Below, I offer some examples of problems, challenges, and troubles writers have encoutered--and my attempts to offer the best advice I can. (Names and some details have been changed to protect anonymity.) If you have a problem that could use a second opinion, send it on and I'll give it my best shot. Feel free to send comments in response to any of these entries. And/or if you have an instructive story to share about the publishing/writing scene, send it in. I'll post it here.

I've Got a Contract But...

Dear Ron:

I have a quick question: a university press has accepted my novel . . . for publication and is scheduling a release of Fall 2010. I received the contract in the mail today and the editor has written that I have to give copyright over to the publisher. I know your first book was through BkMk - did you run into any similar circumstances? I've asked the editor to let me retain copyright, but if he says no, what do you recommend I do? Hope I'm not putting you in a spot. I don't really know anyone else to ask.
 

Published in California

Dear Published:

Congratulations on the acceptance! Take whatever publication you can get. It's really, really tough out there right now.

Every publisher must possess the rights to a book before it can print and distribute it. Most small presses return the rights to the writer after publication. The question is, what rights does your publisher want and how long does it want to hold them?

Generally speaking, it's really not a big deal because it's only for copyright on the book and excerpts from the book. These rights may stay in the hands of the publisher until the book goes out of print, in which case they revert to you. This may include paperback rights. But, chances are, it doesn't include movie rights or foreign rights, both of which I would not surrender without negotiation.

After your book is published, you should pursue foreign publication because the overseas readership is a good, and potentially lucrative, market.

If you surrender the rights of your book permanently to the press, you could lose out when/if some day a big press wants to reprint your book.

I imagine your contract is typical and isn't asking for anything out of the ordinary and I really wouldn't over-think it. This is an occasion for celebration, not suspicion. I suggest you play very nice with the press and simply explain that you've never done this before and so you'd like to ask some questions. First ask if all authors get this same contract. It wouldn't hurt to have a contract lawyer look it over.

This is great news. Let me know how it goes. Yours, Ron

PUBLISHING HORROR STORY # 2

Dear Ron:

Somebody told me you were having trouble with agents and maybe we have something in common that way.  I got a kindof famous agent in New York and I thought I was made in the shade. She most definitively told me she was going to sell my book big.  She sent it to maybe 12-16 editors. Certainly less than 20. Then she gave up. I was floored. I asked her to keep sending it out because I thought she believed in the book. Isn’t that what agents do? Then she stopped answering my emails. I felt like I had the plague. What the f???? Now I don’t know what to do!
 

Depressed in Denver

Dear Depressed:

I feel your pain.  This has happened to me twice (two books), each time with a Big Name NY agent.  Some facts we have to face. 1) Agents are here to make money. 2) If they can’t make the money they think they need to make—if selling the book is eating up their valuable time and they keep dropping down the ladder of prospects and it’s clear there ain’t gonna be a bidding war on your manuscript—then they cut their losses. And drop your precious book.

This is devastating for the writer, who just wants to get the book into print. Hell, I’ll do whatever I can to make that book sell, I wanted to tell each agent, let's just get it in print! The really good agent, the one who believes in the writer and knows the value of loyalty, will do just that.  I know of one agent, one of the best in the business (and too busy to take on new clients, alas) who shopped a manuscript to 59 publishers before she placed it on the 60th try.  Now that’s an agent!   

So what do we do?  Chances are, no other agent will touch your book after another agent has “shopped” it, no matter how feebly it’s been shopped (15 editors is just a warm-up, as far as I’m concerned).  But you can shop it yourself.  Get the list of the places your agent tried—she owes you that much.  Then begin making queries.  Also submit the novel (it’s a novel, I assume) to contests.

Remember, there’s no guarantee that a big press would do justice to your book and promote it well.  (Remember, too, big-press books get remaindered fast.)  In any case, the burden of selling is on the writer nowadays, no matter who's publising it.  So the main thing is to get the book nicely produced.  Then comes the work of selling it—through your website, blogs, email blasts, etc.

I’m sorry that this has happened to you. Unfortunately, you’re not alone. A lot of us have been dropped and left to scramble. But keep in mind, your book is a damned good book—otherwise it wouldn’t have gotten this agent’s attention.  She dropped it only because it wasn’t going to make her a fast buck.  It has NOTHING to do with your writing.

Best of luck.  Ron

PUBLISHING HORROR STORY # 1

Ron,

Do you mind if I ask you for a bit of that advice on dealing with
publishers? Maybe you can use this as an example of what can go wrong for a first-time author these days. I'm trying to figure out how to compel our publisher to live up to their broken promises.

My wife/co-author and I have a book contract with XYZ Publishing in NY. They originally sought us out in 20xx, to write a "perennial seller" on [a non-fiction, health-related topic]. The book should have been published by last year, but in the wake of a series of abrupt staff turnovers and a corporate buyout by Barnes & Noble, they've postponed it three times.

