I have written my first book.  I have been talking to a publisher
about publishing my book.  They have asked me to sign a "Standard
Contract".  The main terms are:
- Royalties:  10% of net profits for all published copies in the US
- Book Club sales:  10% of net profits for all copies sold to book
clubs
- Media: 50% of all net profit from movies, television, audio, radio,
etc.

Do these terms sound like they are reasonable for a first time author?

  - Dave

Hello Dave and thank you for your question.


First of all answers provided on Google Answers are general
information, and are not intended to substitute informed legal or
other professional advice.

Daniel Steven in his article “Book Publishing Agreements: What You
Absolutely, Positively Must Know” discusses the seven key contract
provisions and their implications in a standard contract.

Here are two short excerpts on royalties and rights:

Royalties

“Obviously always negotiable, this rate will depend on whether the
book is paperback, trade paperback, or hardcover, and is generally a
sliding rate.  For example, a hardcover book might have royalties of
11 percent on the first 5,000 copies sold, 12.5 percent on the next
5,000, 15 percent thereafter (paperback is generally in the six to
nine percent range).  The key to royalties is not only the percentage
but what price the percentage is based upon.”

Rights

“The standard publishing agreement will provide that the author
licenses or assigns all “print” rights to the publisher, plus
“subsidiary” rights: foreign, book club, electronic, film, audio,
drama.   Except for print rights, however, all of these are
negotiable, depending on your bargaining power.  Unless there is a
specific reason not to do so, always try to retain as many subsidiary
rights as you can.  Even first novelists should be able to retain film
and foreign rights.”

Source: Book Publishing Agreements by Daniel Steven 
Publish Lawyer Website
http://www.publishlawyer.com/carousel2.htm

Standard Contract for a Novel

“Under most circumstances, these figures are 10% of the first 5000
copies, 12 1/2% of the next 5000 copies, and 15% thereafter.”
http://www.mysterywriters.org/library/sarcont.htm

An excellent article by Morris Rosenthal “Book contracts, publisher
agreements, and author royalties.”

Royalties, foreign sales, special sales, publisher's book clubs, sales
of rights, and payments are addressed in this article.
http://www.fonerbooks.com/contract.htm

Additional information that may interest you:

Online Resources for Writers
Source: National Writers Union.
http://www.nwu.org/links/lnkhome.htm

Search Criteria:

Guide to Book Contracts
"Standard Contract" publishing my first book +royalties
"Standard Contract" book


I hope you find this helpful and if there is anything that I've
written that needs clarification, please ask before you rate this
answer.

Best Regards,
Bobbie7-ga

Congrats on both finishing a book and actually getting some interest
from a publisher.  Those are both impressive accomplishments.  As you
review any potential contracts, please be alert to the huge difference
between getting a percentage of gross sales vs. a percentage of the
"net profit".  Even some very successful books, movies, etc. never
actually see a "net profit" on paper, and the authors can walk away
with very little (except, perhaps, fame).

Dear Videocentric-ga, There are two "standard contracts" in the book
publishing industry, the one the author would like and the one the
publisher wants you to sign.


============================
Clauses ... USA Rights Only?
============================

I see your publisher is not looking for rights outside the US. (Is
that correct? It's possible that they want world rights, and it's
somewhere implicit in the contract.) Apart from that, it looks to me
like a very bad deal.

Writers' associations have sample contracts that they recommend to
potential authors; and a good association should also tell you of the
pitfalls, under what circumstances you would like reversion of rights
(e.g. the book is out of print! the publisher hasn't listed your book
in the catalog or website! a scant marketing effort, and so on), and
other important issues, from a bestseller bonus, the editing and
presentation of the book (get a really great editor!), support for a
book tour ... to such "smaller" issues as the number of free copies
and the discount on extra copies.

It would be good to get a hold of a copy of one of these
(writer-recommended) contracts, and also read about writers'
experiences with different publishers.

The more you read about this, and get to know the terrain, the better.


=====================
Definition of royalty
=====================

Traditionally, a royalty is a percentage of the * retail price * of
the book; certainly, that has been the case in Britain and Ireland,
when I worked in publishing. Not the net income / net sales / net
anything.  And thanks to pafalafa-ga for pointing that out.


==========================
Writers' Groups in the USA
==========================

American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA)
1501 Broadway
New York, NY 10036
(212) 997-0947
www.asja.org

The Authors Guild
330 West 42nd Street, 29th floor
New York, NY 10036
(212) 563-5904
www.authors-guild.org

National Writers Union (NWU)
113 University Place
New York, NY 10003
(212) 254-0279 
www.nwu.org/nwu

(I'm not recommending these, just listing them! I know that a writers
associaton in Britain, it may have been the Society of Writers, used
to provide sample writing contracts free to anyone interested (as
reported in the Bookseller journal), and they also lobbied UK
publishers to use these contracts.)


========================
A lawyer's point of view 
========================

      "Best-selling writers might be treated fairly by the media
conglomerates that dominate publishing today, but the average author
isn't. And no clearer proof exists than the "standard" book contract,
routinely forced upon authors and their agents. . . ."
http://www.mediachannel.org/views/oped/bookcontract.shtml


Best wishes with your book! I wish you every success.