Think of your query letter as a door opener to get an editor at a publishing company or an agent to want to know more. Consider it a marketing pitch letter to elicit a quick response by phone or email.

A successful query letter is characterized by these key qualities:

• It is short and to the point, about 300-400 words, and ideally no more than 500-600 words. It should start off with a one to two sentence summary of your project, along with a brief introduction of yourself if you have achieved a high-profile or success with other books. Then, add one or two more paragraphs expanding on the book. Conclude with a brief bio about you and how you can help market and promote your book. You can use bullet points or chapter listings to highlight the contents, especially if this is a non-fiction books. Or if you have a fiction book, bullet points are ideal to feature the main plot points. Keep this letter simple and avoid unnecessary detail, because one of the biggest mistakes writers make is to say too much, such as by listing many plot twists and turns or multiple characters in a novel, so the story becomes hard to follow. Likewise, keep your biography to a paragraph of two or three sentences in which you feature the highlights, especially those related to the book you are pitching. Avoid listing long-ago achievements and less relevant accomplishments, such as getting an article published in a poetry magazine or academic journal, or getting a BA in English or Creative Writing. Emphasize what you are doing now.

• Begin with a strong subject line, which highlights what your book is about. Think of this like a short, impactful summary statement to make the editor or agent open the letter. For example, to indicate the kind of book this is, you might begin with a phrase such as: “Nonfiction history book,” “Self-help book,” “Romance novel,” or “Sci-fi thriller.” Then follow with the word “about” after which you describe the essence of the book in 10-15 words. Avoid being vague or using hype, such as calling this a “Powerful unique breakthrough book” which could refer to anything as well as being a turn-off, because it sounds like overinflated sales copy. Use either Sentence or Title Case to write your subject, and avoid ALL CAPS, which comes across as shouting in an email.

• After describing the book and its selling points, briefly highlight your background, including any past PR and how you will support the book in the future. Today, what editors and agents call the author’s “platform” is very important, given our celebrity and media driven culture. While the first hurdle is showing the appeal and uniqueness of your book in a crowded marketplace, the next big hurdle is showing you have the credentials and ability to help promote your book. At one time, publishers used to do their own publicity to launch a book, but now they look to authors who already have the authority and visibility to promote their book in various ways, from having a large number of social media followers to having a high-profile media presence. As much as possible, show your platform by including relevant credentials, such as having published articles and website on this topic, being involved in related organizations, getting publicity in the mainstream media for past accomplishments, and doing a weekly blog or radio show with many thousands of followers.

Assuming your letter has gotten the recipient’s interest, indicate you would be glad to submit more information, such as a more detailed synopsis, proposal, sample chapters, or the complete manuscript. Avoid thanking the recipient for his or her time in reading your query, since you should present yourself as offering the recipient a chance to represent or publish a great book.

When you send your letter, it’s best to send it as a simple text letter without any attachments or graphics, since such letters are more likely to be received and read. Save any attachments, such as a proposal, for a follow-up letter, since many people don’t open such emails from people they don’t know, though you can include links to websites, photos, and videos.

Many writers ask why and how Publishers, Agents & Films works, and how they can know if it will work for them.

Publishers, Agents & Films has worked very well for nearly 14 years, originally as Publishing and Agents – because it helps writers directly connect to publishers, literary agents, film producers, production companies, film agents and managers, and others in the publishing and film industries. The service streamlines the process of making this connection by using special software, so the letter comes from each writer’s own email and is sent directly to the particular contact by name. Plus the service helps writers write a good pitch letter, which ironically, many writers can’t do, because this is a marketing letter, and they are doing a different type of writing.

Sometimes writers ask, “Why can’t I do this myself?” Well, if you want to take the time and effort, you can. But it might take you 20 to 40 hours to obtain the industry information to create the database Publishers, Agents & Films has put together from industry sources. Also, we do mailings to test whether the emails are still viable and if the publishing and film professionals are open to contacts from writers. In addition, unless you have purchased your own software or subscription, you have to do these mailings individually to each contact in your mailing, which can take hours.

Then, too, you have to purchase the directories and industry sources which Publishers, Agents & Films obtains to create its databases – which can cost you several hundred dollars. But we have already created these databases with thousands of contacts, and we have special software so it appears that the email comes directly from each writer. At the same time, each contact is addressed personally, rather than the query appearing like a generic pitch.

Another thing Publishers, Agents & Films does that makes the service successful is that an editor reviews every letter that goes out to make sure it is effective – or the service arranges for a skilled writer to write the letter. Often writers think they can write their own letter; after all, they are a writer. But they commonly make many mistakes – from errors to formatting to not writing a clear, persuasive letter.

For example, they don’t include a subject line or their subject line is too vague, general, or filled with sales hype. They provide too much detail about their book, script, or themselves, rather than making their letter short and to the point. Or they don’t provide enough detail, so their description of their book or script is too vague and general, like their subject line. And on and on. That’s why a Publishers, Agents & Films editor reviews every letter, makes some minor editing fixes or tells the writer what to do to create an effective letter. Or they write a good letter for the client.

he effectiveness of this approach is shown by the company’s long history as a business and by the many testimonials we have gotten from writers, filmmakers, and professionals in the industry. Even agents have used the company for their clients, and its clients have included a famous director, the grandson of a famous novelist, and many writers who have published multiples books before and are now looking for a new publisher or agent.

As a business, the company’s history goes back to December 2003, when it was first founded, and the first test of the database led to the founder’s sale of a book to Random House: DO YOU LOOK LIKE YOUR DOG?, which led to numerous reviews and guest appearances, including on Good Morning America. The company was also featured in articles in the Wall Street Journal and the Contra Costa Times, soon after its founding. It has sent out letters for over 1000 clients, and it has featured over 260 testimonials to the effectiveness of the service on its website. For a time, the founder worked as a consultant and writer when the company was taken over for nearly eight years by new owners, and now Publishers, Agents & Films is a successor to this business led by the founder.

Another question frequently asked by writers is whether an equerry by the service will work for them; are there any guarantees? That is a question that can’t be answered until the writer sends out a query, because the writer’s success will ultimately depend on the manuscript or script, and not everyone will be successful in the very competitive fields of publishing and film production. So there can’t be any guarantees, because there is no way to know what the result will be in a particular case.

On average, though, writers get about 10-20 requests for more information on their book or script, and then about a third of these writers find agents or publishing deals. In some cases, writers can build up their ability to interest a publisher in their current or next book by self-publishing to build a platform for sales, speaking, and media interest. And Publishers, Agents & Films can help a writer with self-publishing and PR, too.

In summation, Publishers, Agents & Films has a proven ability to help connect writers with publishers, agents, and the film industry, and these connections have led to many success stories, including a few six figure deals for some writers. Given the competitiveness nature of the business, an e-query can’t work for every writer.

But most writers do get a request from the recipients of their mailings to learn more, and about a third ultimately find agents or get publishing deals – which is a much higher rate of success than for the industry as a whole, since agents, publishers, producers, and production companies get thousands of submissions for the few books or scripts they accept.

At the very least, Publishers, Agents & Films streamlines the connection process, so writers can more quickly and efficiently send out their queries and get responses from several hundred or a few thousand contacts in the publishing and film industries.

How do you decide which publisher to go with if you have publisher interest? If you have already chosen an agent to work with, the answer is simple. Usually, you will turn over the contact information for each publisher and the agent will follow-up, along with contacting other publishers the agents feel is right for your book. Then, your agent will recommend which publisher or publishers to negotiate with and work out the details.

However, if you don’t have an agent, you will need to decide yourself and negotiate any agreement on your own or perhaps with some input from an attorney. Though make sure your attorney is familiar with publishing; otherwise the attorney may bring up some points that are not negotiable and could kill the deal.

When you do have multiple publishers or any publisher interested, the initial process is much like what you would do in evaluating an agent. You do an assessment to decide the best fit, and after that, if there is more than one publisher in the running, look to your intuition or gut feelings to help you decide.

As part of this assessment, look at the size of the publisher. If it is one of the big six, now five, including any of the big five’s imprints, that’s usually a strong plusfor that publisher, since the clout of a big publisher will increase your credibility and is likely to result in better distribution, promotion, and sales, though there are no guarantees.

In the event that you have more than one editor from a publishing house interested in your book, you need to tell them about this situation. A good way to do this is to initially work with the first editor who has expressed interest and let the other editors know. You can explain that you weren’t sure who to contact and let the editors work it out for themselves who will handle your book.

Next, in conducting your assessment, look at the different books the publisher handles to see what other books have been published in your category. There should be others for this to be a good fit. You can get a sense of how well these books have done by looking at each title on Amazon and checking the ranking – the lower the number the better. Consider any rank under 10,000 to be a good showing. Generally, the other books that have been published will be in your subject area (i.e.: business books, self-help books, general interest, etc.). But sometimes a publisher may want to move into a new area or create a new imprint for a different type of book, which is fine. In fact, a publisher may even give these books a greater promotion to establish the category. However, if there’s clearly a mismatch and this is a small publisher, this could be a warning sign, such as if you have a business book or memoir and the publisher is specializing in health and nutrition books.

Another important consideration is the size of the advance, since this is often the only money you will get, because the majority of books don’t make out their advance. On the other hand,, some small publishers only start with a small advance or even no advance, and their books do well, plus they may have a good reputation in the field. So that could offset a low advance if the publisher is otherwise a good fit for your book. Generally, for a book from a new author, you can expect about $5000-20,000 from a larger publisher and about $1000-5000 from a smaller publisher, though in some cases, especially if this is an academic press, there will be no advance and limited sales. But the prestige of the house can make the sale worth it and open up doors for future books.

Consider, too, how enthusiastic the editor and marketing team is about your book. Ask about the publisher’s plans for distribution and promotion, as well as what the marketing and PR people expect you to do. Often publishers expect authors to pick up much of the promotional effort after their publicity department sends out about 50-200 review copies. So assess how much the publisher plan to do for your book in comparison to other interested publishers.

Also, review the contract you are offered. Many terms are fairly standard, such as a 10-15% royalty on hardcover retail sale or net receipts from paperback book sales, which start at 10% and go up with increased sales. A standard royalty on e-book sales is now 25%, though some publishers may offer up to 40%. Usually, publishers offer 50% of net receipts on the sale of other rights, such as serial rights, foreign sales, and video rights. These are details which you can work out once you decide on a particular publisher, and they are less important in making a decision on which publisher to choose.

However, one clause to be careful about – and which most publishers are willing to drop – is the first option on future books clause. While it is reasonable to have an option on books on the same or a related subject or have a non-compete clause about your publishing other books on this topic that might undermine sales, it is not reasonable to tie up any of your books in the future, especially if you write books on different topics. So the publisher should be willing to strike such an option; if not, that’s a warning about working with that publisher.

Another caution, as in dealing with agents, is that you should not be asked to pay the publisher to publish your book. While there may be an exception for some academic publishers, where academics are asked to help subsidize the publication of their book because of the “publish or perish” syndrome and the limited sales of most academic books for a specialized audience, trade publishers should not ask for any payment. Even if the publisher is asking for extensive rewrites, this should be something you do yourself or hire your own editor. But it is a conflict of interest if a publisher has its own pay to play editorial service. The publisher should make its money from publishing, not from editing manuscripts of the writers it publishes. And normally, publishers only take on books when the manuscripts are ready to go or require very little editing, apart from line or copy editing, which publishers normally do as a matter of course, with no charge to the writer.

In some cases, a traditional publisher may expect a writer to commit to buy a certain number of books. But unless you are likely to sell that number of books, say on the speaker circuit, cross that publisher off your list. Also avoid any publisher who has a substantial charge for publishing your book, even with a promise of a much higher than usual royalty rate (ie: 40% of net versus a more usual 10-15%), since that is often the sign of a vanity or author subsidized publisher, where the publisher has little distribution and its main income is coming from authors who are paying to publish their books. If that’s the only alternative, it’s better to self-publish than turn your book over to a vanity press.

If after weighing these various factors, you are still left with several contenders, focus on how enthusiastic the publisher is about your book and how you feel about working with that editor and publisher. For now, you are ready to let your intuition or gut level feelings help you decide.

