Comments on: Simon & Schuster Wants You . . . Forever

By: Angelle

Angelle — Sat, 19 May 2007 01:16:07 +0000

Publishers Weekly wrote a short article about it. Kristin and Victoria aren't the only unhappy industry people. BTW -- I agree with Nonny and Nora. I would feel very uncomfortable signing a contract that ties me to any one entity forever.

By: Jules Jones

Jules Jones — Fri, 18 May 2007 22:27:33 +0000

More commentary from Agent Kristin today and and yesterday.

By: Jules Jones

Jules Jones — Fri, 18 May 2007 19:03:17 +0000

Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware gives a detailed explanation of why this matters, with an example of the reversion clause in her own existing contract with S&S.

By: Chris Meadows

Chris Meadows — Fri, 18 May 2007 11:52:54 +0000

What’s the actual language of the contract?

I see a lot of people holding forth on what the contract does, but nobody posting what it says.

By: Nora Roberts

Nora Roberts — Fri, 18 May 2007 10:24:06 +0000

This is scary, imo.

While Harlequin retains the rights to my backlist for them, they do so according to the terms of the contract, by keeping the books in print. I believe the oop term for reversion is 5 or 7 years. I’d check that, but that’s what agents are for.

The 5 or 7 is a long time from some standpoints, but at least there’s a defined end–and I believe it’s in the same neighborhood for my contracts with Putnam/Berkley. I assumed that was industry standard.

Forever just isn’t acceptible to me. I can’t imagine it would fly well with most agents either.

By: The Mess in Progress » News From the Author’s Guild Regarding Simon & Schuster

Fri, 18 May 2007 04:45:06 +0000

[...] Author’s Guild has just released the following — and thank you to Alison Kent, Dear Author and others who posted this before me. SIMON & SCHUSTER APPEARS TO BE SEEKING A PERMANENT STAKE [...]

By: Nonny

Nonny — Fri, 18 May 2007 04:13:40 +0000

I’m not “established,” but speaking as someone pursuing a career as a NY print-published author… no way in hell would I sign something like that. Can we say “fuckjob” here?

By: Karen Scott

Karen Scott — Thu, 17 May 2007 22:33:48 +0000

The thing is, newbie authors will sign up, and think themselves lucky that they got a contract, period, until the rose-tinted glasses start clearing up. By then, it’s usually too late.

I wonder how many established authors will sign up to this?

By: » Simon & Schuster tightens up on publishing rights » Velcro City Tourist Board » Blog Archive

Thu, 17 May 2007 22:02:33 +0000

[...] to be a place where our books are permanently squirreled away.” It’s a sentiment that Jane Litte at Dearauthor.com wholeheartedly agrees with. “The publisher is signaling that it will no longer include minimum sales requirements for a [...]

By: Raelene Gorlinsky

Raelene Gorlinsky — Thu, 17 May 2007 21:16:44 +0000

Thank you very much for so quickly correcting your article! We appreciate it.

Every publisher has a “boilerplate” contract that fits almost all their authors/books. I cannot stress enough how important it is that authors read and understand their contract before signing. If you don’t understand something in it, ASK. And get experienced, professional advice. Then consider your own priorities and career plans, and what elements of the contract may or may not be negotiable.

Raelene Gorlinsky, Publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing Inc.