher, it provides clarity on how the author’s work will interact with their overall business model. It also provides legal recourse in the event of issues or disputes. In short, a book publishing agreement template is essential to the long-term health of both authors and publishers.
The Elements of a Publishing Agreement
The heart of the book publishing agreement is the Grant of Rights section and the text of that section describes in detail the rights that are being granted by the Author to the Publisher under that contract. A detailed and comprehensive description of the scope of rights being granted is fundamental to a publishing agreement as it is the core of what the contract is all about and protects both the Author and the Publisher equally.
The Publisher typically wants to ensure that it properly owns the rights that it is paying for under the agreement and the Author wants to be sure that the rights are only granted as they are set out in the agreement ("Nothing ventured, nothing gained.").
A Publishing Agreement template should always include the two sections that deal with payment: the Advances and Royalties sections. The Authors and Publishers agree on an amount to be paid as an Advance and the percentage of Royalties that will be paid by the Publisher to the Author for the sale of the books published under the contract. For example, the contract may provide for an Advance for $2,000 on publication of the book and 10% of the list price for future royalty payments.
In addition to the Advances and Royalties sections, the Publishing Agreement may also include an Expenses and Audits clause to list any potential expenses that may be reimbursed to the Author by the Publisher and a clause giving the Author the right to audit the Publisher’s accounts if the Author wishes to do so.
Various Types of Publishing Agreements
Two basic types of book-publishing contracts are traditional publishing agreements and self publishing agreements. Traditional publishing agreements are used by traditional publishing houses, such as Random House or Harlequin. This type of agreement offers the author a royalty payment.
Self-publishing agreements allow the author to pay for the production, distribution and marketing of his work. The production includes copyediting, typesetting and printing services. The author pays the publisher a fee prior to the start of the project.
There are advantages and disadvantages to each type of agreement. If you agree to self-publish, you will receive one hundred percent of the profits. However, signing a traditional book publishing contract with a reputable publishing house has its benefits. When you publish through a major publisher, your book will be placed on store shelves along with books from other prominent authors. This means more exposure for your work. A traditional publisher also pays for the entire production process.
An author who signs a self-publishing agreement receives all profits from the publication of his book, but he also bears all costs for production, distribution and marketing, meaning that he has total control over these processes. Also, with the exception of a small number of stores that allow self-published authors to return books that did not sell, the author must purchase any unsold books.
A disadvantage of self-publishing is that printers could charge a "sizing fee." This is a charge for the time it takes the printer to size a book. Also, the author has little control over the type fonts, book trim size, paper quality and marketing. It is true that a self-published author might make a larger profit on his book than a traditionally published author does on his own work, but this is not always the case. Publishers offer discounts in exchange for bulk purchases of books. A self-published author must buy all of his books at full price to receive all of the profits.
The first type of hybrid book publishing contract allows an author to pay a traditional publishing house to publish the author’s book with both his and the publishing house’s name on the cover. The second type of hybrid publishing agreement allows a publisher to take care of all administrative tasks for a book that is published under the author’s own name.
Both of these agreements have their advantages. You can pay a traditional publisher less than you would through a full self-publishing contract, and you retain control over the type size, typesetting, art and marketing. With the two hybrid contracts, you might receive half of the profits.
A disadvantage of the first type of hybrid book publishing contract is that the author receives main billing, which might be a turn off to potential readers of his work. The disadvantage of the second type of hybrid contract is that you will receive less profit from the sale of your book than if you had self-published.
Writing Your Own Publishing Agreement Template
Authors who are self-publishing their first books might want to create an author publishing agreement template for their future use. In other cases, an author might not be ready for a custom publishing agreement. Again, an author might want to create a simple publishing agreement creation template so that helpers with the publishing process understand the task they are to undertake.
Here are some guidelines for drafting your own book publishing agreement template:
- Read sample publishing agreement templates or sample publishing agreements, and pay special attention to the specifics. For example, how is the "territory" defined, worldwide or regional? It is important because it could redefine what the publisher will publish in terms of languages, dialects, and other elements that could affect distribution.
