Originally published as: "Publishing a College Textbook", in Scholarly Writing and Publishing: Issues Problems, and Solutions ed. by Mary Frank Fox, Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press: 1985, pp. 51-72. Permission to copy electronically is given by author provided that copies are not made for financial gain and the paper is distributed in its entirety, including title and author. No more than one paper copy may be made without permission of the author. This file was prepared for electronic distribution by the inforM staff. HOW TO PUBLISH A BOOK WITHOUT REALLY KILLING YOURSELF by Jo Freeman (1) jfrbc@cunvm.cuny.edu 410 East 8th Street Brooklyn, New York 11218 Publishing a book is one of the most important steps in an academic career but to the novice it is also one of the most intimidating. While walking down the aisles of the publisher's display area at any professional convention and gazing at the multitude of books it is easy to dispair that finding the right publisher--or any publisher--will be like picking the right number in the lottery. But unlike the lottery there is a strategy for finding a publisher which will facilitate, though not guarantee, success and which will minimize the work involved. Like any research project this strategy requires that one understand the target of one's efforts, cultivate informants, collect information and analyze data in order to narrow down the possibilities for action. It also requires that one make some decisions and entertain some risks. Most importantly, it requires that one understand the publishing industry and how publishers think. Because publishers are first and foremost businesspeople, they don't think like academics. This article will give a brief description of the college textbook publishing industry in order to illuminate the perspective of the people you will be dealing with as you transform your manuscript into a book. But its primary focus will be on locating and attracting a publisher and on negotiating a contract. THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY The publishing world is divided into two parts: trade and text. While some books could be sold as either, or both, the marketing strategies are so different that an author has to choose which is most appropriate, generally before writing a single query letter. Some houses have both trade and text divisions, and might offer publication in both. However, the divisions are in competition with each other, and your editor works for only one of them. A book published in one division might be placed on the general list of the other, but the marketing personnel concentrate on the books of their own division; those of the other division are not pushed. Trade books are aimed at the general public though specific markets may be targeted. They are sold through bookstores at an average 40 percent discount. Because textbooks are usually available at only 20 percent off, it is not as profitable to trade bookstores to give them shelf space and they usually don't. These bookstores usually are ill disposed to take risks with unknown topics, houses, or authors. Trade books are marketed through mass publicity, which may include speaking and media tours for their authors. The size of the potential market is less certain as is the nature of the competition. Trade book sales peak within a year, and there are no second editions. Because of the marketing costs involved and the greater discount many more books must be sold in a trade market for the publisher to break even. From a publisher's perspective there are greater risks and potentially greater profits. Text books are primarily sold to college students, based on orders from their professors. They are sold on consignment through college bookstores at a lesser discount that is commensurate with the lesser risk to the stores. Marketing is done primarily by distributing examination copies to potential adopters, along with some direct mail and journal advertising. The size of the potential market is easily determined by text publishers, some of whom use one of the marketing services that categorizes course types and enrollments, though unexpected markets may materialize (or expected ones disappear). Competitors are usually known as text publishers are reluctant to be the first into a new field. The average life of a book is three to four years. Sales go down after the first or second year not so much due to datedness or lack of interest but because of the used book market. Since students are less likely to keep books than buyers of trade books, after the first year even the most successful texts compete with themselves. There is also a specialized text market for professional books aimed at libraries and research scholars. These books usually only appear in hardback and are generally quite expensive. At one time library sales alone could justify publishing almost any scholarly book. This is no longer true due to reduced college budgets. Therefore publishers must consider the potential market even for books of high scholarly merit. Some publishers specialize in these professional books, some disdain them, and some handle both. A common practice has been to publish a book in hardback first, and then if sales justify it, produce a paperback for classroom consumption. The advantage to a publisher of this strategy is that libraries and those actively working in a field will buy the more expensive hardback in order to get it first. Too, many journals will only review hardbacks, or give them preference over paper. This practice has become less common as prices have gone up. Many libraries now find it cheaper to buy paperbacks and have them bound than to buy hardbacks. By the time sufficient cloth copies have sold to justify the investment in them, it is often too late for a paperback; the book is out of date. Consequently, more and more scholarly books are appearing only in cloth, and classroom texts only in paper. In deciding which market to aim at one has to have a sense of who will read one's book. Few academics will write tradebooks, though the higher sales and greater publicity make this possibility tempting. But because the audience is different tradebooks are written in a different style, usually with fewer ideas, more anecdotes, less analysis and infrequent references to the scholarly literature. Even if one can interest a trade publisher in one's topic the style that makes a tradebook sell rarely impresses a tenure committee. There are exceptions of course, but they are exceptions. Scholarly monographs definitely impress tenure committees, but they are less likely to be known or read. Since recruiting and hiring decisions are made more on reputation than on actual reading of your output, publishing a limited edition hardback with an