(Click on event name for more information)
Shanghai International Literacy Festival~ Mar 1 - 15, Shanghai, China
The Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival~ Mar 2 - 12, Hong Kong
Adelaide Festival Awards For Literature Winners Announced~ Mar 2, Adelaide, Australia
Growing Up Asian in America Art & Essay Contest for Youth~ entry deadline Mar 6, San Francisco, CA, USA
World Book Day~ Mar 6, United Kingdom and Ireland
The 12th Annual Charlotte S. Huck Children’s Literature Festival~ Mar 7 - 8, Redlands, CA, USA
Masak-Masak: A Potluck of Delectable Stories from Around the World~ Mar 8, Singapore
Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award Winner Announced~ Mar 12, Vimmerby, Sweden
World Storytelling Day~ Mar 20
World Poetry Day~ Mar 21
Harmony Day~ Mar 21, Australia
Bangkok International Book Fair~ Mar 26 - Apr 7, Bangkok, Thailand
The Toronto Festival of Storytelling~ Mar 28 - Apr 6, Toronto, ON, Canada
Storylines Margaret Mahy Award Lecture~ Mar 29, Pakuranga, New Zealand
Tom Fitzgibbon Award and Joy Cowley Award Winners Announced~ Mar 29, Pakuranga, New Zealand
Bologna Children’s Book Fair~ Mar 31 - Apr 3, Bologna, Italy
Hans Christian Anderson Awards Announced~ Mar 31, Bologna, Italy
Say an author submits a manuscript that you like and ultimately offer a contract. Next thing you know, you're dealing not with the writer but from the agent s/he was able to get because there's now an offer in hand. How do you feel about that?
No harm done. I’ll be significantly less ambivalent, though, if the author not only received my offer but agreed to it... and then failed to tell their new agent. Suddenly there’s an agent in the mix who thinks the advance and royalty are still up for negotiation, and is perhaps eager to prove their value to their new client.
As I said before, I don’t mind negotiating; not at all. Re-negotiating, though, shows a lack of understanding of the rules--and steams my bunny slippers.
Many questions!
Since I have not been exposed to the momentous moment of signing a contract, how long does a writer get to consider the contract before they sign? Just an estimate mind you.
If we sent out a contract and didn't hear back from you for over two weeks, we'd be concerned. The important thing is to be in touch.
Hey EA, Can you explain a bit about option clauses? What if your subsequent works aren't necessarily a great match for that particular publisher? Should you send 'em on in anyway? Or does the clause really only apply to the second book? It seems like it might be annoying to send the editor who's editing your picture book a three-volume YA fantasy when she doesn't do much YA fantasy.
Depends on the option clause. Which is why most agents get that clause trimmed down and specificed-up. If you want to send your clause in anonymously, I could post it and see what I think (I would remove mention of the publisher, if included).
I'm working on ED2 with a major company and my contract is still not in the mail. Since it's the sequel to a great selling book, I'm not too concerned... or am I? What if.... they change their mind after all the editing!
Probably no need to worry. But how many drafts of the new book have you turned in? More than two? Time to tell them to fish or cut bait.
A convicted madman is on the loose. Police say he's carrying a pen, and where his right hand should be is . . . A CONTRACT!
I know, half of you have stopped reading already so that you can put your head between your knees, take deep breaths, and try to go to your happy place.
Many, many authors dislike contract negotiations. And I mean that they'd rather be in an exam room naked, hearing, "You need a shot, but we've run out of everything except horse needles."
But it's ok. That's not a lawyer scratching at your window, and there isn't an indecipherable clause hiding under your bed.
Envision, instead, that your editor (who is a nice person: just about everyone in children's books is) does not see a contract as a chance for either side to take advantage of the other. It is an agreement--and that means that just like later when you and your editor talk over suggested changes to your manuscript, she doesn't want to win. She wants to agree.
She'll talk to you about the things she thinks are important, and you'll talk to her about the things you think are important. She may ask you to clarify your concerns, and you should have no fear about asking her to explain what parts of the contract are about. Negotiation, to your editor, is natural and friendly (yes, really!). She wants the contract you sign to be one that everyone thinks is fair.
Now, in the wake of the furor around S&S's new boilerplate, it should be pointed out that editors cannot openly disagree with their company's contracts policy, so you should absolutely have read something like Negotiating a Book Contract by Mark Levine. Your editor, who, again, wants you to feel satisfied and fairly treated, will be very happy to discuss changing the company's boilerplate if you suggest it.
Sometimes the changes that authors suggest are not ones that publishers feel are fair to the publishing house, and in those cases we will explain why and hope that you'll understand. If you don't agree, keep talking to us--tell us just what worries you--and we'll really do our best to accommodate your concerns.
There are always several places where compromise is possible. And in order to achieve that compromise, there is no need for combativeness, paranoia, or hyperventilation. We aren't car salesmen or hucksters. Quite the contrary--in a community as small and talkative as children's books, it is in fact bad, bad business sense for publishers to have staff who are going to treat authors as marks rather than as valued colleagues.
This is the first step in navigating contract negotiations: realizing that your editor wants to talk this through with you, and while she'll side with her publisher whenever she has to, she'll side with you whenever she can. Let's face it, she likes you better.
What do you mean by "ambivalent"?
I mean that normally I don't care whether an author has an agent or not. And I don't care at what point he/she gets an agent.
EA
Where is poor pussycat?