- Joined
- Nov 19, 2014
- Messages
- 16
- Reaction score
- 0
I am holding in my hot little hands a contract.
I'm from the corporate world, and there are various things that are absent from this contract that I'd normally expect to see. I'd like to know if these things being absent are SOP in the book publishing world:
1) Lack of an audit clause. The contract addresses royalties, but never mentions my right to audit.
2) Does not mention mediation, remedies etc should there be a breach on either side.
3) Does not mention if the contract is transferable or sub-liscensable
4) Does not mention basically what I'd call "content indemnification"- basically their THEIR legal counsel will review the content and they'll take the hit if they miss something. But there's plenty of us indemnifying them against plagiarism and the like. If I really eyeball the clause it COULD sound like I'm indemnifying them all content and their legal eagles won't touch it. Normal?
This contract also contains an "auto renew" (publisher's discretion, and the way it's written, I don't get a say in it), which is something I've never seen before in any contract- renewals are always by mutual agreement. Normal for books?
There's also no termination clause. There's one for THEM, but my right to terminate are not mentioned one way or the other. Is this normal?
I'm from the corporate world, and there are various things that are absent from this contract that I'd normally expect to see. I'd like to know if these things being absent are SOP in the book publishing world:
1) Lack of an audit clause. The contract addresses royalties, but never mentions my right to audit.
2) Does not mention mediation, remedies etc should there be a breach on either side.
3) Does not mention if the contract is transferable or sub-liscensable
4) Does not mention basically what I'd call "content indemnification"- basically their THEIR legal counsel will review the content and they'll take the hit if they miss something. But there's plenty of us indemnifying them against plagiarism and the like. If I really eyeball the clause it COULD sound like I'm indemnifying them all content and their legal eagles won't touch it. Normal?
This contract also contains an "auto renew" (publisher's discretion, and the way it's written, I don't get a say in it), which is something I've never seen before in any contract- renewals are always by mutual agreement. Normal for books?
There's also no termination clause. There's one for THEM, but my right to terminate are not mentioned one way or the other. Is this normal?