academic press is less desirable than publishing a paperback which will be used in the classroom. It also generates less visibility and less money. Nonetheless, not all books are suitable for classroom use. Whether or not one's particular magnum opus is suitable, is the first decision that has to be made. The rest of this discussion will assume that one is trying to publish a text book to be used primarily by undergraduates. It is very hard to get a tradebook publisher to look at a manuscript that does not come through an agent, and most such publishers don't think highly of academics as writers anyway. Textbook publishers are put off by agents, and are prepared to deal with the literary insufficiencies of academics. Much of what will be said can be applied to the pursuit of a scholarly publisher but the actual adaption will be left to the reader. FINDING A PUBLISHER The first thing to understand about textbook publishers is that they specialize, both by disciplines and within them. It is rare to find a publisher that covers even all the social sciences, let alone a multitude of other fields. Bigger houses will cover more fields--they have more editors--but they will not necessarily cover each discipline better than a smaller house. If your book fits well within a single discipline, look for a publisher who specializes in that discipline or at least has an editor in it, and who has a display booth at the relevant professional meeting. If your book fits two or more disciplines (e.g. women's studies and health education) try to find one that sells in both, but be prepared to concentrate on the one that sells to the largest potential market. Publishers will go into new fields when they perceive profit potential, but they prefer to do so cautiously. This means that they prefer to initially publish books that will sell in their established disciplines as well as potentially make inroads into new ones. If your book is one for which you think there is a burgeoning new market, look for a publisher who won't have to make a great leap forward. The hardest book to sell is a multidisciplinary book, which might be used in courses found in several disciplines (e.g. organizational development). Publishers know how to market to disciplines through specialized mailing lists that they purchase, professional meetings, and journals. They don't know how to market across disciplines, and find it very expensive to try. The more your book fits an established slot, with an already existing market and marketing strategy, the easier it will be to convince a publisher to invest in it. The next step is to compile a list of about six publishers who might be interested in your book. The likeliest candidates are those have have published books in the last four years which are similar but not identical to yours. Publishers consider it a breach of manners to publish directly competing books (unless one is out of date), but like to benefit from the economies of scale that come from co-ordinated marketing programs. Since you should know the books in your own field best, look at the spines and make a list of the publishers. Books in the same field are those which can be used in the same course. From a publisher's perspective the basic marketing unit is a course, because the mailing lists are usable for several. The next unit is a subfield or subdiscipline, because people in it often teach related courses, and share information. When looking for a publisher, ask yourself what courses it can be used for, and what subdisciplines it fits into. It is useful to find out if a publisher is still interested in that topic and desirable to find out if new publishers are going into it. This can best be done at the professional meetings by walking around and talking to editors. They may also tell you the gossip about which editors have moved to which houses (taking their particular interests with them), and which publishers are exploring new topics. You might also ask directly which publishers sell in all the fields in which yours would fit, and which would find your proposal of interest. Don't ask only those who are not interested in your idea. Although much more commercialized than it used to be publishing is very much a "gentlemen's profession." Cutthroat competition is still frowned upon. Editors move from house to house, and they prefer to stay on good terms with all of them by exchanging information and other favors. Senior editors, especially of the larger houses which aren't so "hungry", are often quite willing to point young authors in a promising direction. They know you will remember them favorably, and their fellow editors (i.e. their competition) will as well. The best publishers to approach are those who have just published a book which is to be used in courses which yours can also be used in. The second best are those in the same discipline, who don't have a book for those particular courses, and who are impressed with the sales of other publishers' books for those courses. These conversations are usually brief as, unless you are a big name editors will rarely discuss your book with you extensively or read a prospectus. At the professional meetings their time is limited and they need to see as many people as possible. In the halcyon days of a seller's market, publishers aggressively sought out young authors. In this buyer's market most publishers must make hard decisions between too many seekers after diminishing course enrollments. Nonetheless, you should be able to find out if that house is still marketing to that field, get the name of the relevant editor, and find out if it is worth sending her or him anything at all. Once you've compiled your list and obtained the names of the pertinent editors, your own marketing campaign can begin. There are two ways to publish a book: the easy way and the hard way. The easy way is preferred, but not always possible. The hard way is much more democratic and more difficult. The easy way involves using your mentor(s) and personal contacts among the well-published and well-respected to impress an editor with your promise. Even though books and ultimately must stand on their own merits, a good word from the right person to an editor will get his or her attention much more rapidly and successfully than any other method. It is best if Prof. VIP knows the editors to whom your name is dropped, but even if there is no personal or publishing relationship a kind word will imprint your name upon their minds. If you are Prof. VIP's protege, or have already published a highly acclaimed or well selling book, word from a third party will do just as well. Editors, like academics, are influenced by who knows you before they even consider what you know. Whether your name has been mentioned to the right ears or not, you