ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the author contract and the editor’s continuing role in shaping and developing the project. Agreeing the right contract is of benefit to the author and helps to ensure the book’s profitability; and a successful working relationship with the author throughout the book’s development is crucial to the book’s quality and commercial success. Each publisher–as the buyer of rights from an author–draws up its own contract, also called the agreement. The contract formally defines the relationship between author and publisher. Commissioning editors negotiate contracts with authors or their agents, and can then adjust the standard contract to fit the final terms agreed. The contract lists further rights granted to the publisher, which it could license to other firms, and the percentages payable to the author on the publisher’s net receipts from the sales of those subsidiary rights. The agent’s contract typically is shorter than one from a publisher, reflecting the more limited grant of rights by the author.
