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Samhain Publishing

herdon

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I would say the standard for e-books is first right of refusal on derivitive works (sequels). Anything more restrictive than that I wouldn't sign.

I certainly wouldn't advise signing a contract that gives first rights of refusal to the next book regardless of subject matter. That's way too much to give up to an e-publisher in my opinion.

Though I've always wondered about first right of refusals and how they work in a court of law. Do they stay in effect only until the publisher accepts/denies a subsequen twork, or does the publisher get the right until the point in which they choose to accept a work? (i.e. if you sent in a horrid manuscript and they refused does that relieve you of your obligation).
 

Christine N.

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Most ROFR clauses are, in fact, boilerplate. Just means you take your next book, usually of the same genre or in the same series as the book you're signing the contract for, and show it to them first. They usually also include a timeline for answer.

It never means that you have to go with that publisher, should they actually make an offer on that book. They have the right to see it first and either make an offer or refuse. You always have the right not to accept their deal and take your next book elsewhere.

Unless, of course, it's a multi-book contract, which is outside the scope of the ROFR clause.

And most publishers take them out if you ask them, because usually it's not worth fighting over. If the publisher does their job, the writer wants to send their next book to them anyway.

VG, I understand that some are restrictive - meaning what how many and what kinds of rights they're after. The publisher is always after as many rights as they can get, and I agree, in the case of EC, it's probably okay. They do have a track record, and in the case of EC, you could be talking audio and foreign rights that they can actually use and sell. Many small publishers can't use 'em and don't know how to sell 'em, so it's not in the authors best interest to sign them over. I can even see the use of the pen name, on some level, it's like a brand the publisher wants to keep. Again, with EC it wouldn't be a bad deal - I can always make up a new pen name.

darkmagic seemed to be saying that this publisher wanted her/him (I'm not sure, sorry) to sign away the rights to use of the characters themselves, meaning the publisher could then take those characters and have someone else write books with them. That's NOT boilerplate, nor usual in publishing outside of Book Packaging/Work for Hire.
 
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darkmagic

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Yeah, Christine is right. In the contract, it said that the publisher could replace me and keep my characters and pen name.
With EC, I've noticed several of their writers have been picked up by the big publishers in New York. Though at thr RT convention last year, someone told me that if you signed with EC it was a seven year contract. Don't know if that is true or not.
 

veinglory

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Yes. EC has a 7 year contract, epublishers normally go for 1-2 years but there are others that take 7 or longer.

EC is the major erotic romance epublisher right now but that status may be slipping. It depends how much weight you put on blog-buzz.
 

Christine N.

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Oh sheesh no. When you sign a contract, NORMALLY it's for that book only. You can submit other books to other publishers. Many authors have several books by different publishers, myself included (yeah, I'm bragging a little, but I'm still allowed :D ). I know Veinglory also has books from several different publishers.

Everything depends on the terms of your contract, of course. I'm telling you all this based on my experience. If you sign a multi-book deal, for example, you have to fulfill your contract. Doesn't mean you can't submit books to other publishers, it just means you'd better have the books you promised the one who you are contractually obligated.

I hope I'm not confusing you.
 

veinglory

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If you write for EC and do not amend the contract you must give them you next book under the same terms, and the next. So it could effectively become exclusive.

Of course if your next book was in a different genre they would unlikely to want it and the contract could be negotiated.
 

James D. Macdonald

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That's called an "option clause" and should either be crossed out entirely, or written so narrowly that only a direct sequel to the present work would be covered.

If they won't negotiate, go elsewhere.
 

Rebecca James

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Hello all,

Darkmagic - you asked if I had rights to my characters - I'm not 100% sure what you mean - but I do know that there's no clause in the Samhain contract where they get to take a first look at anything else I write.

Shortly after I signed with Samhain I signed with an agent to represent my second book (which is currently under submission) she read through the Samhain contract and said that there was certainly nothing sinister in there.

I know that they are willing to negotiate because their original contract stipulated that they had rights to my book for 7 yrs but because I was concerned that my book (being very much mainstream and not romance) might not do very well with a publisher primarily known for romance, they were willing to decrease this time to five yrs.

I've already had one very mixed review from a reviewer who found my book a bit depressing and realistic for her taste. (you can read the review in full here if you're interested).

I sometimes worry that this is the reception my book is doomed for - but won't know, obviously, until it is released.
 

Stacia Kane

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If you write for EC and do not amend the contract you must give them you next book under the same terms, and the next. So it could effectively become exclusive.

Either this is no longer true, or isn't true at all. (They revised their contracts a couple of months ago.) The terms for the next book are negotiable.
 

darkmagic

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Okay, so they own the book for seven years. I'm slowly figuring all of this out.
Rebecca, good luck with your book and thanks for all of the info.
 

veinglory

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The terms have always been negotiable, I hope I made that very clear as I have always heard that EC are very ammenable to negotiating contracts. But last I heard (about 4 months agos) their new contract as offered optioned the next book. Then authors would either strike or narrow this clause. Has that changed?
 

Stacia Kane

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The terms have always been negotiable, I hope I made that very clear as I have always heard that EC are very ammenable to negotiating contracts. But last I heard (about 4 months agos) their new contract as offered optioned the next book. Then authors would either strike or narrow this clause. Has that changed?

It options the next suitable-type book, but the terms are fully negotiable, and if an agreement can't be reached the author is free to go elsewhere with the work.

I must have misunderstood; when you said "you must give them your next book under the same terms" I thought you meant once you'd signed a contract, the terms of that contract applied to every other book and you could never renegotiate any terms.
 

veinglory

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Oh no, nothing that limiting--I must be expressing myself poorly. If you left the contract entirely as is it would, as far as I know, commit the next book under the same terms. But that is just a lay reading of it. The clause is still something for authors to be aware of--especially as many write for multiple houses before subbing to EC. But yes, I know several authors have made that clause more specific without difficulty.
 

Christine N.

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Darkmagic, they don't OWN the book. They've purchased the right to publish the book for the length of the contract. You can let anyone else publish it, but it's still your book.

I know it sounds like spitting hairs, but it's really not, and really rather an important distinction if something should happen and you and your publisher don't see eye to eye down the road. Caveat: I am not a lawyer.
 

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Congratulations, Rebecca James. That's got to be a great boost when you were worried about the book being accepted by readers.

Continued success,

kap
 

herdon

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Rebecca, your 'buy it here' link on your blog is broken. Also, you should make the picture of the book link to your publisher's site as well as having text under it link there -- but I don't know the limitations of your blog software on that stuff.
 

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Rebecca:

Congratulations!! a 95 !!! Wow!!! Such excitement for you :)
 

JamesAllen

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Samhain and gay romance

I'm wondering if you all have seen any of their gay romance titles on the bookstore shelves. I was thinking of submitting, as my manuscript is well over 65,000 words and I've always hoped to have a print novel someday--but does Samhain put gay fiction on the shelves? An agent who rejected me told me gay fiction is extremely difficult to sell (maybe that was her way of letting me down easy?). There's so little in the way of gay romance in bookstores anyway, I wonder if it is worth Samhain's while to print them when het romances do so well.
Thanks for any insights you all may have.
 

Christine N.

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Samahain seems to do a brisk gay and lesbian book business. I'm not sure how they do in stores, outside of the specialty stores, but the ebook trade for such novels, like the erotica market, seems to make quite a bit of scratch.