will still need to prepare a prospectus and a cover letter. It is important to give a prospective publisher crucial information but it is not important to put it in a certain place or order. A prospectus is usually an annotated table of contents, with one paragraph descriptions of each chapter. The table of contents should be preceeded by a paragraph(s) describing the overall focus or approach and any other important information that can't be put in the chapter descriptions. If you already have a manuscript which you intend to alter, such as a dissertation, the prospectus should reflect what you intend to produce (and your cover letter should explain this). If you don't have a manuscript, and don't have a final table of contents in mind, make one up. Your prospectus is your selling tool. Vagueness does not sell. Your final manuscript may not resemble your prospectus but that can be dealt with later if it turns out to be a problem. In preparing the prospectus, and in writing the book, keep in mind who your readers are, and who your adopters are. Your readers are largely undergraduates. You want to write a book that will meet their needs and which will not assume that they know more than they do. Your adopters are faculty. They want a book which can be taught, that their students will appreciate, and that still stimulates their own minds with new ideas. Your cover letter should be one to two pages single-spaced typewritten and should cover several topics. The lead sentence should should state why you are writing that particular publisher or editor. There are two basic reasons. One is that you were referred by a specific person, who should be named in the lead sentence. ("Prof. VIP thought you might be interested in my book proposal"). If Prof. VIP does not know the editor personally, or hasn't published with that particular publisher, you should probably add a sentence on why s/he thought your proposal would be attractive to that publisher. Without an established relationship, a prior personal contact, or some discernable reason for the recommendation, the reference isn't worth much. The second reason can be used for any publisher, even if you don't have a personal connection. "I am impressed with the excellent book(s) you have published in my field, such as..., (which I use in my course on______) and thought that the manuscript I am currently working on (or have just finished), would fit into your line." After this obligatory introduction, the rest of your letter should include the following topics, though not necessarily in this order. In writing your cover letter, keep one thing in mind above all else: While publishers are impressed with erudite authors making significant contributions to the scholarly literature who seek a wider audience than that available through journals, what they really want to know is who will buy your book. 1) A brief synopsis of your book, with title if possible. Don't duplicate the prospectus, but do highlight the overall approach, and specify if it's an intro, upper division, or scholarly book. If the topic is new, tell why it is important, or will be shortly. 2) List about three or four courses it could be used in. Those with the largest enrollment should be listed first. If course enrollment is very large, one will do. Courses should be neither too broad nor to narrow. (E.g. American government is too broad. Ethnic movements is too narrow). While it is not available to the general public, if you can obtain information on how one of the marketing services categorizes courses, use their course titles. If one of your courses is a developing topic for which the marketing services don't have a category (or you think they don't) suggest ways of reaching potential adoptors. These would include mailing lists from sections or caucuses in professional associations, newsletters, journals, or participants in specialized conferences that you know of. Ideally there should be several hundred courses taught in a given year in colleges and universities around the country for which your book will be appropriate. Obviously it won't be used in all of them, but the publisher should feel that the market is large enough to support another book. Upper division books need to sell at least 5,000 copies over three years for a publisher to feel that it was a worthwhile investment. (Sales over 10,000 usually justify a second edition). Intro texts need to sell two or three times as many. 3) Discuss the competition, and tell why your book is different from or better than anything else like it. Include books not yet published which you know of. Many authors are appalled at the idea of giving this kind of information to a potential publisher but it is important to do so. First of all it gives you credibility as one who is knowledgeable about the field, and conscious of the business realities of publishing. The more you can present yourself as someone who has thought about how to sell a book and not just how to write one, the more attractive you are as an author. Second, editors will have to present this information to higher-ups to justify an acceptance. By doing the work for them you make their job easier, and can present information on competition in a form that is most beneficial to you. If you feel there is no direct competition because your topic is so new or your focus is so different, say so and then discuss the indirect competition, i.e. the other books which could be used in the primary courses toward which yours is directed. Explain why your book will supplement the main books that are currently in greatest use for a particular course. 4) Describe the state of the manuscript, or the research if there is no manuscript. If you are an unknown, seldom published author don't expect to get a contract for a nonexistent manuscript. However, a publisher may tell you whether or not it would like to see a manuscript when there is one. If your manuscript is complete give its length and state that you are prepared to send them a copy if they would like to see one. If you expect to do revisions, describe your intentions, projected size, and when you think the manuscript will be ready. (The ideal length is 250 to 400 pages double-spaced typewritten, with as few tables, charts and drawings as possible). State whether or not you think the current manuscript is nonetheless ready to be reviewed, and enclose a chapter if not. You may want some encouragement before investing more time in it. It is generally unwise to put the manuscript in what you think is final form before sending it out to publishers because you deprive yourself of feedback from reviewers and editors. Too, editors like to feel that they have a hand in the creation of their books. You deprive them of this opportunity if you do everything you think needs