I have begun talking to a publisher in Hong Kong about putting my book into the world. It is a design book for children. Below is an offer they approached me with. I have no agent (despite quite a lot of effort to find one). Is this offer standard for the industry? I have no idea beyond what google can tell me.
"The initial first print run would set between 3000-5000 copies with elementary unit price at USD18. We can be more assured about the amount after attending the annual book fair and sales conference in October, in which we usually share (more concrete) examples of the upcoming book titles with our distributing partners for their marketing views on particular subjects.
A royalty rate of 4% can be offered according to sales with advance payment of first 1300 copies (1/3 of the average amount of 4000 copies). So by doing the math, you will get USD0.72 every time we sell a copy and an advance payment of USD936 will be given upon delivery of final artwork files before print. Royalty payment is usually paid every half year according to sales up until the counting period (minimum amount set no less than 500 copies each time), which means the first royalty payment will be USD360 if we successfully sold 1800 copies (for example) in the first half of year after we released the book."
Hi, Scott.
The time to negotiate your rights is when your publisher offers you a contract. Do not sign a contract without taking expert legal advice. If you are foolish enough to do so, you will probably find that you have signed all your rights away, and that you're tied to a long book deal with them.
You should avoid all types of publisher that want to charge you money to produce your book.
The main things you should consider are agreed royalties on a rising scale, the more books you sell. Other things to consider are: Electronic rights, English rights, foreign writes, film writes.
Royalties are usually agreed at between 8-12 per cent a copy for a would-be author. It's important to realise that royalties are not based on the jacket price of your book.
Publishers give huge discounts of 50-65 per cent of the jacket price to wholesalers and book clubs.
Say your book is priced at £5, with a 50 per cent discount to a wholesaler, you would receive 25p a copy. That's £250 for every thousand copies, £25.000 for a 100,000 copies, so don't pack up your day job.
It's not all bad news, because if you self-publish on Amazon, you can receive up to 70 per cent in royalties.
I hope this brief summary offers a basic understanding of the kind of rights which authors should be aware of, and the potential opportunities. The question is how can I, the author, be doing more to ensure I am best maximising these rights?
I hope that helps.
Adrian Sroka.