It's Bantam, a fantasy mystery, 8% start for MM, 10/12.5/15 for HC.
This is interesting to me -- when I sold my first novel, my then-agent was surprised that the royalty rate I was offered didn't budge, but he dealt a lot with Bantam at that time (and I believe editorial, etc., is still separate, although they're owned by the same people).
But I got no paperback royalty movement there, so good for you!
The book, as far as I can tell, is a mass market novel. So it won't be out in Hardcover, (unless the book club picks it up).
The bonuses are based on sales. Once I break $25k, I get a 50% addition to my advance for the following books (it's a 3 book contract) cumulative. So, if - by some miracle - both 1 and 2 earn $25, I get a $25k bonus. It's a bonus on my advance, but still a pretty cool thing. I believe my agent referred to it as "cascading" but the contract negotiation was over a year ago. A lot has happened since then and my memory isn't perfect. Separate listings in the contract (also cumulative, I believe) for HC and paperback.
25K in terms of royalty income? This means a net sale of just under 45,000 copies. In this market, that's a lot -- but if they're already talking about a second printing, before the first printing, that's a decent sign. They'll probably have to ship out about 80,000 copies in order to achieve that number.
For some reason I don't understand, all of the contracts I've seen have breakdowns for mass market, trade paperback and hardcover, even when neither a trade or a hardcover is planned.
Anyway, your book will be a mass market original.
Yep. Cover consult is in the contract. Met with my editor to discuss ideas, had some back and forth. They hired Les Edwards for the art and although I was thinking something more "bluish" it's gorgeous.
This is wonderful. I have some say in covers now, but it's all good will; it's not contractual. Cover consult isn't quite the same as cover approval -- but it's still nice to have.
The best part - to me - was that so many of the rights, especially electronic, other media, merchandising and performance are 100% mine. My literary agent has a remarkable history of co-agenting to film and he immediately found additional representation with APA. We officially hit Hollywood this fall, after reviews come in.
This would be exciting! It seems to me, though, that you've sold World rights to the book? You've kept the rights for non-print media of any sort (except e-book, as you mentioned in the previous email), but you mentioned that your editor was talking about pre-sales from Britain (and a second printing??); if they're doing that, they have British rights? Or non-exclusive British rights?
I have looked all through my contract for marketing specifics - most seem to have to do with me and how I'm supposed to be available, yadda, yadda, yadda - but I can't find much else concrete. I do know tho that I've had several back-and-forths with the marketing department, the book is the feature selection for November, they sent out thousands of bookmarks to sales reps a few months ago, I have national print advertising, and my editor just talked to me yesterday about the second printing and pre-sales from Britain.
Okay. This is the bookstore person in me -- not the writer, not even the published writer. "feature selection" is sort of nebulous.
Usually, feature selection is either a book-club term, or perhaps a B&N term? It's not a sales term. Lead would be a sales term, or SF lead, or Mystery lead. There's usually a LEAD, and that would lead the catalogue, and then each category has a lead title within its own genre.
I know it's not a perfect contract, but for a new writer who has never published a single thing before, I think it's pretty cool. They got print, I kept everything else, and it suits me just fine.
Good for you! You kept what's important to you, and you're happy with the deal. I kept half of the print rights, giving them NA, and kept almost everything else of value.
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branchandroot
Re: meh deals and rights negotiations
Date: 2004-09-16 08:41 pm (UTC)It's Bantam, a fantasy mystery, 8% start for MM, 10/12.5/15 for HC.
This is interesting to me -- when I sold my first novel, my then-agent was surprised that the royalty rate I was offered didn't budge, but he dealt a lot with Bantam at that time (and I believe editorial, etc., is still separate, although they're owned by the same people).
But I got no paperback royalty movement there, so good for you!
The book, as far as I can tell, is a mass market novel. So it won't be out in Hardcover, (unless the book club picks it up).
The bonuses are based on sales. Once I break $25k, I get a 50% addition to my advance for the following books (it's a 3 book contract) cumulative. So, if - by some miracle - both 1 and 2 earn $25, I get a $25k bonus. It's a bonus on my advance, but still a pretty cool thing. I believe my agent referred to it as "cascading" but the contract negotiation was over a year ago. A lot has happened since then and my memory isn't perfect. Separate listings in the contract (also cumulative, I believe) for HC and paperback.
25K in terms of royalty income? This means a net sale of just under 45,000 copies. In this market, that's a lot -- but if they're already talking about a second printing, before the first printing, that's a decent sign. They'll probably have to ship out about 80,000 copies in order to achieve that number.
For some reason I don't understand, all of the contracts I've seen have breakdowns for mass market, trade paperback and hardcover, even when neither a trade or a hardcover is planned.
Anyway, your book will be a mass market original.
Yep. Cover consult is in the contract. Met with my editor to discuss ideas, had some back and forth. They hired Les Edwards for the art and although I was thinking something more "bluish" it's gorgeous.
This is wonderful. I have some say in covers now, but it's all good will; it's not contractual. Cover consult isn't quite the same as cover approval -- but it's still nice to have.
The best part - to me - was that so many of the rights, especially electronic, other media, merchandising and performance are 100% mine. My literary agent has a remarkable history of co-agenting to film and he immediately found additional representation with APA. We officially hit Hollywood this fall, after reviews come in.
This would be exciting! It seems to me, though, that you've sold World rights to the book? You've kept the rights for non-print media of any sort (except e-book, as you mentioned in the previous email), but you mentioned that your editor was talking about pre-sales from Britain (and a second printing??); if they're doing that, they have British rights? Or non-exclusive British rights?
I have looked all through my contract for marketing specifics - most seem to have to do with me and how I'm supposed to be available, yadda, yadda, yadda - but I can't find much else concrete. I do know tho that I've had several back-and-forths with the marketing department, the book is the feature selection for November, they sent out thousands of bookmarks to sales reps a few months ago, I have national print advertising, and my editor just talked to me yesterday about the second printing and pre-sales from Britain.
Okay. This is the bookstore person in me -- not the writer, not even the published writer. "feature selection" is sort of nebulous.
Usually, feature selection is either a book-club term, or perhaps a B&N term? It's not a sales term. Lead would be a sales term, or SF lead, or Mystery lead. There's usually a LEAD, and that would lead the catalogue, and then each category has a lead title within its own genre.
I know it's not a perfect contract, but for a new writer who has never published a single thing before, I think it's pretty cool. They got print, I kept everything else, and it suits me just fine.
Good for you! You kept what's important to you, and you're happy with the deal. I kept half of the print rights, giving them NA, and kept almost everything else of value.