to be done before an editor is involved. Prior revision is more desirable if your book is a dissertation. Although dissertations are frequently a scholar's first book, publishers are mildly prejudiced against them. Dissertations usually focus on narrow topics, and are written to impress a committee of senior scholars with your knowledge, originality and erudition. Course books sell best if they are written on broad topics to explain basic principles to undergraduates. Unless you intend your book to be solely an expensive, scholarly, hardback, you should describe how your dissertation is being revised for the undergraduate reader. The other type of book that publishers disfavor are readers, or anthologies. Although many basic texts are compilations, publishers nonetheless feel they will not sell as well, that they lack a cohesive theme, and their quality will be uneven. Too, permissions fees raise a book's initial production costs, even when they are only an advance against royalties. If your book is a reader (already published pieces), it should be complete before you approach a publisher. If it is an anthology of mostly original pieces, you should at least supply a list of who has agreed to write for it and who else you intend to ask. If there are holes in your table of contents, explain how you intend to fill them. Describe any salient "connective tissue" you will supply such as introductions to the book and each part, commentaries on the articles, supplementary questions for discussion, etc. You need to explain why a compilation is the most appropriate form of book to do on this topic rather than a single authored one. A publisher would much rather have you write a book on the topic yourself than oversee and edit others' authorship. Thus the burden is on you to persuade a publisher that a compilation is preferable. 5) Tell a little about yourself. If your manuscript is not complete it is important to explain why you are particularly qualified to produce it. Enclose a resume. If it adequately conveys your ability to do the book you need only refer to it. If not (i.e. you're inexperienced or moving into a new field on which you have not yet published) you should cover that in your letter. If you have already published a book which is widely used, say so. However, be careful about giving out actual sales figures. These are trade secrets and might convince the publisher to whom you are writing to publish a competing book. If your other book(s) are scholarly tomes, or not widely used, leave their listing to your resume, unless there is a prize or a particularly good review you wish to call to the editor's attention. Although publishers prefer that you do not make multiple submissions, it's not considered a breach of ethics to do so. It may take several months for a publisher to make a positive decision (much less time to make a negative one) and if you restrict yourself to single submissions your book may be out of date by the time you find a publisher. Initially you should send only your cover letter and prospectus, though you might include a sample chapter to illustrate your writing style and insight. At this stage it's not absolutely necessary to inform a publisher that you are making multiple submissions, though it is something publishers like to know. However, if the publisher goes to the next stage of asking for a manuscript, it is necessary. Manuscript reviewers cost money. The fact that a publisher doesn't have an exclusive may discourage them from paying for review. It may also speed them up. But publishers will be even more discouraged if they find out about multiple submissions after they've made you an offer. Once you have an offer, you must decide whether to take it or try for another. If you like the offer and the publisher take it. Text publishers rarely engage in competitive bargaining. It's highly unusual for an offer to be raised to beat out a competitor. (Major introductory textbooks are the exception). If you are not thrilled with the offer, tell the publisher honestly that you want to see if you can get a better one before making a decision. The publisher may set a deadline for you to respond, but s/he may also negotiate aspects of the contract you don't like (if it doesn't cost too much). CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS Contracts should always be negotiated. Never sign a standard contract. They are written by publishers in their own interest. Virtually every clause is negotiable, though some are more so than others. Royalties should be negotiated first. Only after you have agreed on royalties should the rest of the contract be discussed, unless there are some particularly onerous clauses you must have changed to even consider going with that publisher. Royalties are given as a percent of either net or list. List is the price the book sells for. Net is the amount the publisher gets. Since most books are sold at a 20 percent discount, net is generally 80 percent of list. (Books sold abroad and under other circumstances may have greater discounts, thus a list royalty is preferable to net, but it is harder to get). Textbook royalties range from a low of 7 1/2 percent of net to 15 percent of list. However, most offers are in the range of 10 to 12 1/2 percent of either net or list. Scholarly books receive much less. A publisher decides how much to offer based largely on computations of costs and price. Houses use standard formulas to determine the relationship between these and royalties. These formulas make it difficult to negotiate for much more than a single step increase in the initial royalty offer (a step is 2 1/2 percent), and difficult to get even that. Therefore if you think a royalty offer is really unreasonable, look for another publisher. While initial royalties are hard to change, it is easier to negotiate for escalation clauses to increase the royalty rate after so many copies have been sold. This permits the publisher to recoup their costs if the book sells poorly, and the author to share in the profits if it sells well. A publisher would prefer an escalation clause to apply to the total sales in any given year, rather than over the life of a book. (I.e. X percent if sales per year are under Y thousand, and Z percent if they are over, per year). Don't agree to this. Unless you have a major text, or the escalation point is very low (well under 1,000) you may get the higher rate the first year, but probably won't after that. Since a publisher's costs per volume decrease over the life of the book, a yearly escalation clause is a delusion, bearing no relationship to real costs or real risks. Another trap is to count cloth and hardback sales as separate books, with separate escalation points. Sometimes this will not be spelled out in the contract and the