[Contracts] Contracts and Terminology

[AW Admin]

Rather than copy her carefully researched collection of links, I'm going to link to Victoria Strauss's blog post regarding Publishing Industry Terms and Contracts: Some Resources, and Some Advice.

Her caveat is worth repeating:

Originally Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

Like many other things to do with publishing, there's no one definitive source for this kind of information--you have to pull it together from multiple locations. Below are some resources that I've picked up in my travels around the Internet.

(Always, always vet the source for information like this. Make sure that the individual or group compiling it is qualified to do so. One of the things that's never in short supply on the Internet is bad or outdated or incomplete information put together by people who know even less than you do.)

[AW Admin]

On Editing Clauses in Publishing Contracts by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

Editing clauses are one of those contract areas where there needs to be a balance between the publisher's interests and the writer's. A publisher needs a certain amount of latitude to edit a manuscript to prepare it for publication (assuming it's professional enough to do editing at all--you might be surprised how many small press contracts I see that don't include editing clauses). It also needs to have the right to final approval--it doesn't want to be forced to publish a manuscript that the author can't or won't revise to the publisher's satisfaction.

A writer, on the other hand, needs assurance that they will be a partner in the editing process, and that their work won't be changed in major ways without their permission.

You can read the entire post here. See also the comment from Teresa Nielsen Hayden.