Publishing news

Hmm. Like Alyson, I’m jonesing to be part of the romance writing industry. However, I received this email from a member of my local RWA today. It’s actually a post from Author’s Guild.

Simon & Schuster has changed its standard contract language in an attempt to retain exclusive control of books even after they have gone out of print. Until now, Simon & Schuster, like all other major trade publishers, has followed the traditional practice in which rights to a work revert to the author if the book falls out of print or if its sales are low.

The publisher is signaling that it will no longer include minimum sales requirements for a work to be considered in print. Simon & Schuster is apparently seeking nothing less than an exclusive grant of rights in perpetuity. Effectively, the publisher would co-own your copyright.

The new contract would allow Simon & Schuster to consider a book in print, and under its exclusive control, so long as it’s available in any form, including through its own in-house database -- even if no copies are available to be ordered by traditional bookstores.

Other major trade publishers are not seeking a similar perpetual grant of rights.

We urge you to consider your options carefully:

1. Remember that if you sign a contract with Simon & Schuster that includes this clause, they’ll say you’re wed to them. Your book will live and die with this particular conglomerate.

2. Ask your agent to explore other options. Other publishers are not seeking an irrevocable grant of rights.

3. If you have a manuscript that may be auctioned, consider asking your agent to exclude Simon & Schuster imprints unless they agree before the auction to use industry standard terms.

4. Let us know if other major publishers follow suit. Any coordination among publishers on this matter has serious legal implications.

Feel free to forward and post this message in its entirety.

Yikes. As I anticipate getting a contract (sooner hopefully than later), this reminds me to read the small print AND have a really good agent. Agent Kristen talked about it over at Pub Rants, too.

I have a writer friend and a writer acquaintance who’ve both purchased manuscripts back from the publishers who originally bought them. One is a local friend. She bought her rights back from Triskelion when her book wasn't marketed or selling the way they'd promised -- it only ever got epubbed. It never went to "real" book form, as contracted. (Considering all the hullabuloo lately … not a bad move.) The acquaintance got all the way to cover art and had a fiasco ending the publication process. (Yikes, I didn’t even know that could happen.) She bought back her rights, too, and sold it to someone else.

Oh... and I know someone else whose category romances have been out of print for awhile. Her rights reverted back to her. Now she can do what she wants with them.

Simon & Schuster’s new policy would prevent that. Forever.

What author would think that’s a good idea?

No one.

Thank goodness for good agents, like Agent Kristen over at Pub Rants, who mentions she’ll likely have to shop her writers to other places – if Simon & Schuster choose to keep the new change to their contracts.

On another note entirely ….
I’m loving my story again. I think with every story (and I know because I’ve written so many) you go through periods where you like it less or more.

It’s kind of like marriage. There are moments when you are in love with it – madly, deeply, soulfully. You can’t get enough of it. Then there are other times, when you really try to avoid it. You aren’t sure what to do with it. It’s a lot more work than you thought it would be when you made the commitment. There are other attractive stories out there, but you have soooo much invested in this. And, what a loser you’d be just to jump from story to story and never see one through to the end. So, you work harder at it. You try to identify the problems. You seek some help from those who’ve been there. And then you work really hard to fix it.

I’ve always heard that good marriages took work. I have one. They do.

Good stories take work, too. I’m working on one that at least I like. It’s taken work. Lots of other stories looked better for awhile, but this is the one I’m committed to. I’ll see it through to the end.

And, I won’t sell to S&S.

Macy