publisher will inform you casually after the book is published that this is standard practice. Avoid this possibility by bringing it up in the negotiations. If cloth and paper are to counted as separate books, the escalation point for cloth should be much lower than that for paper, as the cloth edition will rarely sell more than 1,000-1,500 copies. Publishers will also want to have lower royalty rates or escalation points for books sold at greater discounts than the standard 20 percent. If your royalty rate is list, this is perfectly reasonable. If net, if it less so, since your portion is already reduced proportionately to theirs. However, publishers do have fixed costs which have to be covered regardless of the discount, so if many books are expected to be sold at a large discount, negotiate separate rates. Publishers will generally agree on escalation clauses, but prefer to keep the points high, such as at 10,000 or 15,000 books. Unless you are writing a major text in which an enormous amount of money will be invested initially, or the cost/price ratio of your book is well below the standard, these are too high. A more appropriate escalation point is between 2,000 to 5,000 copies, with additional escalation points every 3,000 to 5,000 copies after that, up to a final royalty of 15 percent list or 18 percent net. On most books publishers recoup their costs after 2,000 copies and make money after 5,000. You should begin to share in their profits at that point. Since virtually all contracts have clauses which state that subsequent editions are separate books, the escalation points for these editions should either be negotiated initially, or they should be specifically left open for renegotiation. It's hard to think about second editions while wondering if the first will sell, but it's quite shocking to discover years after publishing a successful book that producing a second edition at your publisher's request has lowered your royalties back to the initial rate for the first edition. Low initial rates are justified not only because of initial production costs, but because of the costs of developing a market, and the risk involved in any new venture. In subsequent editions only production costs repeat themselves. By then the market already exists and the risk is minimal, or there wouldn't be a second edition. It is unreasonable for an author to share costs which do not recur. Thus, while it is reasonable to count sales from the beginning of a subsequent edition, it is unreasonable to do so at the same royalty rates or with the same escalation points. Along with royalties you should negotiate who will pay for permissions fees, the index and typing the manuscript. Publishers prefer (and some insist) that authors pay for all these items, but they are all negotiable. Because it is traditional you are more likely to get the publisher to pay for or at least split permissions fees than typing the manuscript, even though it is more costly. Publishers will generally give you an advance against royalties to pay these expenses (unless it's a low-cost, high-priced scholarly monograph). Some will give you an advance to support your research or simply as a token of good faith upon receipt of the manuscript, but this is becoming less common, especially for junior scholars. As with other negotiable points, to get an advance you will probably have to give in on something else. Since advances are merely interest free loans, unless you need the money or want a more solid expression of commitment from the publisher than a contract (which a publisher can easily break by finding the manuscript unsatisfactory) an advance may not be worth what you have to give up to get it. Once royalties have been agreed upon, specific contract clauses should be negotiated. The following discussion is based upon common clauses in the four book contracts from four different publishers that I have in my file. It should not be viewed as a legal opinion. Contract law is state law. The exact meaning of any given clause may vary from state to state. Contract law is largely case law. Thus one must research the most current relevant judicial decisions of the appropriate state and apply them to the specific facts of a particular situation in order to render a legal opinion. Copyright law, which is also important to an understanding of book contracts, is federal law. The copyright law was completely revised several years ago, and the courts have not yet worked out what of the former case law still stands, and what has been changed by the new law. Consequently, while the following discussion can aid in understanding book contracts, only an attorney familiar with the relevant law can provide specific guidance. For these reasons it is probably worthwhile to hire an attorney to read the contract and advise you before entering negotiations, although it is probably not worthwhile to have the attorney do the negotiating. Text editors are not used to negotiating with attorneys, and would resent being compelled to do so. Furthermore, few attorneys are familiar with textbook publishing (the books don't pay enough to justify the fees) and thus are not of much help in making the judgments involved. While reading this section, remember that what is legal and what is feasible are not always the same. There is rarely enough money involved to pay for a lawyer, and textbook publishing is a sufficiently closed society that you risk blacklisting if you take a publisher to court. However legal action is not the only avenue available. Since publishing is a profession in which most people know each other, political action may be just as effective. Publishers have their own standards of what is and is not proper. They do not like to acquire reputations as untrustworthy or exploitative. If you have been egregiously wronged, a public complaint may be more effective in reaching a resolution than a private legal action. COPYRIGHT OWNERSHIP. While copyright ownership is initially vested in the author, publishers almost always require that that ownership be transferred to them, usually "to the fullest extent permitted by law." Under the old Copyright law, copyright was initially held for 26 years after publication, and then could be renewed for an additional 26 years. The contract required the author to effect the renewal on behalf of the publisher, or permit the publisher to do so. Under the new Copyright law, duration of copyright, with three exceptions, is the life of the author(s) plus 50 years. There are no renewals. However, if the transfer of copyright (to the publisher) took place after January 1, 1978, (when the new copyright law took effect) the author has the option of terminating it in 35 years. This cannot be signed away. Any contract clause to the contrary is void. Transferring