WHAT SHOULD YOUR PUBLISHING CONTRACT LEGALLY LOOK LIKE – SOUTH AFRICA

A publishing agreement from a traditional publisher is probably a writer’s biggest dream come true and their worst nightmare, all in one fell swoop. It’s a big deal, honestly, to know that someone out there believes in your talent and wants to get your book off the ground. But it can also be a stressful time for anyone who’s never been through the process before.

Copyright lawyers are not the easiest of people to find, and once you’ve sourced one, they’re on the pricey side. So here’s our truthful and transparent run-down of what clauses are actually allowed to be in the contract the publisher gives you.

Just a quick disclaimer that this article is based on a traditional publishing contract, whereby the publisher funds the book production and the author earns royalties. Ourselves, we do all 3 publishing models (traditional, hybrid, and self) but we’ve focused on the former here.

FIRST AND FOREMOST…

Any contract should start out by identifying the parties involved in the deal.

Most publishers trade under imprints. It’s important for you to know exactly who you’re dealing with – in other words, the publisher’s registered name. Make sure the publisher also puts their valid business registration number. If they are VAT registered, this should go on too as it affects your royalties, as you’ll see further on.

Naturally your own full name (not the pen name), address, and ID Number and ID copy should be supplied too.

WHICH BOOKS ARE YOU HANDING OVER

A very short description identifying the work will stipulate exactly what book you are giving the publisher permission to publish. It might be something like ‘The English-language work of fiction by Farmer Brown titled “The Cat and the Mouse”.’ Make sure the language is stated as permission is needed from the author to commission translations.

If you are giving over an entire series, then all the names will appear here. If the title of the book has not been finalized yet, a working title will be used here.

THE RIGHTS THE PUBLISHER HAS OVER YOUR WORK

This section is especially important for you as the author to understand.

There is a difference between copyright and publishing rights!

If you write a book in South Africa, you automatically have copyright on it and do not need to apply for it. Copyright means you are the person who gets to decide which publisher to use and what formats they can publish your book in. Your publisher almost never needs to ask you to sign over your copyright.

Publishing rights is basically the permission you give the publisher to make books out of your manuscript. Your publisher will ask you for an exclusive publishing license, meaning that they are the only people allowed to make books out your manuscript while the contract stands.

It’s important that you know whether you are signing over copyright or publishing rights.

Another type of rights you might be signing over is subsidiary rights. Subsidiary rights are basically ways your book can be furthered… it includes things like movies, audiobooks, merchandise etc. Now, the primary right your publisher needs for your books is the publishing right – the subsidiary rights are extra things and you are actually welcome to keep them for yourself. BUT – and we do believe this must be emphasized as we see a lot of writers keeping sub-rights for the wrong reasons – BUT do not keep your sub-rights if you are going to merely sit and do nothing with them for the sake of not giving them to your publisher. Remember, your publisher is on your side! They actually have the ability to network, hire copyright lawyers, and get your book submitted to movie production houses and audiobook-makers. Our golden nugget of advice when it comes to sub-rights is to keep the ones you actually have the right contacts for, but give your publisher the ones you don't know how to approach.

In any traditional publishing agreement, the publisher will own the actual ‘book’, referred to as the published edition. The publisher owns the cover, illustrations, typeface, and all physical copies, as they have paid for all of this. You still own the manuscript, though.

The contract should state how long it is valid for.

The details on book rights extend a little more, however, so there’s another article on this: Book rights in South Africa

YOUR ROYALTIES

Every author’s favourite part – the fruit of their labour! A future article will cover this more thoroughly as there many different ways royalties can be calculated.

The simplest method is to pay the author a certain percentage for every book sold e.g. 5%. The percentage you get is based on the amount the publisher receives once SARS has deducted their VAT (so it’s based on the actual amount they receive after the sale, not quite the price it was sold for.) For example, you get 5% per sold copy after VAT. This is called paying out per net receipt.

If you are a writer with an established and proven track record, there are variations on royalties which can earn you more.

A statement of sales should be regularly sent to you, which tells you how many books were sold and at what prices, in order to calculate your royalty payout. Royalties are usually paid out after every 1 year.

WHAT SCOPE DO YOU HAVE TO NEGOTIATE WHAT THE BOOK SHOULD LOOK LIKE

Publishing agreements lay out in full what the publisher’s duties are and what the author’s duties are.

Publishers are usually responsible for managing all parts of the project, like editing, typesetting, cover design, and also for appointing people to do these tasks. Publishers also have full prerogative over which cover, illustrations, and typeface to go with. Naturally, the author is consulted on some things, but at the end of the day it is the publisher who is most familiar with the market and their decision will always be in the interests of bringing your book to market with a bang!

Author’s duties are usually things like going over the editing to see that you agree with changes, and helping the publisher get word of the book out there.

So there is reasonable teamwork involved in getting a finished book off the ground, but it is the author that has more say with regards to the words on the page, and publisher who has more say on parts of the physical book.

WHAT HAPPENS AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT

Your contract should state a date when it automatically expires. Bigger publishers do this differently – your contract automatically ends when your book sales drop below a certain number.

When the contract ends, the author usually has ‘right of first refusal’ – which means that they are the first person allowed to buy out the remaining unsold copies left over.

The publisher is allowed to continue selling remainder copies of your book for about 6 months to a year after the contract ends, so that they can let go of this stock and at least make some of the money back that it cost them to produce the book.

KREST WISHES YOU WELL ON YOUR PUBLISHING JOURNEY

Perhaps this article caught your attention because you’ve just been offered a publishing agreement and needed some help puzzling through it – in which case, we congratulate you and wish your book a successful stay on the shelves!

If you’re reading this because you hope you to be a published author soon – we hope the same for you too! We really encourage you to give yourself a chance and submityour manuscript to us here in South Africa. We are trustworthy and approachable.

KREST Publishers is an independent small press publisher and online bookstore based in sunny Durban, South Africa. To purchase all kinds of books – bestsellers, pre-loved, and high-quality self-published – please visit the online bookstore. For more information about the publishing, see our manuscript submissions.

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