Make sure that when you sign a publishing contract you understand the kinds of situations in which the publisher could claim that your work isn’t satisfactory to them, as the contract will typically give them a right not to proceed with the book if they are not satisfied with your final manuscript.Ī publisher may also decide not to proceed with your book because the market has changed since they signed your book and they don’t think they can sell it anymore. If the contract’s “satisfactory delivery” concept is too broad, theoretically a publisher could claim that they decided they just didn’t like the contents of what you wrote, rather than that there was too much editorial work to do to make it worth continuing with the book.Ĭourt cases have been argued about what it means for a manuscript to be “satisfactory” or “editorially satisfactory” under these kinds of clauses, and how much work a publisher should be doing to help get the manuscript into an editorially satisfactory state. When you negotiate the contract it is important to check that the final delivery clause contemplates the work being “editorially” satisfactory rather than generally satisfactory to the publisher. The idea of a “final delivery” date may sound odd to authors who have sold completed drafts of books to publishers, but remember there is always some editing to be done after you sell the manuscript so there is typically a “final delivery date” specified in the contract that is later than the date you actually signed the contract. You should get your rights back to allow you to sell the manuscript elsewhere-so it’s a good idea to make sure there’s a clause to that effect in the original contract.Ī publisher usually has the right to terminate your contract if you fail to deliver a final manuscript that is editorially satisfactory within the time specified in your contract for final delivery. That contract should contain clauses that explain what happens if the publisher decides not to proceed and who gets what rights/money in that situation. If the new owners don’t want to proceed with your book, their right to terminate your contract will likely be governed by the provisions of your original contract. There will likely also be a clause in your contract about what happens if the publisher is acquired by another company-usually the publisher gets the right to transfer your contract to the new owners. Your contract may include a termination clause that reverts all rights in the book to you on the publisher’s bankruptcy and you want to check that you get to keep any advance monies already paid in that situation. While it is extremely unfortunate if your publisher goes out of business prior to publishing your book, it does happen and there are usually contract clauses that provide for who gets what rights and what money if this does occur. Publisher Goes out of Business or is Acquired by Another Company The main situations are:ġ/ the publisher goes out of business or is acquired by another company and the new owners don’t want to proceed with publication Ģ/ the publisher is not satisfied with the final draft of your manuscript or,ģ/ the publisher is concerned about market factors that might lead to poor sales or reputational harm. There are a number of reasons why a publisher may decide not to publish your work, even after signing a contract for it. While this is obviously a matter of contract law-and contracts vary between publishers and between projects-the following is an overview of the types of situations that can arise and the issues you should check in your contract, preferably before you sign it! I’ve heard a lot of questions lately about what happens if your publisher decides not to publish your book after signing a contract with you.
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