parent nodes: PubInfo
My Beware Page
I am not new to the world. The cliche is, "I wasn't born yesterday," and it applies. If you are an editor, agent or publisher and are fully up front with me, then there will be no problems.
Refer to the following site for more information: http://www.sfwa.org/beware/general.htmlPaying For Services
If you are an agent or publisher looking for me to pay for your services, you will be wasting your time and mine. In short, I will not pay to have any manuscript read and/or critiqued, submissions made, or books published.Agents
I fully expect to get to know my agent in person before I accept services as their client. If you, as an agent, do not have a track record, then there is a strong possibiilty that we will not reach an accord. If you are referred to me by a known entity, then the possibility of a mutual agreement is heightened.
For more information, see: http://www.sfwa.org/beware/agents.htmlUnsolicited Contacts
As I've indicated, I welcome all queries from publishers, editors, and agents, but you must include verifiable business affiliation information. Email solicitations are checked against spamcop and any sent from open proxies or invalid and/or munged addresses will be reported as spam. Misrepresented phone queries will be reported to the FTC (my telephone number is in the national Do Not Call registry).Contract Clauses
Some publishers now have contract clauses that allow them to consider a book in print for as long as the book is available in any form, including the publisher's own electronic database, even if there are no sales. Don't even think about putting such clauses in your contract offer. I will ask that any such clauses be removed without further comment or discussion.
In other words, you, as a publisher, must meet certain performance standards and if you feel you cannot meet such standards, then be prepared to relinquish manuscript and author's rights.
Those standards include:
Full accounting records covering all costs that may be charged against the product, regularly audited by an independent accounting firm. All such charges against sales must be covered under the contract.A minimum yearly sales threshold (economic activity) that the publisher must meet. These represent actual sales, not offset by returns, and include all media formats. It is the publisher's responsibility to provide verifiable evidence of sales.
I may add to this list when I examine any offered contract and reserve the right to delete or alter any contract provision.EPublishing
If I want to e-publish, I'll do it myself, thank you. See my short stories page on the main site: http://www.star-spawn.net/html/Shorts/The%20Short%20Stories.html.
Some publishers offer an electronic version of a work as part of a promotional effort for the published work. I consider this to be promotional and not "epublishnig" since the length of time it is available on the publisher's site is controlled by contract.Small Press Runs and Digital Printing
I already know of an excellent Print On Demand and Small Press house and have discussed the possibility of self-publishing extensively with them and a number of their clients. For the present time, these are not options I am willing to consider.Out of Print
When any of my works become out of print -- that is, there is no longer any economic activity associated with a title and no new version(s) are forthcoming under the current contract, then the existing contract will be considered fulfilled and author's rights will revert to me.Film Rights
I retain all film rights to my works and will negotiate film rights separately from publishing rights. I consider an audio book to be a valid publishing format.Public Domain
Copyright law under the Berne convention protects my works for a period of 50 years (longer in a number of countries) following my death, after which I feel that my works should go into the public domain and be readily available. I am setting the time frame for this to happen to be ten (10) years following my death and since I plan to live to be at least 100 years old, that means that it will be the year 2054 or later when this happens.
Page created March 09, 2008
Last updated March 12, 2008