Now, after our second editor jumped their ship and left our book in the lurch, their managing editor took over, sent us galley proofs, and promised (sort of) publication this Sept. We received the galleys on May 7, and must return them May 23.

We were horrified to find that the galleys were a mess. You see, after the first round of substantive editing (which went deceptively well), our first editor had sent our manuscript to a freelance copyeditor who made an utter hash of our text. It was like she went through it with a roto- tiller. She introduced errors, inaccuracies, and her own bizarre idiosyncracies on nearly every page. (E.g., she hates the word "modern," and replaced it throughout with "present-day" or "contemporary," even when using the latter word is misleading.) This is a book teaching people to do [health-related practices] -- you don't want to get the instructions wrong!

After much arguing and conference calling, we convinced our editor to let us emend the copyedited ms., and send it to her to go over and decide which of our emendations to keep. Well, this editor had just gotten pregnant with her first child, and -- unbeknownst to us till much later -- one day she just stopped coming to work. That's apparently why, despite all those stressful weeks we spent red-pencilling our ms., none of the emendations we made appear in the galleys. We're having to do them all over again -- on a nearly 500-page book.

We're concerned the publisher will use these extensive galley corrections as an excuse to delay the book yet again, even though the problems are due to their ex-employee's negligence. We're also worried they'll try to charge us for reprinting the galleys, as a clause in our contract allows them to do.

My wife has joined the National Writers' Union and is trying to get some advice or advocacy from them -- but they seem to be too busy figuring out why her name hasn't shown up yet on their membership list to help us. We do not have an agent, and we can't afford a lawyer.

We would very much appreciate any suggestions you could give!

Thanks,
Angry in Arkansas

Dear Angry in Arkansas:

 Holy cow, your situation is a classic example of corporate chaos caused by editorial shuffles. I see one positive sign that you should take into account: the publisher has already spent a lot of time (and some money) on this project; therefore it wouldn’t make good business sense to dump it at this point. Clearly XYZ  feels no rush to get the book out, probably because it will be a “perennial seller.”

I would urge you to establish a rapport with the current editor as follows: 1) express appreciation for this editor’s help—and play up the positives, i.e., that you’re very enthusiastic about your book, it’s going to be a great product for XYZ , and you look forward to making sure, with this editor’s help, that the ms. will be in top shape, that is,  in the form you and XYZ  originally agreed upon (more on this below);

2) under no circumstances complain, blame, or show hesitation about moving forward; remember none of these problems is THIS editor’s fault; the mess-up is a product of a corporate culture; it will do no good to point fingers or holler now;

3) emphasize that you and the previous editor agreed upon the emended version, into which you and your wife poured considerable time and energy; and this is the best version, the one that will sell the most books, etc. (again keep it positive, play up the benefits of the new version). Unfortunately, SOMEHOW the outside copyeditor misunderstood, got off track, etc., and the editor at the time got distracted herself.  (Here’s where you’ll have to hold back; keep a level tone; don’t blame; don’t complain; just describe it as an unfortunate happenstance.) But now you all have the opportunity to put it back on track—this is a good thing, hence your enthusiasm and appreciation for this new editor’s time and consideration.

Do not mention the Writer’s Union; do not mention a lawyer; do not mention contracts. Just focus on the work and encourage the current editor to do his/her best. By moving forward in the most positive, constructive manner, you may very likely secure publication finally. Remember, there are too many distractions surrounding editors and publishers already; in situations like this we don’t want to make it easier for them to turn their backs on us yet again.

Worst case scenario: after doing all of the above the editor says you have to pay for the new galleys. Frankly, galleys don’t cost much to set or print—unless it’s typeset (rare), so I can’t imagine XYZ  would insist. Check your contract to see what options you have to withdraw from the deal. If they have paid you no advance and if you claim that they are acting in bad faith, chances are you can just drop the deal and they will not pursue you, particularly if you insist that they ruined your book.

I don’t think it will come to that. Take a deep breath, recollect your energies, and make this thing happen. Clearly you have every reason to be frustrated and wary. But, for better and for worse, you’ve established a working relationship with this publisher. And, despite the mistakes, the publisher is showing good faith by moving forward. Delays are more common than not in publishing. The good thing, too, is that you have galleys in hand. The bad thing is that they aren’t YOUR galleys—they’re somebody else’s (the foolish copy-editor’s).  I doubt that there’s anything in the contract that says the publisher can print your book even if you insist that it’s NOT your book. So, for now, don’t inhabit that negative space. Act as if everybody is going to do the right thing—and encourage everybody to do so, with compliments and appreciation, every step of the way.


Best of luck.  Yours, Ron

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