- Make headings for special sections to be included. For example, the section covering advances and royalties might be broken down into sub-sections such as gross sales price, distributor discounts, income adjustments, reserves, and others. Your agreement template should reflect these different elements so you can easily fill in basic details. Alternatively , you might draft only basic provisions and rely on the recipient to fill in that information, but use headings as a reminder.
- Consider including a brief description of the manuscript, so it can be inserted later in the appropriate place. This is especially important if the work will go through any type of review or evaluation before acceptance.
- Include a place for the date and seller’s and buyer’s signatures. Typically, both parties sign every page of a contract, but this could be overkill (or paleographs) in the digital world where contracts are more often housed in cloud servers behind passwords.
- Add a place for initials. As contracts are read, revisions will occur. Have each party initial any elimination or addition within the contract for authenticity of the document, or use cloud-based contract generation software that requires parties to register to view and update the document history.
- When the book publishing agreement template is complete, don’t forget to add it to the reviewer checklist, style guide, or standard operating systems.
Common Missteps to Avoid
One of the primary missteps authors and publishers often make regarding book publishing agreements is interpreting boilerplate clauses literally.
Mistake #1: Taking Standard Clauses at Face Value
It is important to review all clauses of a standard book publishing agreement carefully to understand any potential conflicts, gaps and changes from previous agreements. For example, many book publishing agreements contain language that may not necessarily apply to your project, like exclusivity language. Just because you already have a finished manuscript, does not necessarily mean you should sign an agreement simply because it is a standard, trustworthy document.
Mistake #2: Shortcutting the Exclusive Rights Clause
Another common error is believing that it is common practice that the book publishing agreement will not affect a publisher’s rights to the book. Yet, it is important to remember that it is the author’s intellectual property. Therefore, it is important to build a strong exclusive rights clause to define how the book can be used and to prevent the publisher from using the material without compensation.
Mistake #3: Ignoring Issues of Ownership
Finally, it is important to ensure that negotiated terms for ownership and copyright are properly memorialized in the document. For example, articles and other IP can become the subject of future litigation if the two parties have not clearly addressed negotiated terms in the original book publishing agreement.
Legal Considerations on the Topic and Additional Resources
The legal considerations when drafting a book publishing agreement are vast, and it will vary depending on the circumstances of the agreement. One of the most nutritionally dense and delicious resources on this topic is the Book Publishing Agreement Playbook on Tightrope Law. With 18 chapters, this eBook covers the details of a publishing agreement. While a lot of the book covers a lot of particulars for the book publishing business, like the benefits and complications of digital books, a lot of the information is relevant for distributing a book in other spaces.
While not all of the issues outlined in the Book Publishing Agreement Playbook will be applicable to your situation, it’s an interesting entry point into all of the business arrangements you might want to make, depending on a particular publishing relationship. It also provides a good check to see if the agreement you are using covers the topics and terms you need for your particular publishing arrangement. While this is a lengthy reference manual, another helpful resource is Curtis, Alters, and Kelsey’s Model Book Publishing Agreement Annotated. With this reference book, you can look at a sample agreement and read about all the considerations the writer made and what they thought was best practice . Like the Book Publishing Agreement Playbook, it’s not all applicable to every scenario, but it’s certainly an interesting reference.
For authors who simply need a custom publishing agreement, eBook author Michael Allen provides customizable agreement templates for authors and publishers. While this is a paid resource, sourcing a mutually agreeable contract is one of the most legally important aspects of publishing your book. If you don’t already have an attorney in mind, there are several online options to find a qualified contracts attorney for a fixed rate, including mavenlaw.com, upcounsel.com, and a variety of services that you can find through a simple search.
Even if you aren’t going to hire an attorney or take advantage of the above resources, take the time to read over a few agreements in your particular niche. Books on web publishing are likely to be different from trade publishing. Small business publishing is going to look differently than corporate publishing and so on. The overlap in the agreements makes it easy to pick apart when a publisher is trying to take more than is necessary, or when an author is looking for unreasonable compensation.