And if you only have one interested publisher, the question is whether you want to work with that publisher or not. If not, you can always self-publish, seek to build sales and your platform, and then try to sell the book to a mainstream publisher. You can use the same title if the book does well, or if not, you can always change the title and pitch it again.

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Gini Graham Scott, PhD

Say you have sent out queries to agents and now have to weigh offers from multiple agents or decide if you want one interested agent to represent you. Ultimately, your decision may come down to a matter of personal chemistry – who you would like to work with. But before you trust your intuition or gut to make the decision, find out what you can about any interested agents and weigh what that agent can do for you.

In some cases, writers living near an agent may get to meet personally, but normally a face-to-face meeting with an agent isn’t common or necessary. You can easily use the phone, fax, email, Skype, or mobile apps to communicate. And for most agents, it’s fine that you are considering multiple agents at the same time. They recognize that choosing an agent is a little like getting married or at least getting involved in an exclusive dating arrangement. Before then, the agent is assessing both your manuscript and what it will be like to work with you, just as you are assessing whether this is the right agent for you.

Normally, figure on a few days to make your assessment. In the event, you get a request from an agent for an exclusive period to look at your manuscript, such a request is rare and is usually from a smaller agent, who may not be your first choice anyway. So unless an agent asking for an exclusive really is your first choice, I would regard these requests this way. Just because the agent has asked for an exclusive, you don’t have to say “yes” to an offer of representation, and I typically regard this request for an exclusive as more like asking for a right of first refusal. You should not let such a request hold you up from following up with other agents at the same time.

Generally, there is no reason to tell other agents what other agents have expressed interest in your manuscript, just as you don’t need to tell a person on a first date about who else you are dating. The one exception is if the agents are from the same agency. Then, you need to tell both agents or if you have already sent your material to one agent, tell the agent who contacts you next that you have been in touch with this other agent. Additionally, explain that you didn’t know who to contact in that agency, and if that agent wishes he or she can talk to the first agent and they can decide between them who might like to represent you. Then, weigh that agent against any agents who have expressed interest in other agencies.

To help you determine what to do, keep a list of the agents who have expressed interest in our project, along with their agency name, website, and contact information.

Then, once you have determined what agents are interested, the next step is to do some research both by asking the agent some questions and by doing some research on the Internet. Be aware of the likely responses and what to expect.

First, there are typically standards that all agents adhere to – generally the agent’s commission is 15% for U.S. sales and 20-25% for foreign sales, since an agent will typically work through a foreign agent and share royalties, though some agents will handle foreign sales themselves. So don’t try to negotiate commission percentages.

Secondly, pay attention to any options clause or agreement for the agent to represent more than the one book or group of books, such as a trilogy, you are pitching together. In some cases, an agent will ask to represent you on all of your books now or in the future or both, until a representation agreement is terminated. I even had one agent who wanted a one year continuation of rights to a manuscript after the agreement was terminated. Ideally, start with the agent representing one manuscript and see how it goes, before committing everything to an agent. Generally, if there is any option, it’s best to limit this to a first option on future similar manuscripts, unless the agreement is terminated.

Whatever you agree about representation for one or multiple books, the agent will expect to get a commission on all future royalties on any sale to a publisher that agent contacted, even if the sale is made after the contract is terminated. In the event an agent wants to tie you into a longer relationship on future projects from the outset that can be a caution to stay away. But if the relationship works out, of course, you will want to have the agent represent you on even more projects. Ideally, though, seek to have the agent represent just one project to start, though if you have similar projects which would appeal to the same target audience, it’s fine to agree that the agent can represent them in the future, too, unless the agreement is terminated.

Third, just as an agent will want to know about your platform, you want to know about the agent’s track record. Normally an agent will be glad to tell you about successful sales to publishers. In fact, agents often have this information prominently displayed on their websites. While the sales price of different books may be confidential, you might ask about what the agent typically gets from a sale, so you have a ballpark figure of what to expect. The past track record of the agent – and how long the agent has been in business – are important qualities to consider.

Fourth, ask the agent what he or she expects to gain from your book and get a sense of how eager the agent is to represent you, since you want an agent who passionately believes in your book. Commonly, agents won’t take on a project for an author unless they believe in you and their ability to sell your book. But there are levels of passion and in the agent’s time and ability to represent you, along with other clients. So assess how committed the agent is to representing you.

Additionally, you might check out the agent on the Internet to see what others have said about that agent and if there any negative reports, such as on the website Preditors and Editors (www.pred-ed.com) . If so, any negative comments are a warning sign, though you might ask the agent about this, since the posting could be from a disgruntled writer whose book the agent wasn’t able to sell through no fault of his or her own.

Another caution is if the agent asks for any money from you or has a related business of editing manuscripts and asks you to pay for a review or for editing your manuscript. A small monetary contribution might be appropriate, should the agent have to pay for any long distance phone calls, copying or postage for sending out manuscripts, or messengering services to deliver a manuscript quickly. However, in today’s Internet age, most of these expenses no longer exist, since phone calls, except to another country, are normally free and manuscripts are commonly sent via PDF or Word documents. But if there are any small charges, often an agent will simply keep you informed and deduct them from the sale of the manuscript. In any agreement, you should be able to approve any charges over a certain amount – say $50, though most contracts now don’t require any author expenses.

In the event an agent does do editing or ghostwriting, this is fine if it’s a separate business. But an agent shouldn’t ask to edit or polish your manuscript as a requirement for representing you, since that’s a conflict of interest. Sometimes agents will at no charge give you extensive feedback about making changes in a manuscript, and then it’s up to you to make the changes. But the agent shouldn’t ask you to hire him or her as an editor, since any offer of representation should come with no strings attached – and typically agents will only want to represent a project that is ready to go – or involves very few final edits.

Finally, after you have assessed the agent based on these criteri, that’s when it’s time to listen to your intuition or gut in deciding whether you want to work with that agent. Or if there are multiple agents you might like to work with, consider how you feel about working with each of these agents, for ultimately your choice should come down a matter of personal chemistry and which agent you feel will do the best job for you based on your agent assessments.

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Gini Graham Scott, PhD.

While many writers are ecstatic when they get one publisher or agent to express interest in publishing or representing their manuscript, in many cases, writers get multiple offers to publish or represent them. So what do you do then? How do you choose which publisher or agent to go with? Or even if you only have a single offer, should you go with that publisher or agent ? Or should you try another approach, such as sending an improved query letter or proposal, waiting 6 months to a year to develop a platform, or using self-publishing to build your platform?

The following guidelines will help you decide when you have interest from both agents and publishers. The next sections will describe what to do if you have interest from agents or publishers.

When you have interest from both agents and publishers, that’s a happy situation to be in. First, decide if you want to work with one of the agents, as discussed in the next section. This is a good choice, if you can work with a good agent, since the agent can contact additional publishers the agent works with, as well as follow-through with the publishers who have already expressed interest to you and help you get a better deal. An agent will also know about contracts, so he or she can advise you on what to expect and where you can negotiate and where you can’t. (For example, you can often get rid of a first option clause on your next book, keep the film and audio rights, or get a higher percentage if you initiate a contact that results in a sale. But you normally can’t do much to increase the advance or the royalty rate, though you might get a graduated increase to kick in sooner for sales above a certain level).

Your agent should be receptive to your initial query to publishers which has resulted in publisher interest. Most agents will be, since this positive response gives the agent a lead on interested publishers. You then need to refer any of these publishers to that agent, and let the agent know of any publishers who have turned down your query or your proposal or manuscript, if a publisher asked to see that. Later, should you get a further response from any publishers, you need to refer them to your agent. A good way to do this is by keeping a list or spreadsheet indicating how publishers have responded to whatever you have sent to them. The agent needs this information, since he or she doesn’t want to be embarrassed by initiating a contact with editors you have already contacted or in following through when a publisher has already said no.

Generally, under this arrangement, agents will get their normal 15% commission when they follow-up with your leads, although in some cases, I have worked with agents who have taken 10% or even 7 ½% for following-up, while getting 15% for their own contacts. However, this may not always be a good idea, since the agent’s incentive will be to pursue his or her own leads and might not follow up as enthusiastically with your leads. Plus, if you are a new writer, you have to be careful that this offer to pay the agent less for follow-up with your contacts could backfire and the agent could walk away. So tread lightly if you raise this possibility, and if the agent is reluctant, don’t pursue it. Generally this approach for the agent to talk less will work best with the smaller agents who are less established; while the larger, more established agents will be more apt to turn it down.

In some cases, this joint arrangement can work very well when you are working with a new but enthusiastic agent. Often such an agent may have had extensive experience in publishing by working as an editor for a publisher. But due to layoffs resulting from consolidations in the publishing field, the former editor may have become an agent, who is now building up a list of contacts. If you can approach publishers by sending out query letters, the agent may be very willing to follow-up, whereas a long-time agent may already have developed a list of contacts and be less receptive to do this. In any event, once you have an agent, ask how the agent would like to work with you in the future in contacting additional publishers and take your lead from the agent.

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Gini Graham Scott, PhD

The last few sections described the various contract clauses you might encounter and what to do about them. Here is a summary of the major clauses to ask the publisher to delete or change (or ask your agent to make the request on your behalf, if your agent doesn’t already plan to suggest these changes). In many cases, publishers will readily make these changes; in some cases, they will offer a compromise; in other cases, they will say they can’t make the change.

Editors commonly have a general idea of what changes they can make, and they might be able to agree to some change on the spot. In other cases, they will have to ask the senior, managing, or executive editor above them or the publisher. Sometimes they will simply say no, because they know they can’t do something. Then, it’s up to you to decide if you can live with the changes the publisher agrees to make.

In general, if you see a lot of changes you would like to request, ask for the changes or deletions which are most important to you, and don’t ask for minor changes, so you don’t come across as difficult to work with. Following are some of the major contract clauses to ask to include, delete or change if they appear or don’t appear in a contract offered to you.

• Ask that the copyright be registered in your name (or your company name), whatever the arrangements for registering or paying for the copyright fee. (It’s only $35 to $55 and takes about 20 minutes to register online, so whoever files the registration shouldn’t be a big deal. Many publishers register the copyright in the author’s name as a matter of course, but to be sure it gets filed, you can check the record of copyright filings, or do it yourself.
• Indicate the approximate length and delivery date of the manuscript, based on what is realistic for you to do. Ideally, ask to submit the manuscript by email only, but agree to provide one or two hard copies if requested.
• Ask that you can keep any advance paid to you if the publisher decides not to publish the manuscript for any reason after you deliver it, or alternatively that you only have to return the money if you find another publisher. (However, if you don’t deliver the manuscript, then you do have an obligation to return the advance).
• Ask to exclude from the grant of rights the subsidiary rights which are unrelated to the actual publication of your manuscript, if you are able to exploit these rights yourself. If you aren’t able to do so, leave them with the publisher, or ask for a non-exclusive arrangement whereby you can initiate agreements as well as the publisher. If so, see if you can negotiate a higher percentage of these subsidiary rights paid to you (such as 75-25 or 60-40 to you and the publisher respectively).

