I know, I know. I should have an attorney or agent renegotiate for me. I agree that would have the best change of success in altering the boilerplate. In the past, when I've inquired about using an attorney for a revision agreement, those I spoke to seemed reluctant because it was not a new contract. Hence, question number one above."

A: Stephen E. Gillen, Authoring Attorney, Greenebaum Doll & McDonald PLLC:

"Taking on 100 percent of the writing responsibility is essentially a new deal necessitating some change in the terms of the relationship (royalty share, to name but one important term). There is no magic to how this change in the relationship is memorialized. It can be by amendment or addendum or by substituting a new contract. What is important is that, however it is memorialized, you capture all of the relevant changes.

That said, if the publisher offers a new agreement on its 'revised form,' the author needs to take the time to compare the new form line-for-line with the old one to be sure s/he spots and understands each and every change. Publishers do not revise their forms for fun. Every change is there for a reason. And the reason is not typically as a show of support for the authors benevolence society."

A: Zick Rubin, The Law Office of Zick Rubin, Publishing / Copyright / Trademark:

"The retirement of your coauthor can spur some useful give and take with your publisher. One reason for this relates to Steve Gillen's very useful response to your posting: If your contract is an old one, the publisher may wish to substitute its newer boilerplate. Call it evolution. But you have a contract in force, and you and your coauthor don't have to accept the new boilerplate. This could provide a negotiating opportunity: the publisher gets certain boilerplate changes that it wants, and in return you get some concessions that you want. The hoped-for result (if we assume for our purposes that publishers and authors belong to different species): a continued and mutually beneficial symbiosis. [From my online dictionary: '(sym·bi·o·sis (si˜m'bï-ÿ'si˜s, -b¥-) n., pl. -ses (-sïz). Biology. A close, prolonged association between two or more different organisms of different species that may, but does not necessarily, benefit each member.']"

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