Publishing contract ~ what are subsidiary rights?

As an author, I wish I could write and write and have someone else worry about publishing contracts and marketing. We, authors, can avoid these to some extent by having an agent work for us to try to get the best deal. Even then, we still need to become involved in the process to make sure the agent is doing what is best for us. Whether agented or unagented, authors need to understand what is presented in black and white to make sure they maximize current and future revenues. To do that, we have to understand some publishing contract terms.

Today, I’m going to talk about subsidiary rights as they pertain to U.S. contracts. This information is in no way to be viewed as legal advice. I am not an attorney. These terms are for educational purposes only. I will try to explain as much as I can so you, as an author, will have the knowledge to make an informed decision if you ever find yourself with a publishing contract in hand.

Authors have nine (9) subsidiary rights. They are:

First serial – This is your right as an author to publish excerpts or condensed versions of your manuscript or book in magazines and newspapers before the book is published. You may not see any $$ from these, but they are awesome for exposure and getting readers excited to buy your book.
Second serial – This is same as the First Serial right except this covers the same right to publish excerpts after your book is published. Again, few $$ if any, but extremely valuable book promotion.
Book Club – This is a fierce and competitive market, and if your book can break into “the Club”, there can be substantial royalties. It is said you’ll need excellent contacts or an awesome agent/publisher to open the door of this exclusive Club.
Foreign rights (also called foreign language license) – As the right implies, this is your right as an author to publish and sell your book outside the US.
Reprint – This is a natural progression of your book. The norm used to be Hardback, then paperback. Rarely was the paperback printed first and then hardback upon reprint, but it did happen every now and then. With the advent of e-books, the norm seems to be e-book, then paperback upon reprint, or ebook along with Hardback, then paperback on reprint.
Performance (also called dramatic) – This is your right as the author to have your novel or manuscript adapted into dramatic performances to be enacted on radio, TV, in a movie, play, etc.
Audiobook – This right (and the electronic or ebook right) is your right as an author to produce your manuscript or book in audio (or electronic) format.
Electronic – You might see this combined in Audio rights. Some publishers call it Reproduction.
Merchandise – This right allows you, the author, to produce merchandise like T-shirts, video games, action figures, etc. based on your story or characters. This right is usually associated with film rights and will most likely be purchased by the studio/producer in a package deal along with your performance rights.

Tomorrow, I’ll pass on which rights the publishers usually keep, and which ones the publishing agents and gurus suggest that you, as the author, should keep, if at all possible.

So, you got a publishing contract. Now what?

It’s been a dream of mine since I was a little girl to get a publishing contract for my novel. I know I personally spent more time imagining covers for my novels than I did envisioning my dream wedding. Come on. Let’s face it. The wedding gown is expensive, you wear it for an hour, and then it gets stuck in a ‘preservation’ box forever. A book cover on the other hand lasts a long time, people will see it for years to come, and even after many eons have passed and the pages are yellowed, a new reader will come along, find the cover intriguing, and crack open the binding to read the precious, toiled-over words in between. For me, that would be words I wrote.

I wrote.

The thought boggles my mind that others will read my story. That my words will be eternally in print. Part of the Library of Congress. A permanent testimony of my life on earth. A legacy. In a sense…immortality.

But to get this dream, I have to have one of these:

Yes, a publishing contract. Yuck. I hate contracts. All the legal mumbo jumbo, the fine print. Wondering if I can live with this, or if that has to go. If I push too far, will the publisher say no and then I’m back to square one looking for a publisher? Do I self-publish? The possibilities are enough to make an author want to run for the hills and hide. After all, we write, not negotiate contracts, right?

Sorry to say, if we want to see our books in print, we have to wade through the business end, too. Even if you have an agent, you want to make sure your agent has your best interest at heart.

As I sit here and wait to find out the fate of my novel I submitted to one of my dream publishers, I’ve been educating myself on what to expect when that contract comes in. (yes, I said, when. There is no if. It will happen). Over the course of the next few days, I’ll share with you what I’ve learned on Granting Subsidiary Rights, Royalty terminology and other important publication rights that all authors must consider whether going the publishing route alone or with an agent.

I hope you stay tuned. It’s gonna be a bumpy but fun ride – like dodging pot-holes in a Ferrari at 200 mph.

You’ve signed a publishing contract…what’s next?

If you’ve been following my blog, you know I’ve recently begun to navigate some uncharted waters. I wrote a short story based on a publisher’s prompt, went through many beta reads until I got it ‘right’, paused a long time before I hit the submit button, and managed to obtain that elusive publishing contract. I know. To a lot of people, a short story in an anthology is not the same as getting a novel accepted for publication, but to me…a publishing contract is a publishing contract. I’ll take it, baby! 🙂

But what happens after you sign the dotted line? (which isn’t dotted by the way, in case you’re wondering)

I can’t speak for the industry as a whole because this is my first venture, but for me, I’ve been assigned an editor. Now, if you’ve never worked with an editor, this can be a little daunting and scary. Editors are different than beta readers in the sense they have a feel for the market. They know what works and what doesn’t work. They know what to look for: grammar, logic, flow, story, clarity, sentence structure, specific errors, overuse of words, and many other elements.

I’d like to pause here for a moment and recommend two sites to help you fine-tune your document before you submit. There is the paid version of Autocrit, which is a fantastic piece of software, and there’s the poor man’s version (free), ProWritingAid. Both will help you find overused words and constructs, consistencies in hyphenation, US vs UK words, capitalization, spelling, cliché’s, redundancies, and so much more. Autocrit is a little better because it breaks down the sections into reports and explains errors in a bit more detail than ProWritingAid does, but not everyone has the $$$ for Autocrit and ProWritingAid performs well.

Okay, what happens after you get the contract and get an editor? You get your first line edits from the editor. This can be really scary and upsetting if you don’t know what to expect. Let me warn you, it may (and probably will), drive you to tears, but you can’t take it personally. Remember…your editor is your new best friend. (S)he will help you polish your gem and make it the best it can be. With that will come a few growing pains. You’ll get through them. Trust me.

When I got my first set of line edits, my manuscript looked like someone bled on it. There were bracketed comments in the middle of the document with editor notes in red. There were strike-throughs, comments, altered text, insertions, deletions. You name the editing mark, it was probably in there. Thankfully, my editor and I have an open line of communication (very important), and we’re able to bounce ideas off of each other and find solutions that work for both of us. So far, the ride has been a smooth one.

I’m currently on my second round of line edits along with what my editor refers to as the author line credits. This is where I go over the second line edits and make my changes to those. Again, the second round was difficult to look at because now we’re in the tweaking stage. Now we’re tightening the voice, keeping the pace consistent. Looking for additional grammatical errors that were overlooked. Finding plot holes. This means more cross-throughs, additions, deletions, text transfers. And, because I’m working with a publisher and an editor, I now have deadlines. I’ll talk more about that next week.

Overall, the experience so far has been intense and I’m learning a lot as far as accepting criticism, knowing when parts of my story don’t work and accepting they don’t work, and being a part of watching my story come to life the way it should. It’s an incredible journey, and one I’m glad I made, and it all started with the click of a button that said, ‘Submit’.