copyright ownership of the book to the publisher does not necessarily transfer ownership of the entire content of the book. Ownership of specific portions of the book may be retained by the author if specified in writing. If a chapter has been previously published and is owned by another publisher, its inclusion in the book requires that publisher's permission and does not transfer its ownership. If the previously published chapter is owned by the author, its inclusion would transfer ownership unless otherwise specified. If the chapter is revised, the new material is owned by the new publisher, but not the original material. Anthologies of unpublished contributions create particular problems. The copyright law vests ownership in a "work for hire" in the person for whom the work was prepared as though that person were the author. Exactly when something is a "work for hire" is subject to judicial interpretation. Consequently, if an editor commissions an author to prepare an article for a book, and pays the author, it may be a work for hire. On the other hand, if an editor openly solicits submissions which may or may not be accepted and paid for, they are not necessarily works for hire. This is complicated by a specific section in the copyright law which vests copyright in each separate contribution to a collective work in the author of the contribution in the absence of an express transfer. Until a good case settles the confusion, it is wisest to have individual contracts with each separate contributor to the anthology specifying what rights are being transferred and what are being retained by the author. The essence of this contract should be worked out in the original book contract (though the exact language can wait). Publishers prefer to own the entire work, including all contributions. Personally, I think that is unfair to contributors. They are never paid what their work is worth, and they shouldn't lose control of it and the right to benefit from future publication. When publishers give other publishers permission to reprint they do so according to their criteria and in their interest; this does not always coincide with the author's interest. Instead contributors should be paid a set fee for the right to use their contribution in the book, (including all revisions and editions, though that is negotiable), and should retain all other rights. Restrictions on use in competitive works could be agreed on to protect the publisher (though they are unlikely to be enforced and thus are moral deterrents only). Since the publisher will still own the book itself, though not the specific articles, another publisher could not duplicate the book through separate contracts with all the contributors without violating the copyright in the book itself. If contributors, rather than the publisher, are to own their own copyrights, the contract should specify that appropriate notice (Copyright 19__ by ____) will be placed on the first page of each article, the book's copyright page, or the table of contents, and that registration of each author's copyright will be made at the same time as that of the book. If the notice is not given, the contributions do not go into the public domain as long as the book has a copyright notice. However, it is considered to be an erroneous notice, and legal protection from infringement is incomplete. (If the publisher mistakenly gives permission to reprint you can only take legal action against the first publisher, not the second, and can only recover what the first publisher received, not what you would have charged). Proper registration of the copyright will rectify this if done within five years of publication and before infringement. However, if an article is registered separately by its author, the form and the fee sent to the Copyright office must be accompanied by two copies of the best edition of the book, not reprints of the article, and definitely not photocopies. (This means two copies of the cloth edition). If all the articles are registered at the same time as the book, only additional forms and fees are required, not additional copies of the book. MANUSCRIPT DELIVERY AND CONDITION. This clause usually specifies the date of delivery of the manuscript, the number of copies required and its condition. Usually the form and content must be satisfactory to the publisher. These criteria are not rigid ones, and as long as the publisher wants your book you can turn in anything reasonable. However, if the publisher has changed its mind about your book, it can use this clause to get out of the contract. Therefore, if your manuscript already exists, you should insist on eliminating this clause in favor of one that states that your manuscript is acceptable to the publisher. If it doesn't exist, ask for a clause which will presume the manuscript to be acceptable if notice to the contrary is not given to the author within a specified period after delivery (two months is reasonable). This clause often permits the publisher to put the manuscript in acceptable form and charge the cost to the author. However, the publisher should be required to give you notice that the form (i.e. quality of typing, charts and tables) is unacceptable and an opportunity to rectify it. PUBLICATION. Most contracts specify that the book will be published within a reasonable time in a manner and style as the publisher in its sole discretion decides. It is important to have the "reasonable time" phrase in the contract, and if it is not there, insist on it. Without it, a publisher could in theory sit on your manuscript for years, neither publishing it nor releasing it so you can take it elsewhere. "Reasonable time" is a legal term of art, and refers to that which is normal or reasonable for a particular industry. If a court had to determine what is a reasonable time for publication, it would hear testimony on what the acceptable standards of the profession were, and then decide if the defendant publisher had met them. It is not necessary to set a deadline. Since the publishing process is a little uncertain, and no publisher wants to sit on a manuscript, "reasonable time" is adequate protection without compelling the publisher to make an uncomfortable commitment. Understandably, publishers want to retain control over the form of publication. However, authors also have an interest in the form of the book. Thus whether it's to be paper, cloth or both, typeset or typescript, should be specified. Many authors have been told, no doubt in good faith, that the paper edition would be out a year after the cloth, only to find that that date receded indefinitely. Authors have also been told that a paper edition would be published if a cloth edition sold sufficiently well. How many copies is "sufficiently well" should be