I had a few comments yesterday on my slush pile post that asked for more detail on how I negotiated my contract with Midnight Ink in 2008. At the time, I didn’t have an agent, so I just did the best I could.
I’ll quickly point out that I would never choose to negotiate a contract without an agent. Here is an excellent blog (written by editor Moonrat) explaining why having an agent is essential.
Unfortunately, life doesn’t always work out the way we’d like.
The best information on Do It Yourself Contract Negotiation was on two different agent blogs: the “Agenting 101” series (look for it on the right hand side of the page. There are eleven references) on the Pub Rants blog by agent Kristen, and a blog entry called “Ten Things to Know if You Go Commando” on agent Janet Reid’s blog.
Another site I found helpful showed a sample author contract, just to give you an idea what the document may look like: www.writecontent.com.
The Absolute Write writers’ forum also ran an interesting couple of articles: http://tinyurl.com/yfgu3uv and http://tinyurl.com/yz47l29 .
A guest post by agent Holly Root with Waxman Literary Agency on negotiating contracts: http://tinyurl.com/ybedos7 .
A series called “Contracts 101” on the BookEnds Literary Agency blog:
http://tinyurl.com/2rneqq
http://tinyurl.com/yaebq3t
http://tinyurl.com/y882fn5
What I did on my end:
I told them right away I wasn’t represented. They offered to wait a few days to see if I could get an agent to help me with my contract. At the time, though, every agent I was waiting to hear from was on summer vacation.
I didn’t accept their offer on the phone and they didn’t ask me to. I just very politely thanked them for being interested in Pretty is as Pretty Dies. They emailed a contract and asked me to take a look at it.
I asked good friends who write for Midnight Ink what a fair advance might be. They gave me what they thought might be a range. Since they’ve been established writers for a decade, I looked at the lowest part of that range when coming up with a fair advance for a newer author, like me.
I checked online resources where genre authors had disclosed their own advances, etc.
Everything I read said publishers expect a counter on different points. They likely don’t expect it as much from authors, but it wasn’t going to be like they were going to say, “Actually? Never mind.” if they were presented with a reasonable counter. I didn’t double the amounts or anything crazy like that.
They came back meeting me halfway with most everything.
Negotiating your own contract still isn’t the way you want to go if you have a choice. I wouldn’t want to do it again! But if you’re in that situation, don’t sweat it. There is information readily available online—do the best you can.
Elizabeth – This is such useful infromation! I’d like to echo your suggestion that it’s best not to negotiate one’s own contract if possible. Life didn’t work out the way I’d hoped, either, so I didn’t have the benefit of an agent. I wish I did… You’ve done quite well, and I admire you for itl.
Thanks!
More great advice, Elizabeth. There is lots of good information of the web, but it’s sometimes hard to find. Thanks for helping out :)
Wow! Thanks for all of the wonderful information!!!!
I had an agent for my first contract with my third publisher. The other two were primarily e-publishers, and things seemed straightforward enough, since they don’t pay advances and don’t change royalty rates. But when I signed with a straight print publisher (which is how I got my agent), she read the contract over. It was very short – only 3 pages, and about all she could recommend was clarifying the foreign rights. Almost everything else was boilerplate and non-negotiable, but she said it was a fair contract. I’m using that as a ‘template’ for the next go-round, since I’m no longer with an agent.
Legalese scares me, but so far, I’ve been lucky.
You did good, I think. If it ever happens to me, I may yell for help.
You did exactly what I would have done, but hope never to have to do. Cause if I had to do it then I haven’t done some stuff that I should have done and then the stuff that I didn’t do would mean I had to do things that I hadn’t originally intended to do, and I don’t really want to do that.
If I do have to do something like that, I’ll be sure to check back here. Thanks!
Great info in this post. I bookmarked the permalink for reference. Thanks!
Marvin D Wilson
Did you have a publishing law lawyer look over the contract? Ivan Hoffman (one of the top PLL in the country) is always touting the necessity of this.
This is such great information. I’m really intimidated about the whole process and I don’t think I’d ever be brave enough to navigate the waters without an agent. I don’t have much common sense when it comes to business and contracts and financial stuff – I would rather just write and have someone take care of all that :) It’s very interesting to see all the different ways to get published!
Another great post with great links, I will be looking over these ones too.
ann
More insight into a different aspect of what writers/authors deal with! I’m going to have a pretty good synopsis of the entire process through your blog, Elizabeth!
Margot–Well, writers aren’t ordinarily all that business savvy, I don’t think…I know that’s a generalization, but I think it’s fairly apt. Thank goodness for agents.
Emma–You’re welcome. Hope it helps.
Lorel–You’re so welcome.
Simon–I know JUST what you mean! :) Maybe just bookmark it just in case….
Marvin–Hope you’ll need it soon. :)
Diane–No I didn’t, and I’ve heard the same thing you have. It was a hurry-up thing with me–I was about to hit the road for vacation myself…and the acquisition editor at MI was about to leave for another publisher and I didn’t want to be caught up in the void! But it’s important, I’ve heard, to have a *publishing* lawyer look at it…like you mentioned. Not a contract lawyer, y’all…they won’t know.
Jemi–It’s nice to have it all in one place, isn’t it? I tried lots of different search terms to come up with my links.
Terry–I was WAY over my head. I don’t read legal documents well, and math isn’t my forte. I was completely relying on the agent info I found online.
Ann–It’s a good thing to be able to access when the call comes..
Crystal–And some parts of the process are more interesting than others! :) This is pretty dry stuff, but thanks!
So much wonderful information from you and links to others. Thank you.
Helen
Straight From Hel
Carol–I’m happy to share what little I know. :)
Helen–Thanks!
Julie–I think I’d have done anything NOT to have gone through it! Like you, it’s just not my thing.
This is wonderful information! I’ve bookmarked it (just in case) and I’m linking back, too.
Thank you!
Great information. Now to figure out what a permalink is.
When I spoke with an editor at a conference, she said if they liked my work, submitted directly, they’d suggest I find an agent. So I asked an agent, who said, yes, if you find a publisher, he/she will negotiate the contract for you and some will do that without taking you on as a client (for a different fee, I believe).