A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: What Does My Contract Mean and Should I Sign It? (paragraphs.5-7)

 

It is Tuesday. Time to tall turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side.

Today's topic addresses contracts -- what is a good one, what is a bad one, and what do the specialized terms actually mean? I will answer these questions in a series of posts, using, to start, our contracts, and will go through them paragraph by paragraph. Then, I will look at some other publishers' contracts for differing content. Last week we looked at the introductory paragraphs, mostly general information, including who is the author, what is the title, what rights are being offered.

Paragraph 1 states what rights you are offering -- specifically and in detail. The next three paragraphs (2-4) spell out related understandings (copyright, warranty, permissions). Your contract may have a different ordering of paragraphs, but this information must be somewhere or should not sign the contract. Following these two sections (or somewhere in your contract) will be three (or fewer or more) paragraphs that contain details about the book's production.

Manuscript

• Nearly always, upfront a date will be stated for delivery of the manuscript. This will have been a date that you have discussed in advance through your earlier correspondence with the publisher, in your proposal and subsequent email communications. Most (especially new) authors assume that this date is written in concrete; miss the date, lose the contract. Most publishers, by contrast, know that manuscripts can be delayed for all kinds of reasons; they do not set up production schedules until they have a manuscript in hand though knowing approximate dates of arrival of manuscripts over the next 6-12 months is important for them in planning resources. Make the date reasonable, giving yourself some time for unexpected events to intervene (life happens). If you will not be able to make the date -- with a clean manuscript (never hurry up completion to make a specific date, taking shortcuts on editing and proofreading -- it is better to good than to be timely in the case of a manuscript), let the publisher know what is happening and when your best estimate (be realistic, not hopeful) is for completion. Publishers almost always can cope with delays of this sort. In book production, there are frequently delays at nearly every step. Don't sweat the date; get the book right instead.
• The manuscript section will also give you specifications for how to format the document.
• Generally, a publisher will want a Word document, but some may be willing to accept other formats. Sometimes, you can negotiate this part of the contract. 
• The style to be used will be indicated here as well: APA Style Manual, Chicago Manual of Style, a publisher's own style sheet (which will be made available to you by email or online), or other. 
• Sometimes, the style sheet will indicate margin, headers, footer, and referencing (endnotes vs footnotes) preferences; if not, they will be in the contract in the manuscript section. Usually, this is also non-negotiable. However, once, in working with a highly prestigious academic publisher for a book I edited, most of the authors had used APA style before we knew what publisher would be producing the book; the publisher had its own style sheet but was willing to accept APA since it meant consistency throughout, was worldwide accepted, and would require far fewer changes with chances for error. It never hurts to ask! 
• Single or double-spacing will be indicated. 
• Font sizes and styles, way to handle headers, and more are all part ot these style sheets.
• If the publisher is concerned about length, then maximum (and, rarely, minimum) lengths will be stated here. 
• This section may or may not say how the publisher wants to receive the manuscript (e-mail, mailed in on disk, put into a drop box, etc.). Generally, that is worked out when you are ready to send the manuscript and know the final size of the file. 
• If the book is less than 200 pages with no illustrations, you will probably be able to email it. If you have many illustrations or a very large book, the publisher may ask you to put it into a drop box. Rarely, but sometimes, a publisher will be willing to pull your files from your own drop box. 
• In the case of illustrations, sometimes the publisher will ask that you send them to an illustrator's drop box; we do that -- it saves a lot of time and effort and risk of illustration distortion. 
• This section will also say something like "content, form, and language" of the finished manuscript must be acceptable to the publisher. You will not be able to negotiate this as part of the contract. This is a publisher's prerogative for deciding what it will and does publish. However, if you run into a difference of opinion on these issues after you submit the manuscript, you may be able to negotiate the publisher accepting something that initially the publisher initially turns down--or not, depending upon your flexibility. A publisher has expectations based on the sample chapters you provide; when you stray far from those, the publisher may not be willing to stray with you. For example, we received a final manuscript in which there was a fair amount of obscenity in language, which did not comport with the sample chapters we had received and based the contract on. We asked the author to replace the obscene words with mundane words; she did not want to, considering that they gave "life" to her book. In that case, we had to cancel the contract for author failure to meet specified conditions. 
• In this section you will find specifications for illustrations (photographers, charts, drawings, diagrams, etc.). You can expect that in most cases that photographs must be at last 300 dpi in the size to be used. So, a photograph for 4x7 book does not need the greater resolution that a photograph for an 8x10 book, but at 4x7 in size, it will need to be 300 dpi, unadjusted. That means you cannot go into Photoshop or some other software and adjust the dpi because that creates pixilation and lower resolution. You need to have 300 dpi in the original. Whether color or greyscale is needed will also be stated. You may be asked to convert color photographs to greyscale; however, most publishers prefer to get the original color and convert it themselves unless you are a professional photographer or typesetter; even then they often will insist on doing it inhouse. Who does the illustrations -- you (or someone you hire) or the art department of the publisher -- will be stated here, as well as who pay the cost of illustration. As with the words, the publisher maintains final control over the illustrations and may ask that they be redrawn/redone in order to meet its standards -- or not included. There is not much wiggle room here because publishers know what it takes for an illustration to look fine in print (as opposed to the home computer).
• The final section of this paragraph will explain what happens if the publisher accepts the manuscript as is or if the publisher does not and give a timeline (typically 30 days) for letting the author know the status of the manuscript. In the case of the manuscript not being accepted as is, generally the author is to be given a list of what needs to be changed and a timeframe (30-60 days) to make the fixes. (Of course, if the author cannot meet the timeline -- there may be room for negotiation -- or is unwilling or unable to make the changes, this paragraph nullifies the contract.) It is an important paragraph; read it carefully before signing.