specified. Even if you don't intend to take the publisher to court over this, it gives you moral leverage. If there are any other aspects of the book that you are particularly concerned about, e.g. title, price, cover, back cover copy, charts, photographs, index, advertising, etc. they should be specifically negotiated. Usually these things are not negotiated and the publisher makes all the decisions as needed. Most publishers are willing to cooperate and consult with an author on any of them, but don't like to be tied down. Thus, if it's very important, reach agreement prior to signing the contract and include it so that there will be no subsequent misunderstandings. If not, settle for a clause requiring consultation or reasonable approval of the author. A good working relationship with your editor will get you more of what you want in the long run than argueing over every detail. SUBSIDIARY RIGHTS. This clause covers the amount the author will receive from income the book earns other than royalties. There are two sources of other income; that from selling rights and that from selling copies. Technically, only that from selling rights should be covered in this clause, but that from selling copies for which less than the standard royalty is to be paid may also be found here. When a publisher sells rights, it is giving permission for someone else to produce and distribute the book. This usually refers to reprint fees for individual chapters, foreign rights in the English language or translations. The potential receipts are not large. The standard contract will offer you 50 percent of whatever the publisher receives. Try for 75 percent. The higher amount is less important for translations as the publisher might invest some effort in selling foreign language rights given a financial incentive. Ask for total control over reprint requests, (i.e. all requests should be referred to you for action). Publishers don't actively sell ordinary reprint rights. They respond to requests (usually without consulting the author), set fees, and receive the money. They don't review the request to see if the proposed use of your material will present it accurately; rarely adjust their fees for non-profit publications (or permit you do to a favor for a friend); and don't follow through if a check never materializes. While some publishers may request that you be given a copy of the book in which your reprint appears, usually you don't even know permission to reprint has been given until it shows up on your semiannual royalty statement. Publishers will argue that they can better manage reprint requests for you, and that the administrative hassle of referring requests to the author will impede the dissimination of scholarly knowledge. This may be true for translation rights, but it is not true for reprint rights. You can manage your own affairs better than a permissions editor you've never met who works for a corporation whose interests are not identical to your own. There may also be phrase giving the publisher permission to use exerpts of your book, without payment, in other books it publishes. This should be eliminated. If your book was originally produced only in cloth, this clause may also cover paperback rights sold to another publisher. In trade books this can be a major source of income. However, it is unusual for a text publisher to produce only the cloth edition and sell the paperback rights to another. If you think this is a possibility, the amount you receive from the sale of paperback rights should be part of your royalty negotiations, as it could be a major item. The sale of copies abroad or at a greater discount may be covered by the subsidiary rights clause, or spread among several clauses. If foreign sales is potentially a major item it should be covered in the royalty negotiations. Publishers will usually tell you that the potential sale of copies outside North America is very minor. The standard rate is 10 percent of total receipts (net), though some publishers actually offer less. How much effort you wish to make to increase this rate really depends on how big you think the potential sale is. If your publisher has no distribution network outside North America, it will sell English language reprint rights to foreign publishers rather than copies. If it is an international publisher, it will prefer to sell copies, but may do so at greater than the 20 percent text discount. Find out the various discount rates and negotiate for a fair share of the proceeds. This is equally true of "firesale" rates for books sold in North America. PROHIBITION AGAINST RELATED PUBLICATIONS. Publishers do not wish you to publish with anyone else on the same topic, and will include a clause prohibiting this. While I have never known it to be enforced, the language is so all-inclusive that were a publisher to enforce it, you would have to change topics everytime you published a new book to avoid breaching the contract. Usually the clause states the author will not publish or permit to be published any edited or written material which would tend to directly or indirectly lessen or interfere with the sale of the work. This could cover reprint permissions for journal articles published before the book was conceived, and on which it was based. It's unlikely that a publisher would enforce this clause except in extreme circumstances. It could only be enforced through a court injunction or a suit for breach of contract, actual damages would have to be shown, and the publisher would have to have made all reasonable efforts to mitigate those damages. Too, the norms of the industry discourage suits against authors and restrictions on scholarly production. Nonetheless, the possibility that it might be used interferes with an author's peace of mind. It is best to rewrite the clause to apply only to those circumstances in which a publisher might actually want to enforce it, (i.e. to a subsequent publication of a book which directly interferes with the sale of the work). The restriction might also be limited to a specific period of time. Since most texts have a life of three to four years, restrictions on publication don't protect the publisher from loss sales after that time. WARRANTIES AND INDEMNIFICATION. To protect itself against unexpected law suits the contract will require that you warrant that you are the sole owner of the manuscript, have the power to copyright it and to make an agreement with the publisher as to its disposition. It will also require that you obtain permission to reprint any copyrighted material used in the book, that the book does not infringe on someone else's copyright, and that nothing in it is obscene, libelous, injurious or unlawful. This is only reasonable, and if you think there is a problem, you should raise it, not hide it. The