Ask A Tenured Professor

I extend my sincere thanks to Gregg Barak, Stuart Henry, Lloyd Klein, Ray Michalowski, Roz Muraskin, Nicole Rafter, Marty Schwartz, Jim Thomas, and Juliet Uibopuu for their responses to my original query which was posted to the Divisions on Women and Crime and Critical Criminology list-serves. Their excellent advice has contributed not only to me signing two book contracts (for two separate projects) both of which were overwhelmingly positive experiences.

~Jeanne Flavin

Question: Do any of you have advice for someone hoping to sign a book contract for an academic book (non-textbook)? In particular, what conditions should an author try to negotiate (or at least avoid)? Any common pitfalls or traps to watch out for? Is it reasonable to expect an advance and if so, what kind of advance might be sought?

Can I expect an advance or royalties?

A: Advances depend on the publisher and type of volume. Normally, monographs don't get advances. More commercial projects (eg, encyclopedias, texts, workbooks) might.

A: Sure, advances are common, though small these days.

A: Advances are common on non-text books, but they tend to be small...around a few thousand dollars. Keep in mind that most non-text academic books do not sell many copies, and so the overall take on these books is not great.

A: In my limited experience as a new author, I have been offered $1,000 for an edited volume, $0 for a co-authored monograph, and $2,000 for a sole-authored monograph. (Be careful, though, because if you don't want to compile your own index, you may find yourself paying $1,000 of your advance to pay for the publisher to do it!)

A: I have limited experience limited to publishing one book where no advance was offered. In general, publishers will offer an advance which could total several thousand dollars depending upon the nature of the book and reputation of the author. You should be careful regarding royalties. Some publishers offer notoriously low payments . . . while others can offer 8% or more. You need to shop the prospectus with several publishers and assess which one offers the best deal on this count.

What's up with copyright?

A: There is also the matter of copyright. In some cases the press will hold the copyright, in other cases the author will. I'm not sure why it is one way or the other, and I understand that presses will change their mind if pressed by an author. The reality, however, is again that it doesn't seem to make much difference. As long as the book is in print, it doesn't really matter who holds the copyright. Nobody else is going to publish the book. Once it is out of print the copyright typically reverts to the author, but by then one would need to write essentially a new book to convince anybody to publish something that was one but is no longer in print.

A: [B]e careful about standard contract clauses giving the publisher entitlement for the next book you might write. Try to negotiate such stipulations out of the contract-particularly should you have problems with the marketing or support supplied by the publisher during production of the first book.

. . . and translation rights?

A: Contracts typically have a lot of stuff about translation rights etc. Most of these don't come in to play, and most contracts I've seen don't very much from one publisher to the next as to the benefits.

. . . and publication format?

A: One of the things to look for is the publication format. That is, are they publishing hardback only, hardback and then paperback if the hardbacks sell well enough, or simultaneous hardback and paperback publication. How you weigh these things depends on your goals. My preferences is for simultaneous hardback-paperback publication since my goal is to get my work in as many people's hands as possible. Hardbacks make more money on a per-book basis. Paperbacks sell more books. I'd rather have people reading my stuff.

Thoughts on self-publishing

A: After a very unpleasant experience with a publisher, my advice is to find a printer who also binds, and self-publish. You pay for the printing and the ISBN number; however, you keep all the profits.

A: Self-publishing is a very bad idea for anyone in academia. It is the death sentence for tenure and promotion and indicates that the book was not considered good enough for a legitimate publishing house. Regardless of whether it is a good book, it will be classified as vanity press. The short term royalty possibility/gain is an indictment to a scholar's academic reputation in the long term. After you have 10-20 books published by legitimate presses, then you can self-publish or even set up your own press, but not when just starting out.

What [else] should I consider when choosing a press?

