Blog: the Story vs the Contract #writing
So what do you do when your contract has a different description of the anthology than the email invite?
Nothing. If you're seeing the contract, chances are you'll already have been accepted for the anthology. Rarely is the contract shown to authors before their acceptance, though I did see a contract before writing my proposal for one publisher.
This is the situation I'm in right now. Of course, one line in a contract doesn't mean much compared to the two paragraphs of description I received in the mail. Still, I have to wonder what it was about my story that attracted the editor's attention. No, wait... That way lies madness. A version of Rejectomancy.
I'd love to speak to my editors, find out what it was about my published stories the editors liked so I can keep doing it. But editors have individual tastes, so what one likes, the others might hate. I know this. Doesn't change the fact that I'd love to know. Still, I'm just not going to ask unless it comes up in conversation.
So, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to continue reading the contract, the longest contract I've ever gotten for an antho (ten pages), and be in sheer awe at the detail the publisher included in this. What percentages go where, what sort of costs can be taken out of the total monies, detailed rights (including translation, secondary, electronic, and merchandising), and the all important liability clause.
The merchandising bothers me a little, except it's limited in scope to the term of publication and the collection as a whole, instead of the individual story for life that another publication once requested of me. There are, however, a lot of provisions I'd like to see in future contracts.
Anyway, I have to go, but I thought I'd put those thoughts down.
Nothing. If you're seeing the contract, chances are you'll already have been accepted for the anthology. Rarely is the contract shown to authors before their acceptance, though I did see a contract before writing my proposal for one publisher.
This is the situation I'm in right now. Of course, one line in a contract doesn't mean much compared to the two paragraphs of description I received in the mail. Still, I have to wonder what it was about my story that attracted the editor's attention. No, wait... That way lies madness. A version of Rejectomancy.
I'd love to speak to my editors, find out what it was about my published stories the editors liked so I can keep doing it. But editors have individual tastes, so what one likes, the others might hate. I know this. Doesn't change the fact that I'd love to know. Still, I'm just not going to ask unless it comes up in conversation.
So, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to continue reading the contract, the longest contract I've ever gotten for an antho (ten pages), and be in sheer awe at the detail the publisher included in this. What percentages go where, what sort of costs can be taken out of the total monies, detailed rights (including translation, secondary, electronic, and merchandising), and the all important liability clause.
The merchandising bothers me a little, except it's limited in scope to the term of publication and the collection as a whole, instead of the individual story for life that another publication once requested of me. There are, however, a lot of provisions I'd like to see in future contracts.
Anyway, I have to go, but I thought I'd put those thoughts down.