desiree 🍉
friendly neighborhood 🏳️⚧️ kuwabara. tsundere book nerd. lit agent @ looking glass lit. they/them
beacons.ai/swindlesoiree
i sometimes use this account for work, but this is not a work account
normal about min yoongi
- i love being one of the few people who seems to exist at the cross-section of the taskmaster tag where i'm happy no matter where it takes me lmao
- in light of some recent things i've seen in contracts people are signing, i want to share one of the resources i give every client: the Authors Alliance’s guide to Understanding and Negotiating Publication Contracts www.authorsalliance.org/resources/pu...
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- yeah, i just saw that! which is sad - but you can still kick them a donation if you want to support them. as we all (?) know, printing/stocking books can be quite cost prohibitive
- a good chunk of my admin work is getting people who have worked in direct market comics squared away with old books i didn't rep, and contracts they signed without knowing better. worst case scenario, the rights were lost forever, or they now see no royalties at all for their work.
- not everyone wants/needs an agent, but if you don't have one, i recommend learning to read your own. not skimming, not guessing, but knowing what the terms mean and most importantly what they mean to your specific deal. there's no single, right answer to a good deal, so knowledge is literally power
- never accept any deal points, written or verbal, that are not in the contract. no 'i can't agree in the contract but i can in email' or handshake agreements. no trusting your editor will do the right thing by you as a safety net. if it isn't in the contract, it doesn't exist
- you should also **always** read your contracts before you sign, regardless of whether you have rep or not, and flag errors/ask questions as needed. contract reading is a learned skill, so you won't be fast, but setting aside time will save you a headache or stress later.
- you can download it for free, but if you can swing it i suggest sending a donation. this guide has been written by actual lawyers who actually know what they're talking abt, and you can use it to go through almost any publishing contract you're offered (but it's esp useful in trad pub)
- someone once told me that contracts are made in case of death and divorce, and they're right. that means no matter how much you might trust and believe in any individual (editor, publisher, etc), things can change - what's on that contract should ensure you're getting the same deal regardless.