In particular, some of the rights to exclude if the publisher is agreeable are:

•  foreign language rights
• film, TV, and dramatization rights
• commercial and merchandising rights

• Limit the non-compete clause by asking that the contract specify exactly what types of subjects are considered to be competing, and keep this list as narrow as possible, such as specifying that you cannot write a book for another publisher on problems with drugs and addiction rather than writing books on mental health issues or self-help topics generally.
• Ask to delete any first option on future books or limit any first option to books on a limited selection of topics related to your book. If the publisher does have the right to look at a future manuscript as a first option, limit the length of time for the publisher to decide as much as possible – ideally 30 days or 60 maximum. If you plan to write or pitch a number of other books on various topics, consider this first option requirement a deal breaker, because it will interfere with your ability to find another publisher on future books.
• If the publisher indicates that paying for an index is the author’s responsibility, see if you can change this arrangement, so that the index is unnecessary or the publisher pays for it. If you still have to pay, see if you can reduce the price by getting your own quotes for someone to do the index to the publishers specs or by creating the word list for the indexer, so your cost of indexing will be less.
• While the publisher normally has the right to decide on the title and cover design, ask if you can submit your own suggestions, subject to the publisher’s approval.
• If the royalty rate is lower than the usual standards in the industry, see if you can increase it to common standards, such as 10% of net on a paperback book with increases to 12-15% of net after 5000 in sales. Likewise, if the publisher is only a 25% royalty rate on electronic sales, try to raise it to 40%.
• In the case of subsidiary rights that remain with the publisher, if you are in a position to locate potential buyers, try to work out an arrangement where you and the publisher can both pitch these rights. Also, seek an increase in the percentage to you if you initiate the sale, such 75-25 or 60-40 in your favor.
• Try to increase the amount of the advance, though suggst a reasonable increase based on the original offer. For example, if a publisher is offering $10,000, ask to increase it to $15,000; if the offer is for $5000, ask for an increase to $7000 or $8000; if the offer is for $2000, ask to increase it to $3000; if the publisher is offering no advance, try for a nominal advance to show the publisher is at least serious, such as $500 or $1000.
• While a common arrangement is getting half up front, ask if you can get the full advance if you have already completed the book. If the publisher is proposing to pay the second half of the advance on publication, ask if you can get this payment on acceptance.
• If there is a long delay in receiving the advance payment for signing, acceptance, or publication, ask if you can get the time for the payment reduced, say to 10 to 30 days instead of 45 to 60 days.
• While the advance payment is all you are likely to see unless the book does very well, see if you can get any future statements or payments in a shorter amount of time if there is several months delay between the close of a statement period and the issuing of a royalty check. For example, if there is a delay of several months, see if you can get the check issued in 45-60 days.
• Try to get more author’s copies sent to you, since you can use them to help with PR (and you can also sell them, though don’t use that as a reason to get more free books). For example, if you are only going to get 2 to 5 books, ask for 10 copies. Or if you are scheduled to get 10 copies, ask for 20 to 25 copies. But only ask if you are realistically going to do something with these books.
• If there is an option clause on future books, ask the publisher to delete this, or if the publisher insists on including one, limit it to the topic of the book the publisher is publishing (much like in limiting the non-compete clause). Also, limit the time the publisher has to consider the option clause, ideally to 30 days or 60 at most
• For the reversion of rights clause, if there is no specific indication of the number of sales to trigger this reversion, ask that the publisher put in a certain number of sales per year after an initial publication period (such as after 2 or 3 years). For example, the floor might be sales of less than 100 copies, or even 25 or 50 copies, but include something. Otherwise the publisher could technically have the rights forever, because in today’s market, something may continue to be in print indefinitely, due to the electronic books marketplace, where files of books can live on forever. Whatever the arrangements, the publisher should be allowed to sell off any stock it still has for a reasonable period, say 2 years, and you should get paid the normal royalty on those sales based on the rate already agreed upon for royalties.
• Make sure that you get the rights back if a publisher goes bankrupt or out of business rather than having the right to buy back the rights and any remaining copies at a value to be determined, which could end up be too high a price for being able to get your rights back and move on.
• If the publisher has a pay-to-play clause, where you are expected to commit to buy a certain number of books, ask to delete this clause. As long as there is some number of books to buy, you are essentially ending up in a self-publishing deal under the color of the publisher’s brand. But unless you have a way to sell these books through workshops, seminars, or online marketing, you are ending up with a lot of books you can’t do anything with, and even if any advance royalty payment is deducted, your commitment to purchase books could end up costing you $10,000, $25,000, $50,000 or more to buy all of the books.

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GINI GRAHAM SCOTT, Ph.D

Probably the one section of the contract that involves the most negotiation is the royalty rate, size of the advance, and payment arrangements.

If there will be a hardcover version of your book, a common arrangement is 10 to 15% of the retail or the net price (which is about 50-60% of the retail price). Often the royalty is figured on a sliding scale, such as 10% for the first 5000 copies sold, 12% on the next 5000, and 15% on sales of more than 10,000 copies.  The particular numbers can vary, but commonly, there is no hardcover book, since most books are now published as paperbacks or ebooks, and some companies only want ebook rights, with the typical royalty rates and advances outlined below.

The royalty rate can vary somewhat depending on how much the publishers wants your book, and the advance can vary even more, based on the number of copies the publisher thinks your book will sell at what amount in the first year, and then you get offered a percentage of that.  This is where your negotiation skills are best exercised and where working with a good agent can sometimes get you more – even much more – than you can get yourself, making the 15% or sometimes 20% you pay the agent well worth it.  But assuming you are dealing directly with the publisher, here are some things to consider.

The Royalty Rate

A common arrangement is to be paid by the publisher based on the net receipts, which is the gross income the publisher gets from the sales of the book less any returns and a reasonable reserve for returns – typically about 20%.  Usually, you can expect 7-10% of the net receipts, with an increase after the first 5000 copies to 10-12%.  But if copies are sold at a discount of 50% or more, outside the US, or a special retail offer, the royalty commonly drops to 5% of net.  In the event books are sold to book clubs or other organizations, corporations, or the U.S. government , or are sold for use as a premium, the royalty might be even less, such as 4% of net.  And  remaindered sales, where the publisher decides to drop the book and is selling off its current stock, the royalty might be similarly reduced, say to 4% or less, and if the books are remaindered at cost, you may get nothing other than a first option offer to buy any books at this heavily discounted cost.

In the case of ebooks or any sales in electronic form, the royalty is commonly 25% of the publisher’s net receipts, though some publishers will pay as much as 40%.  It doesn’t hurt to ask about this if the royalty amount stated in the agreement is less than 40%

Sometimes a publisher may also add a clause about paying a reduced royalty when there is a low printing in a given year, such as 1500 copies or less.  Then, the royalty may shrink to 5%.

You might find a little give in the different royalty rates if you ask.  If not, it is generally best to accept those terms if you want to work with that publisher, since commonly, books don’t earn out their advance. So the most important number is the advance you will get and how you will receive it.  A common arrangement is to get half of the advance up front and the second half on acceptance or publication.  If possible, try to get this last advance payment on acceptance, which will usually occur a month or two after you submit the final manuscript, whereas a final payment on publication generally won’t come for about a year or more, which is the common gap between getting the contract and publishing the book.

Royalty Splits on Subsidiary Rights

Subsidiary rights involve deals with third parties, such as foreign language publishers, film and TV producers, and product merchandisers.  This is where you can often negotiate the rights you are giving to the publisher and those you are retaining, and the percentage split between you and the publisher.   A standard arrangement is 50-50, unless you work out a different split.

The particular subrights to negotiate are those you are still splitting with the publisher, based on your agreement in the grant of rights section.  If you have retained a particular right, it shouldn’t be listed in this section which outlines the author’s and publisher’s percentage, since the publisher no longer has any interest in this right.  If the right which you own exclusively is listed, request it be deleted, since the publisher doesn’t have that particular subright.  For example, in some cases, authors retain the foreign translation rights, dramatization, film and TV rights, and the commercial and/or merchandising rights, or if it’s an ebook only deal, you retain the paperback and hardback rights.

While the usual split is 50-50, you can sometimes request a different split in your favor, such as 75-25 or 60-40, if you initiate the licensing of the book in another language or make the arrangements for a film, TV show, or theatrical piece based on our book.  Likewise, if you can set up deals with gift, stationery, toy, or other manufacturers to produce a product based on your book, you might get 75-50.  However, before asking for a change in the usual split,, consider if you are realistically going to do any outreach to set up these deals.  If not, don’t ask for this exception.  If you do plan to do any outreach, work out with the publisher how that will work.  One good arrangement might be for you to each have a non-exclusive right to initiate contact with third parties, but then any agreement must be subject to the approval of the publisher.

The Advance

The advance is what the publisher agrees to pay you as an advance against future royalties and other earnings.  Most commonly you can expect half up front, usually within 30 to 45 days of signing the contract by both the author and publisher. Then, you get the balance on acceptance or publication of the manuscript, with that payment to come within 30 to 45 days of that event.  Ideally, seek to get that second or last half of the advance on acceptance rather than publication, since you can expect an acceptance within a month or two after you turn in the manuscript or after the due date if you turn your manuscript in early, whereas your book may not be published for a year or even more after that.  If possible, ask for the payment within 30 days rather than 45, but this may be a schedule that can’t be changed, due to the publisher’s internal payment system.

In some cases, where a book is already completed or close to completion, you may be able to get the whole advance in a single payment on signing, especially if it is a small amount from a small publisher.  But usually, there are the two payments, or sometimes even three or four paid out at different times as the manuscript is completed, such as when a manuscript involves extensive research over a period of time.

The arrangements about the index and who is to pay for it will commonly be included here, and often state that any payment for the index if created by the publisher will be deducted from the final advance or from future royalties to the author.  If possible, seek to have any payment applied to future royalties rather than to the advance on the royalty, if you can’t exclude this payment entirely.

This section will also indicate that the author will not receive any further payments until the entire advanced has been earned out through royalties, sales of rights, or other monies due to the author.    Moreover it will generally indicate that no royalties will be paid on complimentary copies given out by the publisher or on copies which are lost, damaged, or sold for less than the manufacturing cost.  These are common publishing industry practices, so there is nothing to negotiate here.

What is most subject to negotiation – and what is most important to negotiate if you can – is the SIZE of the advance, since if the book doesn’t earn out its advance, that’s all the money you will see.  If this is a small publisher, you will usually get a small advance, or sometimes even no advance, because this is all the publisher can afford.  But if the company sincerely wants to publish your book, you may ultimately earn more on the back end than a big publisher might pay up-front, if the company’s efforts result in big sales.  So don’t turn down a small or no advance publisher, especially if that’s your only option.  But try to negotiate so you at least get a small amount – say $1000 to $3000, though some publishers may be firm in saying that they can only give you the smaller or no amount they are offering.  Then, it’s up to you to decide whether the possibility of future earnings and getting your book published by a mainstream publisher is worth agreeing to publish with them versus self-publishing your book.

In any case, be realistic about the advance you are likely to get, based on the type of book, the target market, the likely sales to that market, your track record, and your platform.   Also, be aware that the royalty advances for the “midlist” book – a book by an author who isn’t a well-known celebrity or high-profile expert on something – have gone down in the last five years, because of the increasingly celebrity-driven marketplace and the millions of authors who are writing for little or no money and self-publishing their own books.  Plus royalty rates to most authors have gone down because of the growth of ebooks, which are usually less profitable for publishers.  Generally, you can expect an advance of about $5000-15,000 for a non-fiction book in most categories, such as self-help, popular business, and memoir – about half what these advances used to be, though some authors will get more. Try to get more money up-front if you can, and make the case for this based on how you can support and promote the book, and how much awareness you have already created for yourself through past PR, speaking engagements, workshops, and the like.

* * * * * *

GINI GRAHAM SCOTT, Ph.D.

Another key contract provision deals with editorial and production arrangements.  This section refers to the requirement that you will review any gallery proofs within the time limit specified (generally 5 to 10 days after you receive them), and if you make any changes other than printer’s errors or in some agreements more changes than 10%, you will be billed against your royalties or any payment due on publication.

This clause may also require you to provide an index if the publisher feels one is necessary and to provide it yourself or to let the publisher do this at its expense and charge that against the author’s royalties or payments due on publication.

Also, this section gives the publisher the sole and exclusive right to decide on all aspects of the production and publishing process, including the choice of paper, jacket, cover design, and whether any advertising will be in the book.  It further permits the publisher to send out complimentary copies to the recipients of its choice – generally members of the press, and permits the publisher to set the retail price in hardcover, paperback, and any other editions.

Generally, you can’t make changes in the proofing schedule, unless you have a good reason for not being able to meet the planned schedule (such as being out of the country during this time). Also, you normally can’t alter the agreement about making only a limited number of changes or you get charged for them, since presumably, you should make any changes in the copy as you go along, usually after you get input from the developmental or copy editor working with you on creating the final manuscript.

However, you might be able to change the requirements for an index or paying the bill for it, which typically costs about $450-500 for an index.  One way is change this is to request that there be no index if the publisher initially wants one, and some publishers will agree, although others will indicate that indexes are always included in this line of books, and you have to accept this, though you can negotiate who pays for this.

In some cases, the publisher will agree to pick up the cost; in other cases, the publisher may agree to charge the index costs against future royalties, rather than charging the unpaid balance against your advance.  Another way to cut down the price is to do the index yourself according to the publisher’s guidelines, figuring on about 3-5 hours to do this. Or you might reduce the cost by selecting the words for the index and letting the indexer determine the page numbers, using the software that indexers generally use to create the index.  If you do this, figure it will take you about 1-2 hours to go through the manuscript for words, and the cost of the index will be about $150.

