Authors

As an Author you are focused on developing and writing your next book.  Everything else gets short drift. Unfortunately, executing an effective contract cannot be ignored. A well-executed contract can go far in protecting you and your rights.  A well-executed contract can provide you the means to continue writing. A poorly constructed contract can cost you money.

When executing your contracts, you have clauses that clearly spell out –

• Delivery and publication issues

• What rights you will keep and what rights you will assign to the publisher

• What permissions you or the publisher will need to clear

• How much of an advance you will receive and under what terms

• What kind of royalty you will receive for the various types of book sales

• How the contract would be terminated

• How and when the rights you assigned the publisher will revert back to you

• And finally, the housekeeping clauses which cover all the truly mundane things – from agency representation to taxes.

Not to be forgotten when discussing contracts is the royalty statement. The royalty statement is the explanation behind the royalty check you have received. A well-organized royalty statement will keep track of the sales and license revenue for your book by type of sale, units sold, dollar amount received, royalty rate and earnings due you.