James Frey is a wanker.
This is the book packaging deal he's trying to sell to impressionable MFA students: You deliver a novel, give up your copyright and agree to take on all responsibility for any legal action brought against the book, in exchange for $250 and a dubious percentage of TV/movie rights and merchandising.
There are other details, of course. You'd be agreeing to let the publisher use your name even after you part ways. You're not allowed to enter into any other contracts that conflict with the project. Even though the deal cuts you in on net points, you would have no means of independently determining how much you were owed, you'd simply have to take their word for it.
Plus: Hello, it's freaking James Frey, the man who torched his own reputation and career by fabricating huge chunks of his memoir. I wouldn't buy a used car from this guy, let alone trust him not to be a lying asshat in a publishing contract.
Basically, Frey is hoping that MFA students will be naive and ignorant enough to turn over their book ideas and writing in hopes of receiving some of his reflected glory and a ridiculously small (even by book publishing standards, mind you) payment, and oh yes, bring your own lube and a desk to bend over while you're at it.
There are other details, of course. You'd be agreeing to let the publisher use your name even after you part ways. You're not allowed to enter into any other contracts that conflict with the project. Even though the deal cuts you in on net points, you would have no means of independently determining how much you were owed, you'd simply have to take their word for it.
Plus: Hello, it's freaking James Frey, the man who torched his own reputation and career by fabricating huge chunks of his memoir. I wouldn't buy a used car from this guy, let alone trust him not to be a lying asshat in a publishing contract.
Basically, Frey is hoping that MFA students will be naive and ignorant enough to turn over their book ideas and writing in hopes of receiving some of his reflected glory and a ridiculously small (even by book publishing standards, mind you) payment, and oh yes, bring your own lube and a desk to bend over while you're at it.