As for production arrangements, generally you need to let the publisher make the final decisions. It is rare for authors to have final design or cover approval, which is like allowing a director to have final cut approval.  So normally, you can’t change this clause, although publishers will normally run a suggested title or cover by you for your input.  This review by you doesn’t have to be included in the contract, although you might ask if the contract can include a statement that the editor or publisher will consult with the author on the title and cover design, while the final decision will be up to the publisher.

Likewise, it’s normally up to the publisher to set the price, based on the cost of the book, taking into consideration the number of pages, size of the book, initial print run, and the like.  Publishers usually have the right to set the design and pricing for the electronic edition, too.

In the event you don’t meet the publisher’s production schedule or provide an acceptable manuscript, this contingency is covered in the “Delivery of Manuscript” provisions, which deals how you have to repay the publisher any advance.  Of course, if there is no advance, there is nothing to repay, so if you find the demands of the publisher onerous, this could be a good reason to seek another publisher.  If so, don’t provide the first publisher with an acceptable manuscript; then you can walk away from what you now consider a bad deal.

If a publisher is unable to publish your book within the time agreed upon or decides not to publish for any reason, other than some failing by you, as described in the delivery section, you get the rights back and get to keep any advance, though if you subsequently sell the book to another publisher, you may be obligated to return it.  However, if there are changes in the manuscript and it is published by another publisher some months or a year or two later or even under another title, this can be hard to police.

If a publisher has paid you no advance, the publisher can generally later not publish with no penalty, which is why it is a good idea to get at least some advance, although some small publishers don’t pay them.  Still, many do responsibly seek to publish your book, and they put the time and effort into doing so, as well as pay some editorial staff to edit it and set it up for publication.  Thus, take into consideration the responsiveness of the publisher if you agree to a no advance contract.

After a few months, if they do not appear to be moving ahead in publishing your book, follow up to see what is happening, and if you are not satisfied, feel free to walk away.  After all, you haven’t gotten an advance, and the publisher appears to have breached your agreement, so you can feel free to find another publisher, and if necessary, you can even change the title for an even cleaner break.  In any case, it is likely that this first publisher can’t do anything to stop you from walking away from what appears to be a bad deal due to their lack of performance.

In sum, generally, you have to agree to the publisher’s editorial and production arrangements, though you might be able to get out of having an index, paying for it, or arranging for any payment to be taken out of future royalties, rather than taking them out of any payment to be made on the acceptance or publication of the final manuscript.

* * * * * *

GINI GRAHAM SCOTT, Ph.D.

Other common contract clauses deal with warranties, indemnity, and the grant of rights, many of which are basic boilerplate. It is best to just leave most of them as is, rather than trying to nitpick small points, which could lead a publisher to think of you as a difficult writer, which would kill the deal.  Just ask for changes in some of the more important terms, and you are likely to at least get some of them, or all of them in many cases.   Here are details about dealing with warranties, indemnities, and the grant of rights.

–Warranties and Indemnity.   This is a clause where  you warrant that you (and any co-writers) are the sole author, originator, or owner of all of the copyrightable material in the work or that you have gotten the written permission for any material from someone else. You also agree that, if requested, you will show this written permission statement or letter to the publisher. Or alternatively, you agree that the publisher, if it wishes, can secure these rights at its own expense and charge those expenses against any sums due to you, including unpaid advances, or the publisher may require you to pay these fees, or it can reject the manuscript for a lack of permissions.

However, often there is no need for any permissions if you are relating your own experiences or are citing sources, such as articles, books, or websites, because of the fair use doctrine, whereby you can generally cite up to about 250 words from any source without needing to get permission.

You also warrant that you have the full power to enter into the agreement and there is nothing in the manuscript that is libelous or an invasion of privacy, and you further agree that any instruction or advice will not result in an injury to anyone.  Or as necessary, you agree to include the appropriate warnings and safety precautions.

In addition, you agree to indemnify and hold the publisher harmless from any legal claims, suits, damages and related legal costs due to a breach of these warranties.  Also, you agree that the publisher can remove or clarify any passages that its legal counsel deems actionable.  Moreover, the publisher can extend your warranties to third parties, including the licensees of subsidiary rights, and these warranties and indemnities will survive even if the agreement is terminated.  In some cases, this section indicates that the publisher will similarly indemnify you from any claims.

In general, consider this clause as boilerplate, and any legal action based on such causes outlined in this section is unlikely in the case of most books.  So I generally accept this clause as is.

– Grant of Rights.  In this section, you grant the publisher the right to produce, publish, license and sell the work, or any part of it, in various forms.  Typically, this grant will include electronic rights, as well as audio rights, dramatization rights, film rights, TV rights, and commercial and merchandizing rights, usually on a sole and exclusive basis.  In some contracts, these different rights are listed separately.  This is where you might want to be more specific in what rights you are granting, based on the size and reach of the publisher, and what you can realistically do yourself in terms of marketing these other rights to potential buyers, such as film and TV producers.

In the royalties section of the contract, you might work out different percentage arrangements for the different rights, based on whether you make the connections and negotiations or the publisher does, though the basic split is 50-50 for the sale of subrights.

For example, if you are working with a small publisher and hope to reach out to the foreign markets yourself – or if you have a foreign agent you work with, you might only assign the publisher the English language rights, and you can even specify that these rights are only for certain countries, such as the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.  Commonly, you need to give the publisher the electronic and print rights (although there are some companies that only want the e-book rights these days), but you can often reserve the audio rights, dramatization rights, film rights, TV rights, and commercial and merchandizing rights.  However, in deciding what rights to seek for yourself, consider whether you are in a position to contact people in the film, TV, or other industries yourself.

If not, it may be better to leave these rights with the publisher.  And often, a film or TV project based on the material in your book may turn out to be very different, so unless the book has sold well and you want to use the title, it may not be necessary to have the subrights to produce this new project.

This grant of rights section will also normally include a non-compete clause, or sometimes that clause is separated out as a separate section.  However it is stated, much like in the non-compete clause, you agree not to create for anyone other than the publisher a work that is similar, covers essentially the same subject matter, or is likely to compete for sales with this work.  Asking for these restrictions is certainly a reasonable request, if the publisher is investing in publishing and promoting your book.  However, it is best to specify more clearly exactly what it means to say something is substantially similar, covers essentially the same subject matter or is likely to compete with the sales of this work.

For example, spell out what the book is about, so you limit the claims of what’s similar, the same subject matter, or what’s directly competitive.  To illustrate, if your book is about caring for dogs, state this, so you are free to write books about other pets or animals generally or even write a humor book with a cartoon dog character.  Or say you are writing a serious book about the criminal justice or political system.  You might clarify what your content covers, so you might be free to do a true crime book or memoir of a criminal or politician.  In other words, consider what you want to write about in the future, so you can specify in this clause the particular nature of your book, so any restrictions only applies to that.

In some cases, this section may also specify that you have to give the publisher a first option on any related books, or a first option generally.  In this case, where you are writing about a related topic, you might agree to submit the book, with the understanding that within 30 days, the publisher will either publish on the same terms as the first book, but then you have the right to pitch the book elsewhere.   Another variation on this first option clause is that the publisher has the right to match any bona fide offer which you get from another publisher.

It seems reasonable to include such an option when the book is related or a follow-up book to the one the publisher is publishing.  But ideally, request that any first option clause be deleted from the contract, because it can be a hassle to have to submit books to the publisher on other subjects, particularly if these are books that wouldn’t be of interest to the publisher.  Moreover, if your book is being published by a small or medium sized publisher, you want to be able to find a larger publisher for subsequent books.

In any case, publishers will normally agree to delete any first option clause, and if not, this could be a deal breaker.  For example, I publish books on a wide variety of topics, and I would not want to limit myself with a right of first refusal or option clause, and as long as the book is not directly competitive with the book they are publishing, I have found that publishers readily agree to delete the clause.

* * * * * *

GINI GRAHAM SCOTT, Ph.D.

A question that writers frequently ask is whether to find a publisher or self-publish a book, since the world of publishing has become so competitive and yet easier to get published than ever due to new technologies. Today, there are over 1 million books published each year, the vast majority of them self-published, although the average self-published book sells about 150 copies or less a year.

Ideally, if you can find a publisher, this provides the credibility of having an established publisher. Also, a publisher will already have channels of distribution for getting your book to the market. While modern technology makes it easy to publish a book – even in a matter of hours once you have the finished manuscript, the big hurdle is distribution and promotion. So even if you can make more for each sale with a self-published book – commonly 50-70% of the purchase price, compared to 10-15% of the net sales price with a book from a publisher, the problem is you will usually sell much less.

Thus, if possible, it is best to find a major, or even a medium or small-sized publisher, unless you already have a big network or targeted market for your book, and you have the time to handle the distribution, marketing, and promotion yourself. However, it is also very competitive to find a publisher today, since aside from liking your manuscript, most publishers want an author to have an already established platform, which means having national visibility and a strong following in the social media, such as on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Still, some publishers are willing to work with a new author if they really like your book and see the potential for building a platform quickly. Then, too, if you are willing to do more to help with promotion, such as by hiring your own publicist or arranging a tour to several cities, this can help to tip a publisher in your favor.

Accordingly, it is a good idea to first see if you can find a publisher before you self-publish, either by contacting a publisher directly or through an agent. While many editors at the bigger publishers want authors to come to them through agents, editors at smaller and medium-sized publishers are commonly open to deal with authors directly. In turn, as an equery service which sends out email letters to publishers and agents, the Publishing Connection (www.thepublishingconnection.com) can help you quickly contact several hundred editors and agents in a single mailing through a targeted email which is personalized to each contact using your own email. You don’t have to spend dozens of hours assembling a list of editors or agents to contact and then individually sending out each query letter.

Then, interested editors and agents will typically ask to see a proposal with introduction to your book and one to three sample chapters. As a result, even if you have completed your manuscript, create a 10-15 page proposal to provide an overview of your book, along with a chapter by chapter outline, review of the market, bio information, and a promotional plan for publicizing your book. Commonly, agents and publishers will ask for this if interested in your book, so you should be ready to respond with this within one to two weeks of sending out your query.

Sending out a query can also help you test the waters, even before you have written your manuscript, to see if there is sufficient interest to write it. Then, if you don’t already have a proposal, be ready to quickly write it and one or two sample chapters, so you can follow-up in a timely way.

While you will commonly hear back in response to a query in a day or two, sometimes within hours, it will generally take several weeks or a month or two before a publisher will decide to publish. It is usually best to wait and not self-publish during this time, since self-publishing will generally kill a sale, unless you can show a huge number of sales, which can then gain you an even better deal. However, for most self-published books, this kind of volume is rare, so it is best to wait – or if your self-published book has had limited sales, you can always change the title for your book and submit it as a new manuscript.

In the event you don’t find a publisher, you can always self-publish, market, and distribute the book yourself. But ideally, unless it is a book with a special niche you can readily target or you are doing speaking, seminars, or workshops or have a website where you can sell your book, start by looking for a publisher first.

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GINI GRAHAM SCOTT, Ph.D.

Here’s a quick overview of things to keep in mind when you write your book, look for publishers and agents, or decide to publish your book yourself.

Writing Your Book
• Collect your blogs, articles, or journal notes into a book
• Use transcripts from your workshops, seminars, or talks to groups
• Do interviews and have them transcribed
• Develop a chapter by chapter outline for what to include and target future blogs, articles, journal postings, interviews, etc. to fill in each chapter
• Dedicate 1-2 hours a day for writing, or consider a ghostwriter

What You Need to Pitch Your Book to a Traditional Publisher
• If your book is fiction and you are unpublished, you normally have to complete the book, plus create a 1-2 page single spaced synopsis.
• If your book is nonfiction, you generally need to write a proposal plus 1-3 chapters to submit to agents and/or publishers, even if the book is completed. The beginning of the proposal is generally 10-15 pages, and includes an overview of the book, chapter by chapter outline, and plan for completing the book. It also should include a market and competitors section listing similar or related books already published, the publisher, and how the book is doing; an author’s bio; and an author’s platform section, indicating what PR you have gotten in the past and how you can help support the book in the future.
• Unless you already have an agent or knowledgeable rep pitching your book, you need to write a query letter or have one written for you to send to publishers/editors and/or agents.

