Question number 2.

Are you saavy enough about publishing contracts to negotiate your deal? Do you know which rights to “give” to the publisher and which ones you should hold on to? Do you know how many different rights come with a book that you have written on your own? How about which territories your publisher should have to sell your book in? Which territories, if any should you keep?  Should you have the right to look at the cover of your book before it goes to press or should your publisher be allowed to make these decisions with no input from you? These are just a tiny fraction of the items to be negotiated in a standard “boilerplate” publishing contract.  Are your negotiation skills good enough to make sure your best interest has been represented?

Chances are if you’re anything like I was, by the time you receive  your contract from one of the big publishers, whether they live in New York or Elsewhere, you will be so excited you will want to sign on the dotted line and send that contract back as soon as possible without even reading it!  (I didn’t do that, but I had an agent to make sure I didn’t do anything that dumb!) Can you begin to see why having a good agent is very beneficial?  Even those who manage to land a contract without getting an agent first, end up getting one when they receive thier contract for all the reasons I’ve mentioned here. And like my mom always told me: When you’re trying to sell something (in this case your manuscript!) 85 -90% of something is better than 100% of nothing!  Take Care and I’ll write more soon! Mari