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TRIMMING EXPENSES
Posted May 28, 2002
| SUMMARYAfter almost 30 years in authoring, Frank Silverman has mastered ways to have his publishers pick up some of the expenses that aren't explicitly assigned to him contractually. Here, in the spirit of evening the playing field with publishers, he shares what he's learned with fellow authors. |
By Frank Silverman
Maquette University and the Medical College of Wisconsin
Academic authors and attorneys who specialize in publishing law agree that academic book contracts benefit publishers financially more than they should. This is not particularly surprising considering that the clauses in the "standard" contract were crafted by attorneys working for publishers -- not authors. While authors can do some negotiating to even the playing field, the resultant contract is still likely to result in their receiving less money than their fair share.
One way to increase your share of the income from your book is to have your publisher pick up some of your expenses. During almost 30 years that I have been writing text and professional books and networking with other authors, I have learned strategies for doing this.
If your editor or others at your publisher, like the production people, do not have an 800 number, call collect. I do this frequently have been refused only a few times.
If your publisher asks you to return manuscripts, proofs or other materials by express delivery, ask for the firm's Federal Express or other courier account number. One of my colleagues was successful at this.
Some standard contracts still call for the author to deliver two copies of the manuscript to the publisher. This dates from the days when manuscripts were typed and copies were created with carbon paper rather than a photocopy machine. Although all of my publishing contracts have called for me to submit two copies, I have always submitted one copy and have never been asked to submit a second. I do, however, keep a photocopy.
If your contract does not call for the publisher to pay at least some of the expenses for having figures drawn, you may be able to negotiate to have the firm do so even after the contract has been signed. I have been successful in getting my publisher to pay for preparing a number of figures when the contract didn't require it.
If you want to visit your publisher's headquarters to meet the production people, you may be able to get the firm to pay your travel expenses, even if the potential market for your book is not huge. The colleague who got his publisher's FedEx account number also got the firm to pay travel expenses to meet with production people. The book was for a graduate course, hardly a mega-seller for a huge-enrollment introductory course.
All publishing contracts provide authors with at least six free copies of their book. It is usually possible to get a few extra, particularly if you indicate that you will be using them to promote sales of the book, such as sending them overseas to people who might be interested in translating it.
Good luck with these strategies. If you know of others, please share them.
© 1994-2002, Franklin H. Silverman. All rights reserved.
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