Contacting Publishers and Agents about Your Book
• If you can contact publishers or agents at conferences, workshops, and through personal referrals, that’s ideal.
• If you already have an agent, make sure your agent is continuing to pitch your book; you might also propose supplementing what the agent does by making some contact with publishers yourself; some agents will welcome this; others not so much. If you do make some of your own contacts, be sure to check with your agent in advance to make sure not to contact anyone your agent has already contacted. Then, keep your agent aware of the responses, and refer any editor or publisher who expresses interest to your agent for follow-up.
• If you feel your agent is no longer actively representing your book, it’s time to end your agreement and find a new agent or pitch the book yourself.
• If you plan to query traditional publishers and agents, don’t self-publish the same book, unless you have a very powerful platform and can build large sales for this book. Publishers don’t want to publish a book that already has been published, unless there are big sales.
• A good approach is self-publishing a book to build your platform and sell it yourself; then pitch a follow-up or related book to mainstream publishers and agents.

Sending an E-Mail Query to Publishers and Agents
• If you don’t have an agent or personal connections for contacting agents or publishers, an e-mail query can be an effective way to contact them.
• You can contact a large number of editors and agents with a personalized query, so they respond directly to you. We can help you send out these queries to hundreds of agents and editors based on your type of book.
• While many editors at major publishers want submissions by an agent, some will accept queries from writers and some will make exceptions for a really good query letter.
• When you send a query don’t include attachments or graphics, since a regular text query is more likely to be received and read, but you can include links to a website. Editors and agents often will not open any attachments due to fears about viruses, trojans, and other malware.
• Keep your query letter short and to the point, since a successful query letter is typically about 300-400 words, and no more than 500 words, and includes these key components:
1) A strong subject line to attract interest; it should indicate specifically what your book or script is about and be in upper and lower case, Title Case, or Sentence case.
2) A short summary statement of 1 or 2 sentences highlighting what the book or script is about and what makes it especially interesting and salable.
3) Two to three paragraphs describing the plot of a fiction book, the main topics covered in a nonfiction book, or the main plot points in a script.
4) A sentence or two about the book or script’s key selling points and why the book or script is marketable to your main audience.
5) A short paragraph about your own background, including what may have inspired the book or script, and recent highlights about previous publications or films, writing, and relevant work experience.
6) A sentence or two about any PR or promotion you have already gotten.
7) A final sentence indicating if the recipient is interested, you would be glad to submit a more detailed synopsis, proposal, sample chapters, or the complete manuscript.
8) Be prepared to follow-up within a week or 10 days with a proposal, synopsis, sample chapters or complete manuscript, or a script treatment.
9) Include personal contact information at the end, including your name, company if any, city, state (full address and zip is optional, though good to include), website if you have one, phone, and email.

Self-Publishing Your Book
• A simple low-cost way to publish your book is as a Print-On-Demand (POD) book through CreateSpace and Kindle, though there are multiple services with various pricing plans. You can use one of their templates or design your own cover, and you can order as many or as few books as you want at about 1/3 of the retail price.
• Generally you need the final copy formatted according to the publisher’s guidelines in a WordDocument or PDF, with appropriate margins and any graphics or photos in the text.
• While you can self-publish yourself, we can guide you through the process or set up everything for you.
• Keep the pricing low to attract sales – about $9.95-14.95 is a good price point for a paperback book; $2.99 for an e-book.

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Gini Graham Scott, PhD

Repurposing is a great way to maximize the value of what you write. Through repurposing, you put something you have written into different formats. For example, the material you put in a blog can also become an article, a chapter in a book, or even turned into copy for a press release or a script for a video. You may need to do a little rewriting to adapt the material for different formats, but otherwise, you are using the same content in different ways.

One type of repurposing that is especially useful for writers is turning a collection of blogs into a book or book proposal – or using material from your book to create a blog series based on these excerpts. Once you create a book or book proposal, you can then find a publisher or agent for your book or publish it yourself. Or use a blog from your book to promote it and sell more books. I’ve done both – several of my recent books started out as blogs: The Very Next New Thing: Commentaries on the Latest Developments that Will Be Changing Your Life published by ABC-Clio, and Transformations: How New Developments in Science, Technology, Business, and Society Are Changing Your Life and The Battle Against Internet Book Piracy, both published by Changemakers Publishing.

The creation of a book from a blog requires more thought and planning, so I’ll discuss that first. I’ll talk about how to go from a book to a series of blogs in a future blog.

Turning Your Blogs into a Book

Any collection of blogs can be turned into a book. Just combine 10 to 20 of them together to create a book of 10,000 or more words – about 50 or more pages, and voila, you have a book.

However, to create a successful book which you can self-publish or pitch to publishers and agents, think of a good theme and title for the book. Then, write your blogs on that topic with your book in mind. Another consideration for a book is that the blogs shouldn’t be too closely tied with current news events, since that will date its appeal, and such blogs are more appropriate as blogs or articles or turned into a press release.

If you already have a series of blogs which pass the long-term appeal test, consider how they might be combined together into a single topic. If the blogs are on disparate topics, they might be more appropriately divided into two or more books, and it is best not to stretch a subject too broadly so more blogs will fit. Doing so may be too scattershot for a book, since readers generally look for books on a particular topic. So choose a theme that fits for each group of blogs.

If you don’t already have a blog series to organize into books, think about a subject you’d like to focus on, and write your blogs as if they will be chapters in that book. Create an outline to organize the topics to write about and avoid covering the same topic in different ways, since that doesn’t work in a book. You need to provide new information in each blog, since you will be collecting them together into a single book

Figure on writing about 700-1000 words for each blog, since this is currently Google’s formula for writing blogs, so they are used to help direct traffic to your website.

Self-Publishing or Finding a Publisher for Your Book

If you plan to self-publish, once you have around 10,000 words or more – about 10-15 blogs, you can turn them into a book. One way to do this is to create a Word document, and use headings for each blog title, though call them chapters – ie; Chapter 1, Chapter 2, etc. followed by the title. Use “headings” or “headers” from the Word style sheet for each chapter heading. Then, those headings will automatically turn into your Table of Contents. If appropriate, divide these chapters into sections, such as Part I and Part II, and label them with a title for that part. Also, include a section “About the Author” and contact information.

Once the book is set up in the Word document, you can format it for printing, such as in a 6”x9” standard paperback format with a .75 margin. But that’ll be another blog on how to self-publish your book.

If you want to find a publisher, you need a proposal to pitch the project, since normally an agent or editor will ask to see this if interested after you send your initial query letter. This proposal should include about 10-20 pages upfront which includes an overview of the book and its market appeal, a chapter by chapter outline, the author’s bio, the competitive marketplace, any past PR, and plans to support and promote the book in the future. Then, include 2-3 sample chapters/blogs.

Even if you have written the whole book, you still normally need a proposal with a few chapters, so unless the editor agent requests the complete manuscript, send the proposal and sample chapters first. Or if the whole book is requested, include the introductory material in the proposal.

In your query letter, briefly describe your book and then offer to send a synopsis or proposal, and if you have completed the book, mention that you can send that, too. However, don’t send an attachment with your query letter, since many people don’t open initial letters with attachments, because of concerns about viruses and malware. So wait until you haven gotten a request for more information from your query letter.

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GINI GRAHAM SCOTT, Ph.D

If you have an agent, he or she will normally handle the contract arrangements in consultation with you and make recommendations on how to present your material and the best publishers to contact. Agents are typically familiar with the usual contract provisions and what they can ask for and negotiate to get you the best deal.

If you don’t have an agent and have a good offer from a big publisher – say a $10,000 advance or more, it can be worth working with a lawyer who has handled book contracts with publishers, though don’t work with a lawyer not familiar with the publishing industry, since they can make demands that are more excessive than usual and kill a deal. You can either hire the lawyer to negotiate for you if the offer is high enough, or obtain the lawyer’s advice on whether this is a good contract and what you can ask for if you negotiate the deal yourself.

But what if, like many authors, you don’t have an agent and have an offer from a publisher — usually a small or medium sized publisher – who is offering a small advance – commonly from about $1000-3000, or even no advance. What should you do, since bringing in a lawyer will commonly cost about $500-1500, and this will be a substantial portion of the advance, or even more than it? Following are some things to consider, though this is not legal advice. If in doubt, consult with a law book or get second opinions from books on book contracts or other writers who have signed books.

– The contract should include a statement that the copyright will be in the author’s name. Usually, the publisher will agree to register the copyright in your name, but if not, you can easily do this with the copyright office — $35 for an individual copyright; $55 if there are more than two parties on the copyrighted work. In some cases, a contract may state that the publisher will obtain the copyright in the publisher’s name. If so, seek to have this changed to registering the copyright in the author’s name, since the registration in your name will make it easier, if the work goes out of print or you get back the rights, to find another publisher for the work or publish it yourself, because you still own the copyright – you just licensed its use to the publisher.

– Specify the approximate length of the manuscript and the delivery date. These arrangements will commonly be discussed before the publisher draws up a contract. Be sure the manuscript length is a reasonable goal for your manuscript. While there is some flexibility from the length specified in the contract, give or take about 10,000 words, publishers will ask you to edit down a manuscript that is too long – and usually you need to do it rather than the publisher’s copy editor, unless it is over the expected word count by a small amount and the cuts are obvious, such as cutting down long quotes. If your manuscript is too short, the publisher is likely to ask you to add more information, or could possibly reject the manuscript entirely, whereupon you may have to pay back any advance.
You also need a realistic delivery date based on the length of the manuscript, how much research you need to do, and how long it will take you to write any chapters not completed in addition to those in the proposal to sell the book. While the delivery date can sometimes be extended, check in advance to determine how flexible this date is, because if you don’t deliver the manuscript by the agreed upon date, your publisher may be delayed in meeting the planned publication date, which could reduce PR efforts. The publisher could also cancel the contract for the lack of a timely delivery, obligating you to return any advance. Commonly, these clauses also specify the time the publisher has to publish the accepted work – usually 12 to 18 months, and if not, you can request back the rights.

– Submitting the manuscript. Normally, a contract will specify how you should submit the manuscript and any additional components, such as illustrations, photos, or table of contents, and an index, by the specified delivery date. At one time, publishers expected hard copies, but now, many publishers are fine with an electronic copy, though some may ask for a hard copy, too.
Commonly, the author is responsible for preparing the index, though some publishers will do this and deduct the cost from the last half of the advance or future royalties. Indexes aren’t always necessary, but if they are, figure on them costing about $500, with index costs from professional indexers of about $2.50-$3.50 a page (based on the page count in the published book). One way to cut down the cost is if you go through the manuscript and pick out the key words and provide a list of them to the indexer, figuring on about 300-500 words on your list, which can bring down your costs to about $150.

– Accepting and Publishing the Manuscript. This clause provides the publisher a way out of the agreement if the publisher finds the manuscript unacceptable. Commonly, the publisher will advise the author what to do to fix it, but if the author can’t or doesn’t want to do so, the publisher can reject the manuscript. Generally, the author can keep any advance already paid, since the assumption is that the author has been working in good faith on writing the manuscript, though some publishers will ask for the advance back. Alternatively, some publishers will only ask that the author repay them if he or she finds another publisher. If the publisher doesn’t publish the manuscript within a certain time, rights in the manuscript revert to the author, along with any discs or copies of the manuscript given to the publisher. In this case, the author does not have to return any advance.

While these clauses are fairly standard in laying out the length of the manuscript the author is expected to deliver, when, and what happens if the author doesn’t deliver or the publisher doesn’t publish within the time specified, there is some room for negotiation. In particular, you might ask to only deliver the manuscript by email attachment or on a disc, which will cut down your time and costs for the delivery. You might also ask the publisher to cover the costs of any index if required or at least not charge you until future payments are due rather than taking the cost out of any remaining payments on the advance.

Another strategy is to state that the index is unnecessary, so there are no costs for either the author or publisher. Still another point you might negotiate is the length of time for the publisher to publish the work, such as requiring publication within 12 months rather than 18, or even 6 months, if the publisher has a short turn-around time.