Proofs:

• Proofs, more often called galleys, are provided to authors once the book has been typeset. There is usually a timeframe for returning any errors noted. If proofs are not returned on time (usually no room for negotiation here because the book is already in the line-up for release, but you can try in a pinch), the publisher may choose to assume no errors and move forward or have a professional editor read the proofs and charge the cost to the author. The contract should include information about proofs not returned or not returned on time even if you are certain that you will be able to return proofs on time. 
• At this point, it is too late to make content changes. Those should have been made before submitting the final manuscript or during the copyediting task. (Usually a copyeditor will pick up an error on content because it will fail to make sense.) Copyeditor's will query you when they find what they think is a content error, and if the book is still being copyedited and you find something important (e.g., brandnew information just got released that changes something small but important in your manuscript, like an organization you mentioned has now ceased to operate -- can be treated with a footnote or removed), at that stage you can contact the publisher or the copyeditor and make that small change (of less than 2-3 sentences). Usually. With most publishers.
• What needs to be checked at this point is errors made by the typesetter (perhaps the author's name is misspelled in the header -- it has happened or a page break is in the wrong place -- even though typesetters proof before sending galleys, it can happen). 
• This is also the last check of the manuscript, and you may see typos you made that escaped your attention and the attention of the copyeditor.  Of course, you may correct those typos. That means spelling, not content! 
• If you do notice an error that takes a very small correction -- would not change where the page starts and ends, you can indicate it, and it will be up to the publisher whether to make it.
• Some publishers will also allow you to make corrections if you pay for them. In this case, there will be a statement as to the % of the manuscript that requires changes (e.g., changes in excess of 5% of the total word count will require payment by author). 

Damages:

• This is a paragragh limiting responsibility for loss and damage to the publisher except damages that occur because of publisher negligence.
• This covers any damages during the production process, including the work of independent contractors. Sometimes, a publisher contracts out services such as copyediting and typesetting. This paragraph resolves the publisher of any damage from such outsourcing. 
• This paragraph will likely be non-negotiable. No publisher will accept a manuscript from an author who wants to hold the publisher responsibility for actions and events over which the publisher has no real control.  

The bottom line is that you live well or suffer by your contract. The terms are difficult to understand sometimes, but understand them you must. Take them to an intellectual property rights lawyer if you do not understand them; it is worth the money.  

Lesson for today's Tuesday talk: Many aspects of manuscript formatting and delivery may be negotiable, including illustrations. Ask. Changes to proofs may be possible if you pay; ask in advance if you are concerned about such things and make sure they are written into the contract. Do not try to negotiate responsibility for damages; the publisher simply will not accept the book.

Read more posts about publishing HERE.

The Tuesday talks reflect real discussions between the management of MSI Press LLC and our own authors or those would-be authors who come through our doors but don't make the cut--yet. If you have a topic you would like addressed, leave the question in the comment section. Chances are, in our 18 years of publishing first-time and experiences authors, we have had a conversation with one of our authors that we can share with you.

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