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Getting Your Book into Print: Negotiating the Contract
A publishing agreement says you’re on your way to being a book author. Here are some contract terms to look for and negotiate.
If you succeed in convincing a publisher that your book would be a valuable addition to their lineup, congratulations! The publisher will then offer you a lengthy contract that itemizes every aspect of the publishing agreement. Naturally, publishers write these agreements in their own best interest, but often you can negotiate some of the terms to your advantage.
I’ve read numerous book contracts and signed a dozen, but I’m not an expert on them, I’m not a lawyer, and nothing I say here constitutes legal advice. If you haven’t dealt with a publishing agreement before, I suggest you have an intellectual property attorney, literary agent, or other expert review yours for red flags and negotiable issues. I know a first-time author who excitedly signed his book publishing agreement several months ago without reading it closely or having an expert look it over. Unfortunately, he agreed to several contract terms that were less than ideal.
Here I describe my own experiences with publishing agreements for nonfiction books, mostly on software development, and point out some of the terms that you might…