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GINI GRAHAM SCOTT, Ph.D

While you may have certain prices and policies that are the usual way you work with clients, at times clients will ask you to make certain changes or exceptions, and it can be hard to decide whether or not to agree to these changes. Following are some common scenarios and how to deal with them. You have to judge whether you want to accept a proposed arrangement, or come back with an alternative proposal, and then any agreement can be like a negotiation.

In general, it is best not to change your usual policies, since you have been following them with most or all of your other clients and you have found these policies work. Still, there are times when it is reasonable to accommodate a client’s request.

– A long-time client – or a new client – claims financial difficulties. He or she claims to have run into financial problems or has had upheavals in life, so he or she hopes to pay less or pay on a deferred basis. As a first step, decide if you trust this person’s claim. If it’s a long-time client, this is probably the case, but with a new client, the claim may or may not be. As some writer associates have found, sometimes people will plead poverty or hard times to get you to reduce your prices, while they may have no difficulties paying for other products and services. If you don’t trust the person’s claims, explain that these are your prices, and you have your own financial commitments and make your living doing this, so you can’t reduce your prices, but you will be glad to help them when they are ready.
However, assuming you trust that the person is having difficulties, it makes sense to work out an arrangement you both feel comfortable with. One simple approach is to offer a discount to help out – such as less 20-40%, which can help the client and leave him or her favorably impressed to want to work with you again, or perhaps give a testimonial for your product or service.
Another approach is to get at least a percentage down – say 10-20%, defer the rest, and work out a payment plan, such as 10-20% of the total each month until paid in full. In this case, get a signed agreement form, so it is clear the person still owes you the money and how much.
Still another strategy is to consider barter, if the client has services or products you can use. In this case, arrange the barter based on the value of the other person’s products or services if you were to buy them, and value your own services in the same way.

– A prospective client says that he/she thinks your prices are too high or that others have said this. Here I think the best strategy is to stress the value of what you are offering and point out the level of experience you have had that makes your service valuable. You can also point to testimonials you have gotten and indicate that you have had these prices and arrangements for many years. This strategy can be especially effective if you are offering a unique product or service which is hard to duplicate. This approach may not always work if the prospect is determined to pay a lower price or not get your product or service, but it is often better to stick to your guns rather than undercut your own income, since you have other clients who are paying the full price, so you don’t need to work with clients who don’t see the value in your work.
This scenario is like someone going to a store and asking to pay less for a Rolex watch because they can get other watches for less money. If you are in the business of selling Rolex watches, you don’t want clients who think that the Rolex costs too much money; you don’t want to undermine your value proposition to sell for less. Likewise, as a writer, once you determine how to value and price what you are writing, look for clients who will value what you do.

– A prospective client offers to write a testimonial in return for a special deal from you. Unless you are starting out as a writer and need some testimonials and recommendations, this is generally not a good arrangement. It is a variation on the prospective client claiming your prices are too high, but now the prospect is offering you a carrot – a testimonial – in return for paying less – or even trying to get you to do something for free. In this case, your strategy would be much like the way to respond in the “prices are too high” claim. Stress the value of your services or product, and at the same time point out that you don’t need any more testimonials; you already have them from people who have previously bought your service or product. If the strategy works, great. You convinced the client to pay full price for your services. If not, you have turned down a client you don’t need who doesn’t value what you are offering.

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GINI GRAHAM SCOTT, Ph.D.

One of the great things about being a freelancer, is that you can freely choose what projects you work on, what clients you agree to work for, and what your terms and prices will be. You can also freely adjust your writing and payment arrangements to changes in the marketplace and your own ebbs and flows of business.

But at times this freedom can create some problems when prospective clients ask you to make changes in how you usually work with clients or in your usual prices for the different services you provide.

Generally, set your terms based on the market for what you are doing, taking into consideration the going range of prices and your level of experience. If you are new or relatively new to freelance writing, to be more competitive, set your price below the common standard, say 50-90% what others charge. Then, as you get more experience and have testimonials from clients, you can gradually raise your rates. If you have more experience than most other writers in your field, you generally can charge more than the going rate, and you might test out different rates to figure out the best rate to charge. If you repeatedly lose out on jobs because your charges are too much, consider lowering them by about 10-20% or offer a special discount to new clients or during a certain time period when things are slow.

This occasional special is a time-tested strategy that is often used by retail or online marketers pitching a new program. They tell prospective clients: If you act now or within a few hours or days of getting the offer, you can save money. Another variation on this promotional approach is to provide a series of offers with varying terms, such as setting the lowest price for an advance sale or early bird rate, a slightly higher rate for the next time period, an even higher rate after that, and finally a late bird or at the door rate. Some common graduated steps are from free to $5 to $10 to $15 to $20 for events, such as if you are putting on a workshop. Or you might offer an hourly rate of $75, $85, $100, or $125, depending on how much advance notice clients give you to work on their project.

However, be careful in how often you offer a discount off your regular price, since offering too many discounts will undermine your current regular price, and it will seem like the discounted price is your new one. But assuming you are careful in offering a reduced price, a good time to offer this is when things are slow or you are new to an area or organization. For example, if the economy slows down so there are fewer customers or if this is a slow season for your writing business, which often occurs in August and November to December, a reduction in price might help to bring in some clients. Even if they aren’t ready to follow-through with the material for you to work on at the time, give them the reduction if they pay now for a future service.

Another consideration is whether to charge an front retainer, use a pay-as-you-go system with a credit card or PayPal account, or bill after the work is done. Ideally, when you start a project, especially with a new client, get a percentage down. If it’s a small amount and you are writing something as a work for hire, which is common for writing articles, blogs, website copy, marketing materials, and like, get a down-payment upfront or get the whole thing in advance. This way you know the prospective client is serious, and you won’t get stiffed for a small amount that is almost impossible to collect if the client doesn’t pay. Then, it’s ideal to contain with an advance payment you work against or a pay-as-you-go arrangement, where you have a client’s credit card and charge after you complete each segment of the work.

This retainer arrangement is also ideal if you have a longer project, where a contract is common, and then the payments are typically spread out with 10-25% down, a 20-33% payment after you complete the next segment of the work; get paid another amount to reach 67-75% at the next payment point; and you get a further payment to reach 90% to 100% for sending the client the final project, with the final 10% reserved for acceptance. When you sell a book to a publisher, a two payment arrangement is common, such as getting 50% on signing the contract, and the remainder on acceptance (which is better) or publication, although sometimes, there will be a payment when you are half-way through the manuscript.

While larger companies typically send checks in payment, individual clients commonly use credit cards or PayPal. In this case, either a retainer or pay-as-you-go arrangement works well, so you get paid before or immediately after completing the work.

The billing after completing the work arrangement is best when you are working with a larger established company that only pays this way after receiving an invoice, or with an individual client or small organization, where you have already started working together. Otherwise, with individual clients you don’t know, it can be risky to start with a bill and pay arrangement, since you can bill, but the client can easily not pay. If possible, persuade the client to work on a retainer or pay as you go arrangement. If the client is insistent on a bill and pay arrangement or will walk away, assess if you feel this person or company can be trusted. Then, if you feel this is the case, do only a small part of a larger project to make sure the individual or company likes what you are doing and pays you, before you go on. This way you cut down on your losses in case the client decides not to pay – sometimes due to the client’s own business problems because of a slowdown of customers.

In short, you can be flexible in what you charge and how you expect clients to pay you.

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GINI GRAHAM SCOTT, Ph.D

Today, if you are seeking to pitch a book, script, or yourself to get published by a mainstream publisher, sell film rights for a book or a script, find an agent or manager, or get paid speaking engagements, it’s all about platform.

That means you need a solid track record in your field, expert credentials in what you write or speak about, a high-profile in the print and broadcast media, and a large social media following. In short, in today’s media and celebrity driven world, you need to do something to stand out. That typically means doing your own publicity and social media campaign to create a brand for yourself, whether you write books, scripts, or films, or conduct workshops on some topics.

This platform has become especially important to sell both nonfiction and fiction books to mainstream publishers, though these guidelines are equally applicable to any field where you are creating creative content. At one time, publishers would build campaigns around new authors to establish them in the media firmament. But now, with rare exceptions, that is no more. New authors have to bring to the table their own marketing and publicity campaign, and already have key elements of this campaign in place, such as 50,000 or more Twitter followers.

Occasionally, once unknown people break through the media clutter, when they are discovered through a human interest story that goes viral. Then, agents come knocking on their doors to represent them, and they get offers of publishing and films deals based on their life story, as well as requests to speak at big events. They may even get merchandising offers to feature them in a line of products based on their story. But mostly, the already famous, such as Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Angela Jolie, Kim Kardashian, and other household names are the ones who get the deals.

Thus, to stand out yourself, you need to create a powerful platform to get a deal. As Carole Jelen and Michael McAllister write in their book: Build Your Author Platform: The New Rules: A Literary Agent’s Guide to Growing Your Audience in 14 Steps, “An author’s platform is the most powerful key to success in today’s saturated market, and increasingly publishers are demanding that new authors come to them with an existing audience of interested followers. Authors who are self-publishing have an even bigger need to build an engaged audience.” The same might be said for authors who want to sell scripts or film rights to a book, or for speakers seeking to get booked on the paying speaker circuit.

So what are these elements that make a platform today? They include the following:
1) a personal website which features you and your books or other creative endeavors; and today your website should be optimized to be viewed on mobile platforms;
2) a blog to build a community with your readers;
3) a Twitter account and following, which you should build up to the many thousands; preferably 50,000 or more;
4) a presence on Facebook with both a personal page for your personal brand and a page for your book, film, or speaking topics;
5) an author’s profile and following on LinkedIn;
6) speaking engagements, featuring your live personal appearances at organizations and events;
7) articles published through various publications and websites, including on article aggregator sites, such as Huffington Post;
8) radio podcasts and guest appearances;
9) book or script trailers and video blogs on YouTube;
10) a website for each of your books or creative endeavors;
11) an author page on Amazon;
12) book reviews of your books;
13) a celebration launch of your book, film, workshop, or other creative projects.

You should also send out or post regular press releases, such as through one of the PR services, like PRBuzz, PRWeb, PRWire, BusinessWire, Cision, or ExpertClick. Additionally, make yourself available to promote what you have written or created, and let the media know you are an expert in certain areas, so you get called to comment on recent developments in your field. For example, when I wrote a series of books about crime, I was frequently asked to comment on the latest criminal cases in the news; when I wrote several books about relationships in the workplace, I was often called to comment on work issues, such as complaints about bad bosses and office shootings.

If you write a book proposal, feature what you have accomplished in the areas related to your topic and indicate where you already have a following. For example, in my proposals, I note that I am the organizer and assistant organizer of 10 Meetup Groups in L.A. and San Francisco dealing with writing and films that have nearly 10,000 members. Note any business groups you belong to such as a local Chamber of Commerce. Indicate if you have a speaker’s video and provide a link. As relevant, point up your academic credentials, such as if you are writing or speaking about mental illness and have a PhD in psychology or have worked with hundreds of clients. Highlight the most influential media attention you have already gotten from newspapers, magazines, the Internet media, and radio and TV guest appearances and interviews. Also, consider self-publishing a book in your field to help you gain additional credibility and speaker’s engagements.

In short, think of yourself as a celebrity in the making as you create your author’s brand and platform. If you need assistance with any phase of this process, from writing your book or script to getting published, produced, or promoting yourself, NudgeLine can help.

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Gini Graham Scott, PhD

One issue that frequently comes up in workshops or online forums is whether you need a copyright for your film or book. Occasionally people ask if they can use what is sometimes called the “poor man’s copyright,” where you send yourself your material in a sealed envelope, so you can later prove that you wrote it when you did.

First, the “poor man’s copyright” is perfectly useless. It is a myth that makes the rounds from time to time, usually because someone has just heard about it from someone else and wants to find out if it is true. Well, it isn’t. At best it might establish a date of mailing. But there are so many loopholes in that mailing to make a proof of anything problematic. A big problem is that one can easily steam open an envelope or mail an unsealed or empty envelope to oneself, and then put the document in the envelope and seal it up after the unsealed or empty envelope comes back in the mail.

