Literary Publishing Deals - Important Things to Know
What Are the Current Trends in the Publishing Industry?
The general trend in the publishing industry today is the growth in sales of ebooks and a decline in the print market. In 2018 it was observed that the bestseller lists have become dominated by mostly political works. Since then, it has also included many books with lifestyle themes. One can also observe a boom in the sales of comics and graphic novels by as much as 20% from 2006 to 2019. Additionally, there is an ever-increasing boost in sales of works adopted for movies and TV series.
However, the long-term market in general (print books and e-books) remains rather flat, with an annual growth rate of -0.1% between 2013 and 2018.
What Provisions Need to be Included in a Publishing Contract?
A solid publishing contract should include the following provisions:
Rights granted by the author to the publisher as well as the author’s copyrights. This includes territory of allowed publishing (domestic and/or foreign), languages of the publication, formats of the work, etc).
Amount of royalties and any discount schedules.
Timeline for the publisher. This clause creates a certain deadline for the publisher to deliver the published copies and distribute a certain number of them.
A proper description of the manuscript. This provision serves to protect the author by clearly describing the work that is the subject of the contract.
Advertising and promotion commitment by the publisher. This clause describes the duties that the publisher is taking on with respect to promoting the work.
Warranties and liabilities by both parties.
Termination of contract provision. This includes the author’s right to get back his rights in case when the publisher fails to publish the work or if the publisher sells fewer than a certain number of copies per year.
Assignment of rights. Under this clause, typically, the author retains the assignment rights, whereas the publisher is not granted them.
Why Are Specific Rights Important?
It is important to only grant specific rights to a publisher without giving up absolute control. Such specific rights include:
Format of the work (hardcover, audio, etc.)
Territory (where the author authorizes the publisher to make the work available). This category would also include the languages that the author would like the book to be published in.
Performance Rights. The author does not have to grant the publisher exclusive or non-exclusive performance rights (movie, audio, theater play, etc.) These can be granted to other entities such as studios or negotiated with the publisher separately.
All of these specific rights are up to the author to decide upon and negotiate.
What is a Deadline for a Publisher?
It is important to set a deadline for the publisher to preserve the author’s copyrights to the work. For example, the author can include a provision with a 3-month deadline for the publisher to register the book with the Copyright Office in the author’s name. There is no rule on the number of years a publisher can own rights to publish a book. It should be negotiated in the publishing contract.
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What Are Typical Royalties for Writers?
Typically, an author does not receive royalties until the advance has been recouped. The advance is an advance against royalties. Usually, the amount paid to the author will depend on the format of the book being sold as well as on the book retailer selling it. Hardcover books can earn royalties of about 7%-17%. Usually it is 10% on the first 5,000 copies, 12½% on the next 5000 copies, and 15% on copies after that. Paperback books earn about 6-7%. The industry standard ebook royalty is around 25%. The royalties should be negotiated in the publishing contract. Discount stores such as Costco or WalMart are known for discounting prices on books, so the amount received from the royalties will be diminished as well. Additionally, the author should expect to pay around 10-15% of what he earns to his literary agent.
Self-Publishing at a Glance
Some of the potential problems of self-publishing could include:
Expenses. Potential expenses could include professional editing, cover design, book advertisements and promotion, book reviews by newspapers, television advertisements and interviews.
Creating an audience. A less known or a new author could face this problem if he/she does not already have a fan base. Using a publishing house helps to avoid this problem, as readers tend to trust well known bookstores to sell high quality writing products. Self-publishing, however, does not give the potential reader any quality assurance. Additionally, without a fan base or marketing tools it is hard for a self-publishing author to attract attention.
Copyright laws. Signing a contract with a publishing house often ensures compliance with copyright laws. However, a self-publishing author could potentially violate copyright laws without realizing it.
When faced with some of these problems, a self-publishing author could use the following strategies:
Marketing. The author can use social media to advertise the book in order to avoid professional advertising costs. This strategy could include using websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram to promote the book.
Reviews. It is crucial for a new or less known author to get favorable reviews from respected sources. Many new authors report selling their books after posting the reviews they got on their personal websites or blog pages. Getting reviews for the book could include sending free books to well-known or less known individuals looking to write reviews and submitting them to certain websites that do just that. Circulating the book to book clubs could also be a good idea.
Copyright the work. A self-publishing author should always apply for a copyright in order to protect the writing and avoid having the book circulate online without receiving the credit.
What Are New Monetization Strategies for Writers?
Creating and maintaining a professional blog. Not only does a professional blog page help with staying in touch with the author’s fan base, growing the readers’ email list, and advertising the author’s books and any new events that will feature the author – a professional blog can also be monetized. Additionally, if a blog is generating traffic of visitors, the author can open the page up for advertisements that will also generate revenue. One way of doing this is using Google AdSense – a tool that pays the owner of the website each time a visitor clicks on one of the ads.
Public Speaking Engagements. Authors (even new authors) often receive invitations to speak in front of potential new audiences. These include schools, book clubs, nonprofit organizations or any other entities that could find the content of the book interesting or useful. An author can increase his/her chances of being invited to speak by advertising it on his/her website and other online platforms. This strategy could also include asking social media influencers to create content around the book in exchange for the author promoting the influencer on his own social media pages or websites.
Marketing on Amazon. As the company has grown substantially in the past years, the website is currently experiencing an enormous traffic of visitors. Books that are marketed on Amazon and that have a long list of reviews attract a lot of buyers. Moreover, being considered a serious author on Amazon increases the writer’s reputation in social media circles overall. One possible way of doing this could be to use Kindle Direct Publishing, which gives the author access to Amazon users after payment of a fee.
*Disclaimer: this blog post is not intended to be legal advice. We highly recommend speaking to an attorney if you have any legal concerns. Contacting us through our website does not establish an attorney-client relationship.*