A: Don
Collins, former managing editor at a publishing company, TAA Council
member:
"First, it is
very common to offer a lower rate on the first texts published.
The publisher is in business for profit and at every point the
publisher wants an advantage although in your case it seems slight.
Second, up front money is an expense. If the book does not sell
then the publisher is out this money. But you get to keep the
advance. And lastly,. you may think of giving camera ready copy as
saving the publisher money. It probably is. But the way publishers
play the game is to take only authors who are willing to do this.
Only after your
work has proven successful and you have established a reputation
will you have much of a chance of negotiating better terms."
A: Laura
Taalman, TAA Member:
"One of my contracts
has a lower rate on the initial chunk of books, but if more then
a certain number are sold within the first two years, then a higher
royalty rate kicks in and is *retroactive* to include the first chunk
as well. You might be able to negotiate a similar deal.
One other point:
Be careful about calculating those projected royalties. Your
12 percent will be multiplied by what the publisher sells the books
to the booksellers for, NOT for what the book ultimately sells
at. I'm not sure what they mean by telling you how much the book
costs them; maybe that figure was really representing what they
will get when they sell the book to retailers?"
A: Stephen
E. Gillen, Authoring Attorney, Greenebaum Doll & McDonald PLLC:
"For starters,
I have a hard time believing that it costs this publisher $60-70 per
book for a book that sells to students at $90-100. A normal range
for the per-copy manufacturing cost of a text is 15-25 percent
of the selling price. Even allowing for an allocation of all
of the publisher's overhead, total costs shouldn't hit the cited
range. (Indeed, if $90-100 is the student price, then the publisher
is probably getting only about $55-65 per copy.)"
A: Jan
Lyons, TAA Member:
"I know from
working at a Fortune 50 company that we bought boxes of textbooks
for our employees attending local universities at deep discount (about
40 percent off list), so keep that in mind as you do the math on potential profits
that you will share with the publisher. I also know from experience that
large companies have lots of things they can charge against overhead,
so I believe that total 'cost' for a text could end up being quadruple
the manufacturing cost."
A: Michael
Sullivan, Mathematics Author, TAA Treasurer:
"In response
to Glenn Hurlbert, first my congratulations on getting that first
publisher interested in your work: 1) Be patient with this offer
and wait for the others to show interest and make their offer.
Remember that this offer is their starting point for negotiation
and you have the advantage of potentially other offers from other
publishers going forward; 2) Absolutely hold out for 15 percent
of net proceeds on all sales; 3) The $3,000 advance against royalties
is them paying you your money. Instead ask for a $5,000 grant
for supplying the publisher with camera- ready copy and for incentives
for you to get the book to them in a timely fashion. Ask for
1/2 at signing and the other half upon submission of camera-ready
copy by a mutually agreed upon date; 4) Do not be concerned about
their cost of production and their selling price. They will follow
their business model regardless of what you say or want. Be concerned
that you get your fair share of the net proceeds of every sale.
I like to remind publishers that they get 85 percent of all net
proceeds and authors get 15 percent: 5) There are many more land
mines in a typical contract for you to be concerned about, such
as Electronic Rights, Reversion Clause, Succession Clause, Royalties
on Canada sales, Foreign Sales, Internet Sales, Direct Sales,
High School Sales, Subsidiary Rights, Bundled Sales, and on and
on."