Another misconception is that you need to formally register a copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office in order to have a copyright. You actually have a copyright from the date of creation once you write your book, script, article, proposal, or anything else. You are similarly covered by a copyright when you draw something, compose music, record a song, or other creative work and record it in written, visual, or aural form, though you can’t copyright an idea or title. A title might be covered by trademark, if you are using it or intend to use it; but that’s a more complex subject, since you can choose from several dozen categories in which to register a trademark, and you can run into complications when you use a trademark in one geographic area and another person creates the same or similar mark in a different geographic area, depending on what categories you each are claiming. But for all practical purposes, if you write a book, book proposal, script or other written materials, you are dealing with copyright law and the Copyright Office in Washington, D.C.

So essentially the question you are really asking is: “Should you ‘register’ a copyright?” with the U.S. copyright office. If you are writing a script, there is also a possibility of registering it with the WGA (Writers Guild of America), either in Los Angeles or New York, though most register it in Los Angeles, and some producers and agents/managers may ask you to do this. However, that’s not the same as registering a copyright with the government; a WGA registration is more like just putting it on a list that establishes your date of conception, and then you have to renew the WGA registration every 5 years if you register it in L.A., every 10 years if you register in New York.

By contrast, registering a work with the Copyright Office gives you a registered copyright as of the day of registration. The most efficient and economical way to do this is to register online, which is currently only $35 for an individual copyright, meaning just one item is being copyrighted by one author. If there are more authors or this is a combined registration of different properties, it is $55 to register online. It costs more to go the old fashioned postal mail route — $85 — and it will take 2 months or more to get your registration. Ideally, go through the online system, where you are walked through a step by step process to answer each question about the name of the author, date of registration, and other data. Next, you are directed to pay and upload a file with your material (although you can mail it in instead). Then, your answers are entered into the copyright form which is sent to you in a few months.

The costs can mount up if you have multiple items you want to register, so you might consider whether a copyright is really necessary. Take into consideration the fact that a copyright gives you the right to pursue your rights online or in court, but you have to take actions to enforce your copyright, which can be time consuming and expensive. For example, the most cost effective way of using a registered copyright is to prevent someone else using your material online, such as by sending this information to the offending website owner or to a web hosting company which is hosting a website with your copyrighted material. You just send a take-down notice with evidence of your copyright, and normally the hosting company will take it down if the website owner doesn’t.

However, it is very expensive to take any legal action in court to enforce a copyright, so a registration won’t be of much use if you are seeking compensation from someone who has improperly posted your material online and doesn’t have any money. But if you wait, maybe they will have money or they may arrange for someone else with money to use your material – at which time, you can inform them that you own the copyright and you aren’t giving your permission without a just compensation, whereupon you can negotiate the terms with them if they willing to do anything. Otherwise, you have the basis for taking them to court and claiming statutory damages, which may lead them to drop your material or seek an agreement from you.

In general, given the expense and limitations of a copyright, it is not necessary to register the copyright for a proposal or manuscript. The situation is different if you self-publish a book or if a traditional publisher publishes it and, as is usual, assigns the copyright to you. In this case, the publisher will generally file for the copyright in your name. If not, it is a good idea to file for copyright yourself, especially if you feel the book has a good commercial value for a general audience, since there is more risk of someone using your material or even filing a registration on a copy of your work.

Otherwise, if your work is unpublished, it may not be worth the time and expense, since publishers and agents are unlikely to use your material without you, since publishers generally want you as the author to be front and center to promote your book. And normally there isn’t the kind of money in a published book as there is in a produced film or recorded song. So with a book, unless it just makes you uncomfortable to not register a copyright, I feel it isn’t necessary – especially if you have written many books, because of the high cost involved. Even if you self-publish a book, it may not be necessary to register a copyright, especially if you have published multiple books, so the registration costs are high, since most self-published books average about 150 copies in sales.

So if someone pirates your book, it probably doesn’t matter whether your book’s copyright is registered or not, since it is unlikely you can do much more than send a take-down notice to the multiple sites offering free copies of your book and hope they take it down. If they don’t, it’s not normally cost-effective to try to pursue matters any further.

Likewise, if you write articles it is not necessary to copyright each one, especially when you are making the articles available for free. Just use them for promotional value, though if you combine the articles together into a book and self-publish it, you might get the copyright then.

By contrast, if you complete a script, treatment, or TV series or show proposal, it is a good idea to register a copyright, whether or not you get a WGA listing. Many producers for their own protection will want you to have a registered copyright, and often any NDA document they ask you to sign will have some language about your having only the protection in what you have copyrighted and not in any similar ideas they might have developed in house or obtained from another writer or other party.

Another reason for registering a copyright in the film world is because it is so competitive, and sometimes, if a script reader sees the potential in your idea, it could be shared with others, though it might undergo some further changes in the script. Then you could be out of the loop, although a registered copyright will make it more likely for you to be involved in the project going forward. Or it could lead to a payoff to get your copyrighted material signed over from you.

In sum, in the case of books and articles, it is generally not necessary to get a copyright unless you have high hopes for a large commercial sale or are willing to pursue take-down notices or a court case against someone who copies and sells your book and has the money to collect if you win. But if you write a script, TV show proposal, or treatment, get your material registered, since you will often need it to even get your script considered by producers, agents, managers, or others in the film industry.

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Gini Graham Scott, PhD

A recent trend among some major publishers is creating special imprints where writers pay to get published or asking for a pre-purchase commitment of a minimum number of books. These offers are coming from established companies with a tradition of paying writers an advance as well a royalty, even if it’s a low advance, or in some cases a no-advance offer. But whatever the specifics of the deal, the writer has not had to pay anything or make a purchase commitment.

However, now this pay to play offer has come about because publishing has become much more difficult for what has been traditionally called the “mid-list” book by a relatively unknown author. As a result, so sales have gone down, as have advances. What publishers increasingly want and are willing to pay for with big advances are books by well-known and celebrity authors with a high-profile platform.For example, authors like Hillary Clinton may make millions in advances, plus millions more in sales, while advances for mid-list book authors have commonly shrunk to about a third to a half of what they were. So instead of getting $15,000 to $20,000 for an advance, you may get offered $5000 to $10,000, or even less.

Paying lower and no advances are a matter of market economics and reflect the growing inequality/rich and poor divide throughout society generally. In publishing, too, the very successful high profile authors are getting more – often much more — in today’s celebrity and media driven culture, while other authors are getting less.

At least in low or no-advance scenarios, the writer is simply getting less. But in many instances, publishers are asking writers to be like self-publishers who are paying for their publication by committing to buy a minimum number of books. However, when this publishing is by an imprint of a major house, the publisher still is in control, though the copyright as it has traditionally, remains with the author. The main advantage of this arrangement compared to self-publishing with a company which just prints your book and leaves the marketing up to you is that the imprint is affiliated with the major publisher. So the book is normally distributed through that publisher’s channels, rather than being a print-on-demand or e-book available on your imprint or the imprint of the self-publishing company. Thus, with a pay to play deal with a traditional publisher, you may be more likely to get reviewed and distributed, though you are still paying a hefty amount up front, rather than the publisher paying you – or at least not making you pay for publication.

Commonly, these payment commitments range from about $10,000-50,000, which is a substantial amount – and unless your book sells very well, you are unlikely to make all of that money back or turn a profit. For example, one author was offered a deal from Wiley requiring a commitment for 10,000 books, which would cost at least $50,000 to $100,000 depending on the wholesale purchase price to the author. Three co-authors were initially offered a deal based on buying 3000 books, later negotiated down to 2000 books, at $15 each – a total of $30,000, so even if thought Wiley offered an advance of possibly as much as $5000, the authors would still have to pay $25,000 up front for the books. No wonder they turned down the deal.

A publisher’s rationale for this requirement to pay up front for books is that the publisher expects the author to do programs where they can sell high numbers of books, which will be a win-win for the publisher and writer. But if the writer doesn’t have such a platform, the writer will end up with huge piles of unsold books to be stored away somewhere like a basement or garage. Or maybe the books might make a nice charitable give-away.

Perhaps the main advantage of a pay for books arrangement is getting the credentials and bragging rights of having a book with a major publisher, which might open other doors down the road. But if the book doesn’t sell very well because you aren’t able to do much to support these book sales, this credential might not matter very much in pitching future books to other publishers. In fact, the low sales of a previous book might be a disadvantage in pitching the next book, since major publishers usually do little to promote these mid-list books; they depend on the authors to do much or most of the publicity and promotion, so low sales in the past can be a problem.

At least the publishers with these pay to publish arrangements are commonly still somewhat selective in what they publish, since they want to maintain the quality of their reputation. So they don’t offer these deals to everyone, as do the self-publishing companies who are essentially printers. So there is some selectivity. But you still have to pay.

Thus, be cautious when you are offered such a deal. Ideally, it’s best to get a publisher who will pay you to publish your book or at least offers a no advance arrangement. But if you aren’t able to get such a deal, under some circumstances it might be an advantage to go with a pay to play publisher for the prestige of publishing with a traditional publisher, as long as you understand you may get little or none of your payment back, though there is always the chance of getting more.

On the other hand, if a pay to play deal from a traditional publisher is the only option available to you, it might be worth considering self-publishing under your own or a self-publishing company imprint. These prices can range from nothing if you do it yourself under CreateSpace or Kindle or similar platforms to a few hundred dollars for help using these platforms or to a few thousand dollars from many self-publishing companies who charge more. Just be aware that you will still commonly need to do your own promotion and publicity to call attention to your book if you set up distribution through a self-publishing platform or company. But now with most publishers today, even those who pay, you still need to cover most or all of the publicity and promotion. Unless you are already a very well-known personality or celebrity, that’s the way of the publishing world today.

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Gini Graham Scott, PhD

Sometimes professional writers are offered the opportunity to work as a co-writer. Should you do it, and if so, what the best way to protect yourself should problems develop.

Co-writing can be an ideal arrangement, when you have long been friends or business associates and you both share a passion for the project. Then, you can bounce your creativity off each other and create a great project together.

But what happens when you are approached by someone who thinks they have a great idea, and now they need a writer to make that happen. In many scenarios, this can turn into a paid project where the writer works as a ghostwriter and is paid on a work-for-hire basis, or possibly this can turn into a co-writing agreement when both parties work well together. A

I believe starting with a work-for-hire agreement this is an ideal arrangement when you are approached by someone you don’t know, because you don’t know how well you will work together or if you will share similar ideas for the book or a film project as it develops. This way, if the person with the project has the budget for it, he or she can maintain control of the project, while you write what the person wants. Then, if the relationship works out and you both want this, you can turn the book or film into a shared royalty agreement. One common scenario is for the writer to finish the project at a lower fee, such as less 25-35%, in return for a percentage of the royalty (commonly 50-50) after anything paid up front is deducted.

Often the situation of a shared royalty arrangement from the get-go comes up when the person with the idea, notes, or a rough draft has a limited budget. This shared agreement can work well, if you soon come to share the writer’s vision of what the final project should be and you feel comfortable sharing in the project. Also, you feel the project has a good likelihood of getting sold, so you aren’t giving up the regular income you depend on as a writer in return for something that’s a risky bet.

However, there are a number of cautions to watch out for in co-author arrangements, when you respond to an ad for a writer to be a collaborator or co-writer. One problem is that you may start off thinking this is a shared project, but then the original author becomes controlling and you start to feel like a hired hand, as happened to one writer who was enticed into doing some chapters for a book by a psychologist. She claimed she wanted someone to be a true collaborator and share the authorship and royalties. But then the psychologist turned into a tyrant, who was very critical of what the writer wrote, because she wanted everything expressed a certain way. Eventually, the writer was able to escape the nightmare with a signed work-for-hire agreement and get paid in full for what he had discounted to be a collaborator.

Another problem when you agree to be a co-writer is that the original author has less and less time to contribute to the project or loses interest, because he or she has other commitments. So there isn’t enough information to complete and sell the project, and the writer is stuck with getting less or nothing, because of agreeing to a collaboration. For example, one writer faced this situation after writing situation when the client writing his memoir suddenly decided that he shouldn’t do this book now, because his psychiatrist thought it wasn’t a good idea. Besides, if he did pursue the book at all, he now wanted to have full control of both the book and the possible film based on it. Fortunately in this case, the writer was also able to turn the collaboration into a work-for-hire situation for the work already done and get paid accordingly. But in many cases, a project simply dies at this point, and the writer doesn’t get paid.