A: In thinking about a publisher, consider: prestige of the press; whether they will print your book in paper as well as hard cover; and whether you can keep the copyright. I always negotiate on the latter point first; many people don't care, but this is your work and you should keep the copyright. Then go for simultaneous publication in paper and hardback, or if the publisher is reluctant, get a FIRM date for pub of the paper edition. In writing. Don't sign away all your rights--publishers will take everything if they can. Then go for the royalties: choose the publisher with the best ones, and try to get them to go higher. Also think about: do you like the editor with whom you are working? Think about: joining the National Writers' Union; they have a contract handbook and will give you training in negotiating with publishers (at least they used to).

A: What I have done, and have been extremely successful with is speaking with publishers, seeing what kinds of works they are looking for, pitching ideas to them (usually verbally, then in writing) and giving them a proposal that THEY are looking for. As for negotiation you can always and should always negotiate the best "deal" possible, i.e., royalties, time frames, up front monies. etc. A reputable publisher in the field will give you all of that information before committing to writing. Academics unless they do nothing but publish should not look for those "BIG BUCKS." Those who get that kind of monies have had to prove their worth first. If you want to publish, get the best published, negotiate for yourself the best kind of deal and do it. The more you publish, and the more your name is recognized, the better the deal for you.

A: A few things to consider: are there plans for a paperback edition? Will copyright revert to you when at the end of printing? Do you retain electronic rights for class, homepage, etc? Are royalties a flat rate (eg, usually between 8-12 percent) or on a sliding scale pegged to how many books are sold, increasing every few hundred (eg, 6 pct up to 400; 8 pct 400-800, etc) What is the marketing strategy? Beware of hard deadlines.

A: Most publishers don't offer much negotiation room, and things are fairly standard. Try to get copyright back soon after it goes out of print. Overall, the process is not too complex and is not normally filled with land mines. Most contracts are pretty straightforward, though filled with piles of boilerplate. Most contracts have due dates and clauses about acceptability of the final manuscript. Both of these can sound ominously like ways the publisher can back out of the deal. The real truth, however, is that once a publisher signs a contract they have slotted that book into their future production schedule, and losing it will create a hole. So, even if there are some doubts about a manuscript . . . the publisher will work to get it where it needs to be. Also, while I don't want to encourage slackness, publishers pretty much realize that not all manuscripts will come in exactly on time, and there is some slack built into their overall production schedules to accommodate that.

A: Negotiate for the publisher to bear responsibility in the production of the manuscript. You want to avoid having responsibility for producing camera ready copy. The publisher should bear most of that responsibility.

A: You want to find an editor that will work with you throughout the writing and production stages of the manuscript. Some publishers leave you alone with the result being slower processing or lack of progress on the overall project. The good publishers and editors will encourage completion of the project within a timely manner.

A: You might want to contact [a prolific writer]. Such prolific writers have experience dealing with various publishers and can give you more of the inside tips regarding the advantages and disadvantages of differing types of contract stipulations (not to mention particular editors and their standards).

A: . . . [T]he one thing I worry about is how few people actually have bargaining power over these things. Most publishers just have a standard contract and that is about it. [He], of course, has more than 20 books, which is a form of power. But I have about 20 editions of 12 books, and I have been both well treated and poorly treated, won some major battles with contracts, and been told that the offer was withdrawn if I didn't sign. . . . .[One author] went to the wall for an advance, and it poisoned a relationship for life with a powerful editor for $1500. My real advice, I guess, is to study . . . everyone else's list, figure out what is important and what isn't, and start fighting at the top. If you are broke, and are working on a text, then making sure that the publisher paid for photos and indexing is important (I have gotten that). For a monograph, I was more concerned that we got paper and cloth simultaneously (we got that on our last book). Some people are very careful to hire a lawyer to go over any contract, although you will be paying big bucks for that. [The] notion of making sure that rights revert to you might be important, although I haven't had any problem getting the rights back. I just think that you should fight for what you REALLY want, and quit fighting before they decide that you are a pain in the butt and they really didn't want your book anyway. If you are Philip Roth, this isn't an issue. But there are some people who think that their publishing company can stay in business without a monograph from [me] evidently. Good luck.