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Author's Guild Fair Contract Initiative

Russ

Istar
So it appears the Authors Guild is slowly growing a pair. I suspect it is because they feel in the new environment an initiative like this has a shot at being effective. It will be interesting to see who gets on board and how effective it is:

https://www.authorsguild.org/industry-advocacy/the-authors-guild-fair-contract-initiative-a-preview/

Movements like this in the publishing industry only tend to get traction when they get backed publicly and vocally by authors with significant weight and influence. I am really curious to see how they will roll this out and who the spokespeople will be.
 

Arranah

Troubadour
I read the Contract Initiative and was impressed. I have a book being reviewed now by a small press, and I will use these guidelines should they offer me a contract. I do have an agent, and I will insist on these conditions or I won't do it. One of the things I will not accept is a percentage of net. That means they could say that they never paid their bills whether they did or not. I was once offered three percent of net, but the press refused to allow me to see their expense sheets, etc. So I turned it down. The publisher was very furious. A percentage of gross is fair. After all authors have expenses too.

Yes, let's hope some famous writer does what Taylor Swift did in the music industry. She removed her work from Apple when they insisted on not paying to stream the singers work. Apple backed down.

One of the things I've learned is that a person can not trust anyone in the industry. With my first book I got my agent through a referral from a famous author. The agent was legendary. I thought it was a guided thing, and I would be taken care of. My agent found a publisher for me and told me the contract would be okay, to trust what they did to my manuscript and allow them to do it. Wrong. They butchered it. It was a true story of an event which victimized me. What the publisher did further victimized me. Then with my second book, the next publisher and his son gambled away 10.5 million dollars of company assets as well as spending the money on hookers. I lost a lot of money. Fun times. So I do not trust anyone in publishing to ever do anything for my benefit. I watch my back. This Author's Guild Fair Contract Initiative is overdue.
 
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