The other big problem with a collaboration is that when the project is completed, it may not sell or may only bring in a very small advance which is less than the author would get paid for simply writing the book, proposal, or script as a ghostwriter. Then, if there is a very low or no advance, any future work on the project has to be done essentially on spec.

Thus, given all these potential problems, my usual approach is to start off as a ghostwriter for at least the beginning stages of the project. Then, if the project is in a field I normally write about and we both feel a co-writing arrangement is desirable, we sign a co-writing agreement, and I reduce the total costs on the project by 25% in return for sharing in the proceeds should it sell, and thereafter, the original author is paid back in full for anything paid to me before we share in the royalties 50-50. This kind of deduction before sharing royalties is a typical arrangement, and I have found this kind of approach works best for me.

What’s best for you? I suggest treating each co-writing arrangement on a case by case basis, taking into consideration the topic, how much you like both the project and the author, and the potential for selling the book or film and how much a sale is likely to bring, versus what you would make as a ghostwriter, since normally the most you will earn on most books and films is what you are paid as an advance. Then, too, consider your own income needs and whether you can afford to take a chance on getting less up-front as a co-writer, and whether being a co-writer from the get-go is the only option, because that’s all the original writer can afford.
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GINI GRAHAM SCOTT, Ph.D.

A big issue for many writers is what to do after you get a publishing or job offer. What if the publisher or employer has a tight deadline, and to make the deadline you have to start writing before you get a payment or a signed contract? Should you get started and risk not getting paid or not getting the contract? Or should you wait, which could mean losing the job or the contract?

The answer is, as they say in the law, it depends. What to do depends on such factors as how much money is at stake, how much work you have to put in before the promised payment or contract arrives, and how solid and trustworthy the individual or a company is that you will work for. Then, too, consider that the person hiring you could change his or her mind or that the client might be a subcontractor for a client, so if the ultimate client doesn’t pay or changes his or her mind, you could be unpaid for any work you do before you receive any payment on the project.

I began thinking about this issue after I was hired by a client who was putting together a book and website for another client. Initially, this subcontractor just wanted a book and wanted a proposed fee for writing it. But after I bid and got the job, the subcontractor said he wanted a website included for that total amount. Not wanting to lose the job, I didn’t say anything about the change, figuring the website write-up would only take a few hours. Then, since the client had a short deadline on the website copy and his staff couldn’t send the contract and check until the following Monday, I agreed to start on Friday.

In making this decision, I even turned down an offer for a credit card payment, since Master Card would take 4%. But after I edited the Frequently Asked Questions section and got the go-ahead to do more, I found the instructions about the website copy unclear, and after I turned in a few pages for feedback, the subcontractor called to cancel the contract for both the book and the website. He said he didn’t have time to do any more reviews and no longer wanted me to do the book, so he wouldn’t be sending the contract or advance check. But I had already spent about 5 hours unpaid on the project.

At first, the client tried to get out of paying me, though ultimately he agreed to pay, saying my offer to accept $500 for the work I had done “sounded good,” though later he sent me a check marked “In protest.” After it went through, I decided it best not to respond to explain anything. “He’s just messing with you,” another writer told me. But the incident got me thinking about payments and contracts generally.

I’ve worked with dozens of publishers where it can take several weeks or even a month or two to get a finalized contract, and the payment often doesn’t arrive until 30 to 45 days after that. But the deadline for submitting the copy means I need to start writing it before the contract arrives. Whenever this has happened, my experience has been that the contract does arrive and so does the payment.

In some cases, where the publisher has a no-advance contract, so the first payment will be several months after the book has been successfully published, the book has almost always been published and eventually I have gotten royalties. So with established publishers, working before the contract or payment arrives has usually been fine. But with smaller publishers, such an agreement can be very iffy. The publisher has no initial investment, and so the publisher can easily decide not to publish.

I and other writers have also generally had success in getting paid after doing some work or completing a project with larger, established companies. Commonly, they hire a number of writers, as well as other employees and contractors, and have a policy in which writers do the work and submit a bill to get paid – generally within 10 to 30 days. Usually there is an agreement describing what is to be written, sometimes called the “deliverable,” and the writing usually begins after getting the contract, with the payment following within a short time after delivering the work.

However, when it comes to writing for individual clients or small companies, that’s when problems arise, and there can be little recourse if the individual or company doesn’t pay, especially when they are based in another state, or worse, another country. It takes time and effort to go to small claims court, and you can’t use small claims court for an out-of state or out-of country client, plus you can encounter many difficulties in trying to collect even with a judgment from a debtor who doesn’t want to pay.

Thus, I have come to realize that in working with private individuals or small companies, it is best to either get a retainer or set up a pay-as-you-go arrangement using a credit card. Then, whether or not you are getting a contract, don’t do any work until you are paid in advance. Clients may express a concern about paying you and then not getting the work, but they have an easy way to complain and get a refund if this is the case, by appealing to their credit card company or to PayPal. But if you aren’t paid, you don’t have the option. You have to depend on the client’s willingness to pay.

It may be fine to arrange for a check, credit card, or PayPal payment after you do the work once you have established an ongoing trusting relationship with a client. But until then, initially, it is better to get paid before or at the time you do the work, however the client wants to pay (check, credit card, PayPal, or even cash). As one writer associate put it, “I don’t put pen to paper until I am paid up-front and receive any signed contract that’s required for the project. And if the client has a tight deadline making it difficult to get me the payment or contract, then that’s the client’s problem. He or she should do better planning. I simply won’t write anything until I have at least a partial deposit or retainer up front.”

So that’s my recommendation. Use a “pay to play” approach in dealing with individuals and small companies, and try to get this arrangement with larger companies if you can, but if not, take the chance they will be good for the money, after you do some or all of the writing. You may lose out on some writing assignments from individuals and small companies as a result. But you will save yourself a lot of problems from clients who don’t pay after you have done the work.

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Gini Graham Scott, PhD

Since the development of the e-book and its growing popularity, the problem of piracy has become pervasive. The reason is that it is easy to copy and pass on ebooks, and a growing number of piracy sites have made these available. And many other sites which sell ebooks for authors and publishers have pirated books uploaded by others and they remain there, until the site owner is made aware that the material is pirated and is asked to take it down.

Even using digital rights management (DRM) does little good, although it is designed to prevent a user from transferring a file from one platform to another or sharing that file with others.
However, pirates can easily break that code. Also, it is now relatively inexpensive to scan a print copy of a book to make a digital file. I had a series of books scanned for only $2.50 a book, since the cut up pages can be put through an automatic feeder; there is no longer any need to scan them by hand.

Another difficulty in stopping piracy is that the dedicated pirate sites are often located in other countries, and the owners of these sites can easily put up new sites under another name. Moreover, once a book is pirated by one site, it can easily be spread to multiple sites – making the problem of getting one’s books off of pirated sites like a game of whack-a-mole – hit the mole down at one site, and it quickly pops up in another.

So what can you do to protect yourself from piracy? While you probably can’t overcome the problem entirely, here are some things you can do.

1) Register your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office, which is easy to register online for only $35 for a single application; $55 for two or more authors. This registration will give you the authorization to send out takedown notices, though trying to enforce a copyright through legal action is unlikely.

2) Inform your publisher to send out a takedown notice or send out this notice yourself to the website owner. If the owner does not respond in a reasonable time, say 10 days, send the takedown notice to the service hosting the website. Normally, the hosting service will take down any infringing material within a few days, since if it doesn’t the service can risk being shut down or being blocked by search engines. You can also send a notice to Google about the violation of your copyright, since Google will lower the search rankings of websites that sustain a number of complaints, and if they get enough complaints, they will block those sites entirely. There are specific requirements for what to include in these notices which you can find online or in my book THE BATTLE AGAINST INTERNET BOOK PIRACY.

3) Find ways to adapt to this piracy to promote your writing or sell other materials, such as by including information in your books that direct those reading them to your website where you have other protected materials for sale or you are selling your writing services to others. Some writers also use piracy as a way to spread their name generally so they have a higher profile in selling other books to publishers.

While it is probably futile to pursue any litigation against the pirates yourself, since any action is extremely expensive and time-consuming, and only the bigger publishers acting individually or with other publishers can afford to do this, as did John Wiley in suing a pirate site in Germany for one of its Dummies books, at least there is some consolation in the risks of obtaining pirated books. In some cases, individuals obtaining these books end up with malware that opens up their computer to identity theft or corrupts some of their data. And sometimes pirates are targeted by a larger publisher or by law enforcement when their actions are especially egregious or they are involved in uploading or downloading material to one of these targeted pirate sites.

In sum, make sure your book is copyrighted by your or your publisher, send out takedown notices as you can, do your best to use the piracy to promote or sell your other work, and feel some satisfaction in knowing that many pirates will suffer their just deserts in the end.

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GINI GRAHAM SCOTT, Ph.D

Co-writing and ghost writing arrangements for both books and scripts can be great when you and your co-writer or lead writer have a shared vision for the project and you bring to it complementary skills. Besides writing my own books and scripts, I have worked with several dozen clients on co-written projects.

A first step is understanding what the person seeking a co-writer or ghost writer wants and clarifying what you will do. In reaching this understanding, determine this person’s goals – is this to be a proposal for a books and some sample chapters, a complete book, a treatment for a film, a complete script, or whatever else the person wants written.

Also, work out the financial arrangements, including whether the client will be paying for this as a work for hire or as a co-writing arrangement, or if this is starting out as a work for hire, which will be transformed into a co-writing project if you mutually agree. Then, too, determine how the client will pay – based on a per word or per page basis or an hourly rate – and if it is per page, clarify approximately how many words per page this will be, based on the type font you are using.

Additionally, determine up front how the client will pay. Some like a contract, where you get a certain percentage down (ie: 20-33%), another percentage after you complete a certain amount of the manuscript (ie: another 20-33% after you complete ¼ to ½ of the manuscript), still more at the next percentage point, and at the end. Another common alternative is to use a pay as you go model, where the person pays you a set amount via PayPal or check for each segment of the project before you do it or where you charge that person’s card a certain amount before or after you do each section.

With more established companies, a common arrangement, if you don’t have a contract for money up front for each section of the project, is for you to bill the company, after which they pay you within 10 to 30 days. And usually they do. While such a billing arrangement may be fine with larger established companies or with a client with whom you have an ongoing long-term relationship, I don’t recommend this for new individual clients, especially if you haven’t met them personally or they are in another state or country. The big problem is that you can do the work and they don’t pay you. Then, you have little or no way to collect, because the client is out of state and this is too small amount to pursue through legal means, plus then you still have to collect if you win.

Sometimes clients may argue that they don’t want to pay anything up front because they aren’t sure that you will complete the work or that they will be satisfied. One good response to that is to assure them that they are protected if they pay you by credit card, because they can ask for and obtain a refund from their credit card company for non-completion of the project, whereas you have no such protection if they don’t pay you. As for their comment that their payment hinges on whether they will be satisfied, this could be a red flag that you are dealing with a difficult person who is hard to satisfy, and they could refuse to pay you for that reason, too.

To deal with that issue, I generally respond that I don’t work on spec and that I can limit what I do to a small number of pages (say 5-10 pages). Then, they can provide me with their comments so I can revise what I have written if necessary, and if satisfied, they can give me the go ahead to do more. But otherwise, I get paid for what I do, and I will do everything I can to make sure they like what I am doing, before I do more.

Another arrangement I will enter into with some clients is an initial co-writing agreement if the project is in my field and I think I will like working with this person, if the person insists on such an arrangement to do the project. Then, I will deduct 25% from my usual charges in return for a credit and splitting any royalties or fees for selling the project, after deducting whatever the person paid me upfront, though I give the client the option of turning the project into a work-for-hire before pitching it for sale by paying me the additional 25%. But ideally, I prefer to start as a work-for-hire arrangement with the option of turning this into a co-write down the road. This way, it is very clear that client is in control from the get-go, and as the project goes along, we can mutually determine if a co-writer arrangement would be mutually beneficial. Otherwise, the client is in the driver’s seat, steering the project, so he or she knows the destination, and my role is to help the client get there. The advantage of this arrangement, I have found, is that there are no problems of co-writers discovering they have different shared visions of the project as they go along, since it starts with the client’s vision and can always turn into a co-write if this vision is shared.

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GINI GRAHAM SCOTT, Ph.D.