Authors Guild launches WhoMovedMyBuyButton.com

Today, the Authors Guild launched WhoMovedMyButton.com, a beta site for authors to track their books on Amazon and if the “Buy Now” button are accessible.  There’s a quick registration process and then you simply enter the ISBN for the books you want monitored. If there is a change in status, you’ll get an email alert.  They also include screen shots of how the book page should look and what to expect if your button has been removed.

For those who don’t know, things started last Friday when Amazon removed the “Buy Now” buttons for many of the imprints under MacMillan, one of the largest trade publishers in the U.S. (in other words, they threw a hissyfit).  It is unbelievable that after almost a week this has not been resolved and it leaves avid readers and authors wondering what will happen next.  When will we be able to buy the books on Amazon again?  It makes others wonder if this is a breach of contract from their publisher and if they have grounds to pull back their electronic rights. Some authors are even starting their on eBook companies to bring back out-of-print and backlisted titles, but others are more concerned with how the iPad plays into all this and if Jeff Bezos simply is trying to corner the market so the Kindle remains the “it” of ebook readers.  Or is it an ego trip for both sides at this point? Or even worse, is it just greed?

While I have yet to see an official response from Amazon or CEO Jeff Bezos other than a post on the discussion boards (in the Kindle Forum) from “The Amazon Kindle Team”, (which I might add was really a bit tacky and unprofessional.  Of course the Kindle crew is gonna side with Amazon as many are looking at cheaper ebooks as fitting in their best interest.)  John Sargent, the CEO of Macmillan has several paid ads updating authors & agents on the latest developments and in most of them, he sounds pretty convincing, but is it fear of the inpact eBooks will have on print books?  Macmillan even posted an ad in the NYT for a new release and added the tagline “Available at booksellers everywhere except Amazon.” (Not really a full-blown Amazon-style hissy fit, but it’s kinda funny and definitely makes a point.)

I understand most of the issues, but it seems to be getting pretty political on the literary front.  The bigger issue for me is that authors and their readers are being affected and this is just not good business.  Amazon may be a major avenue for distributing books, but are they right to remove the print books?   It makes me wonder if it is necessary for us to update RAWSISTAZ and BlackBookReviews.net so our members and visitors have access to books we’ve linked to which may now not be available to them.  Earlier this week SFWA removed the links on their site, stating “Our authors depend on people buying their books and since a significant percentage of them publish through Macmillan or its subsidiaries, we would prefer to send traffic to stores where the books can actually be purchased.”

This is truly a sad, sad time in literary history.   More popcorn anyone?

Publishing Contracts: Part 2 by Dyanne Davis

I hope while I was gone you all had a productive week. Did you have any questions about that contracts I posted? Hmm. Probably.  Well I’m going to go over a few points that I think are important.  Just remember this: Talking with my agents and lawyer does not make me a lawyer.  I’m a writer/nurse. While the things I say may be based on the facts as I know them to be, you should always have a lawyer look them over for you. (That disclaimer sure made me sound like a lawyer didn’t it? LOL)

First off you really need an intellectual property attorney.

What is Intellectual Property?

Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce.

Intellectual property is divided into two categories: Industrial property, which includes inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs, and geographic indications of source; and Copyright, which includes literary and artistic works such as novels, poems and plays, films, musical works, artistic works such as drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, and architectural designs. Rights related to copyright include those of performing artists in their performances, producers of phonograms in their recordings, and those of broadcasters in their radio and television programs.

The first thing that any writer is interested in is the money be it advance or royalty.  The simple definition of advance is money given to you by the publisher before your book has even had a chance to hit the shelves.  Some authors may receive part of the advance on signing the contract. The advance is usually divided into two or three payments. Sometimes the last part of an advance is paid when final edits are approved and accepted. Sometimes the final payment may not be given until a designated time period after the book hit the shelves.

I was told it cost about $19,000 to put out the average print book. Let us assume that figure is true. Then let us assume it’s your first book and you received $5000 for an advance. The average price of mass market books are about $6.99, for Trade size (the little larger size books) the price is about $10.99. 

Here’s the fun part:  Your royalty is between 6-8 percent. Royalty is paid after the $5000 you were given has been earned back.  And no, that doesn’t mean that you have to pay it back personally if the book doesn’t make a profit.  It does mean that if it doesn’t make a profit you won’t see royalties and you may not get another book contract.

$6.99 (price of book) X  (print run-number of your book that was printed)  15,000 books = $104,850 X —-  your percentage 6 = $6291- your advance = $1,291  Right?  Wrong.  A certain percentage is held in anticipation of books being returned to the publisher.  About 25% = 322.75

IF everything went according to my little above scenario you would still be pretty happy.  You got $5000 up front money and now you’re going to get a check for $968.25.  There are two things that would immediately throw this off. IF the print run was 10,000 instead of 15,000 you would not have earned out your advance. You would have earned $4,194.    25% would still be held for return. And then you have the other big IF.  IF your percentage was based on retail or wholesale. I of course based it on retail.

I’m aware that you’re bored with what I’ve presented.  It even seems a little daunting and you might be thinking, forget it I’m going to self publish.  There is no right or wrong way to get your work out there but to self publish your work is not a cheap venture.

I’m breaking apart this contract not to discourage you from sending your work to a publisher.  In fact I want to encourage you to do just that.  I just want to arm you with knowledge.  Knowledge is power. It doesn’t matter whether this article is boring to you or not. It matters that you have some understanding of an advance, the way royalties work and the need for an intellectual property attorney who understands all of the jargon to look it over and explain the contract with you before you sign. Remember I said I was going to go over a couple of points. I changed my mind. Your eyes are glossing over and I know when to quit.  See you soon.

Dyanne

Publishing Contracts: Part 1 by Dyanne Davis

Most of you aren’t familiar with me, so I’ll introduce myself.  My name is Dyanne Davis and I’m a romance author.  I also write a vampire series under F. D. Davis. I’m thrilled to be participating in this new venture that Tee is doing.  For many years I didn’t think I’d learned enough to be of any help to anyone else.  I know think there are things we can all share with each other. With such a diverse group of writers and readers in the RAW family it’s hard to decide what to provide for this first issue. So, I decided to go with the one thing that I wanted to see years before I became published.  A publishing contract.  It’s one of those things that if you’re polite you would never ask anyone to show you.  Like you’d never ask anyone how much of an advance they received. (smile)

Since I began in this business I’ve signed all kinds of contracts, some I shouldn’t have.  I know now about adding clauses that favor me.  Some things I picked up from my agent some from other places.  This boiler plate contract is one of several that’s used in the industry.  No contract should ever be signed without you first having either an agent negotiate it or an Intellectual Property Attorney look it over.  If you’re offered a publishing contract and decide to ignore everything that I’ve said here, at least get the clause below inserted into your contract.  Good luck

Ownership of Characters

Except as allowed under the sections of this agreement governing promotion of the work, Author owns the characters and controls their use in sequels or series books, whether published by Publisher or another Publisher. Publisher will have a non-exclusive right to use the title, all the material, including characters in the Work, for the purpose of advertising, publishing and promoting the Work.

 Nothing in this agreement shall obligate the Author to submit any additional, unrelated works to Publisher.

Stay tuned for Part 2 and please post any questions or comments you have below. 

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