Congratulations you got a book deal! Now what? Today we’re going through some of the things we negotiate in our book contracts and share some resources for you to use when you have your own contracts in hand. We’ll also chime in with some personal comments along the way about our experiences.
An important disclaimer: none of this is legal advice and is written based on our own experiences. Please consult with your agent or lawyer before signing any contracts.
The Offer
The first stage of a book deal is the offer letter. This will state the terms that will be in the contract including what advance the publisher is offering, how the payments are split, the royalties, the territory (for example, worldwide, US English etc.) and sub rights (audio, television etc).
If you have an agent they will go back to the publisher with a counter-offer to try and bump up these numbers to get you the best possible deal. They can also ask for bonuses and escalators at this stage (more on that below).
(This post is part of our paid series, which posts every other week between free posts. Paid subscribers have access to all of our past paid posts including a chat with agent Elizabeth Bennett about submission strategy, writing lyrically, and writing early readers. You can see what else we have coming up here!)
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