publisher is in a better position than you to judge whether something in your book is libelous, or might infringe on another's copyright. If you transferred the copyright in a previous book or article to another publisher, reprinting or substantively borrowing portions of it will infringe on that copyright, and permission must be obtained. If there is a possibility of libel, a lawyer should review the manuscript. If you rely heavily on or quote extensively from someone else's work you may need to get permission. The Copyright law permits "fair use" of another's work, but there is no hard and fast rule on what constitutes "fair use." That must be determined in each individual case, and publishers prefer to err on the side of caution. If you publish an anthology, the warranty clause will hold you responsible for the content of the contributors' articles even though it doesn't specifically say so. You can shift (but not eliminate) this responsibility to them through similar warranty and indemnification clauses in your individual author contracts. Such shifting only gives you the right to hold a contributor responsible; it does not remove your responsibility to the publisher. Not all publishers require total indemnification against a law suit or other claim. Some will share attorney's fees and other costs of defense with you, at least up to a certain amount. However most require that you give them full power to settle or otherwise control the lawsuit, including the selection of counsel. A situation in which they make the decisions and you pay the costs leaves you very vulnerable. If you are going to pay the costs, you should have the right to select the attorney, and have a major say in whether the suit is settled or pursued. If the publisher pays the costs, it should have the say. TERMINATION. Most contracts permit you to terminate the agreement and regain copyright ownership if the book goes out of print. However, they vary as to how long the book must be off the market, as to whether you must purchase the plates or negatives and leftover copies in order to regain ownership, and as to whether termination is an option of the publisher or a right of the author. Ask for a clause which gives the author the right to demand reprinting if X number of copies of the book have not been sold within Y period, and automatic termination of the contract and transfer of copyright if the publisher fails to respond within Z. MISCELLANEOUS CLAUSES. There are several clauses which are standard in most contracts, not just those governing books. One of these is called a "merger clause" though that word rarely appears in contractual language. Usually the actual language says the written contract contains "the entire understanding of the parties", or is the "final and complete expression" of their agreement. It may say that all previous understandings have been merged into the written contract, and that "there are no representations or undertakings other than those expressly set forth" in it. Essentially this clause means that all understandings or agreements prior to the date of the contract, written or oral, which are not expressly written into the contract, are void. If you have made an agreement on the side with your editor about anything--advertising, title, cover, editing--it has no legal validity if it is not in the contract. If there is no merger clause, a prior agreement not contradicted by the contract is probably binding if it is in writing, and probably not if it is oral. (This is a legal question on which a generalization should not be applied to specific situations). Even if there is a merger clause, subsequent written agreements may not be binding on the publisher if signed by someone other than the signatory of the contract. I.e. your editor may not have the authority to make a modification of the contract. (This too is a legal question on which it is hard to generalize). The wisest course of action is to put everything in the contract, put all subsequent modifications in writing, and be sure you know who has the authority to do so. The waiver clause protects the publisher. Without it, a single breach of a provision of the contract which is ignored by one party, may be deemed to be a waiver of the entire provision (subject to judicial determination). For example, if you publish a competing work and the publisher ignores it, you can probably publish more competing works. By adding a clause stating that waiver of a breach or default shall not be construed as a modification of the contract or a waiver of a subsequent breach, the publisher protects its right to object at a later date. Ask that the waiver clause apply to you as well as the publisher, i.e. if you overlook a single breach by the publisher, it does not waive your right to object to subsequent breaches. There are many other clauses which you may need to negotiate, but they are either so obvious (i.e. who pays for the index), or so unusual that this is not the place to cover them. The most important point to remember is that one should negotiate, and do so before the contract is signed rather than complain about it afterwards. Editors don't like to negotiate contracts. They are not lawyers and are more concerned with the production of books than their legal consequences. They will tell you repeatedly not to worry, that the two of you have an understanding, that the contract is a standard one which all their authors sign, and that you shouldn't create unnecessary problems or friction. This may be true, but it is not enough. The reason you should negotiate the particulars of the contract is to prevent misunderstandings or surprises, and to anticipate all that might go wrong. If nothing goes wrong and your publishing experience lives up to your expectations, you may never refer to the contract again; if nothing goes wrong..... A contract does not replace a good working relationship with your editor, and some things are so dependent on this relationship that they are not worth negotiating. But your editor is not your publisher. You may have several editors over the life of one book. Understandings and good working relationships do not transfer from editor to editor; they must be recreated each time. Even the publisher may not be permanent, as your book can be sold to another. The contract is the only permanent expression of the agreement you reached. Put everything that is important to you in it. (1) The author has a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Chicago and a J.D. from New York Unversity School of Law. She is working on her fourth book. She would like to thank Edward Artinian, President of Chatham House Publishers, for having taught her at least half of what she knows about book publishing. He disclaims responsibility for the other half.