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Update to the Publishing Agreement |
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Saturday, 07 July 2007 20:59 |
In preparation for the signing of our first clientèle, we have made some amendments to the Publishing Agreement.
A full copy of the Agreement is published here as a sample only and is subject to change at any time. The affected sections are listed below with the amendments included.
Section 3. Termination of Contract
After the initial two (2) year period as stipulated in the Length of Contract, this Contract may be terminated by either the AUTHOR or Total Fiction with a 30-day written, certified mail notice or other receipted or traceable delivery service where return acknowledgment is received, and all rights granted that Total Fiction will revert to AUTHOR at the time of the termination. Upon this termination, Total Fiction will remove listing of the WORK from its website and all download-based distributors and advise Books-in-Print that that particular ISBN is no longer in print. The exception to this termination of contract is that Total Fiction may continue to sell existing stock of physical formats (diskettes, CD's, cassette tapes, print books) but may not create new physical copies upon depletion of its existing stock.
When this Agreement terminates, AUTHOR shall have the right to purchase any remaining copies of the WORK at the AUTHOR's discount specified below. Any remaining copies of the WORK the AUTHOR chooses not to purchase may be sold or disposed of at Total Fiction’s discretion. Applicable and adjusted royalties will be paid on any disposed books.
At any time during the initial two (2) year period, Total Fiction may, at its discretion, remove the WORK from publication or distribution for reasons of poor sales, excessive returns or other reasons deemed by Total Fiction to be injurious to either Total Fiction or AUTHOR's best interests. Total Fiction shall give notice to AUTHOR 30-days prior to requested removal from distribution and state the reasons for the withdrawal. Notice must be in writing by certified mail or other receipted or traceable delivery service where return acknowledgment is received. When the Total Fiction removes the WORK from sale, this contract shall terminate and all rights granted shall revert to the AUTHOR.
At any time during the initial two (2) year period, AUTHOR may petition the Total Fiction to remove the WORK from publication or distribution. AUTHOR must give such "petition for removal notice" to Total Fiction 90-days prior to requested removal in writing by certified mail notice or other receipted or traceable delivery service where return acknowledgment is received. AUTHOR must specifically state reasons for petitioning for removing the WORK from publication and/or distribution.
After receiving the removal request, Total Fiction may:
1. Accept AUTHOR's request for removal outright with no additional stipulations or claims, or
2. Accept AUTHOR's request for removal with stipulations that AUTHOR, or AUTHOR's designated agency, buy out the contract, the amount to cover the production and sell-through costs involved with publishing the book, plus a reasonable profit.
If Total Fiction removes the WORK from sale, this contract shall terminate and all rights granted shall revert to the AUTHOR.
If you decide that you wish to cancel the publication of your book, You must send us a written notice, 90 days before you wish the cancellation to occur, stating your reasons for wanting this cancellation. At that point, we may do one of two things. We can cancel the contract and remove the book from print, in which case all rights immediately revert to you. Or, we can cancel the contract and remove the book from print on the condition that you, or someone you designate, pays us an amount to allow us to recoup our publication costs and a reasonable profit. Publishing a book is a business. Cover art work, ISBN numbers, printer submission fees, advertising, employee and contractor payroll, time and materials, etc.—all these things add up to a large amount of money that we, Total Fiction, have to pay out up front.
The second choice above would mean that you or someone you designate would pay us whatever costs were not recouped yet, plus a reasonable profit. We would detail exactly what this buy-out covers so that you would know exactly what you are paying for. The main reason this clause is in the contract is if an author receives an inquiry from a large publishing house who are interested in purchasing the rights to the book. This gives them, and you, the chance to buy-out the contract from us.
Section 10. Royalty Payment Schedule and Statements
Royalty statements will be produced and forwarded to AUTHOR monthly, not more than thirty days after the end of the royalty month if sales have been made. Royalties shall be paid contemporaneously with issuance of the royalty statement. Payments will be made by physical check or electronic payment in Great British Pounds (GBP).
If the AUTHOR should die before all royalties have been paid, Total Fiction will pay royalties to AUTHOR's heirs, assigns or beneficiaries.
It is the AUTHOR's responsibility to communicate with the Total Fiction any change in Postal Mailing Address, telephone number(s), Electronic Mail address or bank account details if royalties are paid by Electronic Funds Transfer. If the AUTHOR fails to advise Total Fiction of any changes in the above that prevent the timely payment of royalties, Total Fiction is authorized to hold, without penalty, payment of royalties until current information is received. If a cheque sent by regular post is returned by the post office or express delivery service as undeliverable, Total Fiction shall first attempt to contact AUTHOR by all existing contact information before unilaterally withholding payment of royalties.
In the event that additional WORKs by the same AUTHOR are currently being marketed by the Total Fiction, royalty accounts from all such titles shall be combined with that for this WORK.
Total Fiction will keep accounts of all receipts and expenditures regarding the WORK, and these accounts will be available for AUTHOR's inspection. AUTHOR may, on reasonable notice, through AUTHOR's designated representative, examine Total Fiction's records that relate to the WORK. Such examination shall be at AUTHOR's expense, unless errors in excess of 5% of royalties or other sums due the AUTHOR by Total Fiction shall be found in AUTHOR's favor. In that case, Total Fiction shall defray all reasonable costs of the examination and pay AUTHOR any sums due, up to the amount owed AUTHOR by Total Fiction, within thirty (30) days.
AUTHOR’s royalty statement will include: Date of the Royalty Period; Title of WORK; Number of Copies Sold During Royalty Period (broken down by printed and electronic versions), and Net Total pounds sterling Amount of all Sales; Number of Copies Returned During a Royalty Period, and Total pounds sterling Amount of all Returns; Net pounds sterlings Owed During a Royalty Period; Royalty Percentage Rate (broken down by printed and electronic versions); Withholding Amount if applicable; and pounds sterlings owed to AUTHOR.
Section 12. Cover Art and Overview
AUTHOR will be asked to produce proposed overview text and suggestions for cover art. If AUTHOR wishes to provide AUTHOR's own cover art, some or all of this cover art may be used at Total Fictions discretion. If AUTHOR engages an artist to produce a cover, AUTHOR must present documentation that AUTHOR has permission to reproduce the proposed cover art from the copyright owner, or warrants that the cover art is in the public domain. If AUTHOR provides AUTHOR's own cover art, AUTHOR is responsible for formatting it in an appropriate graphics format of suitable reproduction quality. Total Fiction will give credit in the published WORK to the cover artist. Total Fiction has final approval of any cover art and overview material.
Section 18. Total Fiction's Name and Trademark.
The AUTHOR will not have rights to, or in, any trademark, service mark, trade name or logos used by Total Fiction, unless expressly permitted to do so in writing. The AUTHOR may, with Total Fiction's permission, have limited use of Total Fiction's marks, symbols or name for use in approved promotional material. AUTHOR may use the cover art in AUTHOR's promotional material. Where applicable, any of Total Fiction's provided and/or copyrighted cover art may not be used by other Publishers producing the WORK in formats not listed in Section I without permission of Total Fiction. Any remuneration for the use of this cover art will be separately negotiated between Publishers.
Section 19. AUTHOR's Biographical Information and Book Overview.
AUTHOR will provide Total Fiction with a publicity biography and suggested overview for use on book cover, website and promotional literature. Total Fiction reserves the right to edit or rewrite the overview as necessary for length or content without prior notification. |
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