Calling all Sports Publishing LLC authors

Ditto on all the agent advice, particularly at a time like this, when even the "major" publishers are f-ing around on the dollar end of things. Most of them are just as affected by the world financial situation as GM, and before this is up expect to see some of the big dogs show their bellies - virtually no one in the book business has ever experienced an economic climate like this and they have no clue how to proceed.

The time is ripe for writers to be ripped off or abused by both publishers with creaky finances and unscrupulous agents. We're already the last to be paid - expect that to get worse.

 

Speaking from experience (the agent part, not the hair part), this is an ugly truth. A chunk of my royalty was paid to someone to essentially be a mail forwarding service.

 

Maybe you had a bad experience with an agent (and I hope it wasn't me!), but I'm wondering what you mean by 'walk-ins.' Plenty of first-time authors seeking an agent are technically walk-ins. I would be warier of an agent who refused new authors on that basis. (Of course, always talk to others who have used a particular agent, get references, etc.)

On the general subject of collapsing publishers, I don't think any agent can prevent a publisher from going bankrupt, or unfairly withholding payment, or otherwise breaching a contract.

What an agent CAN do is warn writers about certain publishers, or add language to a flimsy contracts in hopes of providing some protection.

As In Exile said above, these are hard times for even the big publishers, and there are a lot of "legal" ways for them to mess with royalties and the way they sell books; deeper discounts can really wreck your potential to earn royalties. If you don't know how to protect yourself, ask someone.

 

I understand what you're saying about an agent. But the funny part (if there is a funny part) was that SP approached me to do the book.

Yes, I have a contract that stipulates I am to be paid an advance in three different increments. I never saw a penny, so I am confident/hopeful that breach of contract gives me some power with the bankruptcy court -- but you never know how long they will want to drag things out.

Rest assured that I will fight to get back the rights to my own work.

 

You didn't even get the payment due on signing the contract? Ouch. Red flag for anyone who can learn from your bad experience, NEVER turn in a manuscript until you've been paid the contractual advance. It would be like selling a house and letting the new folks move in before they pay you.

Good luck, OSU.

 

This is a big red flag.

Normally, royalties are paid as percentage against the suggested retail price.

However, (and this was a clause written specifically for Book Clubs back in the day but applies to deep discounters like Wal-Mart and Costco), if the publisher sells your book below a certain discount off retail (say, 60% but it can vary), you only earn a percentage--usually 10%--of the NET selling price, not the retail.

So, instead of getting $3.50 on a $35.00 book you may find that you only get $1.40 However, you may end up selling an additional 10,000 copies.

It's standard contractually but your agent should point that out to you.

 

Came from someone who has been with the company all the way until the very bitter end.

 

I said up front I was a trusting fool. I wanted to have a book in print, looked at all of the other books the company had published and led with my chin ... instead of doing some digging. Live and learn, I hope.

 

OSU, SP has done that to other writers. Seems to be one of their favorite ploys.

 

Don't beat yourself up OSU - books are a tough racket to crack and many of us, if not most, have made the same mistake trying to break in. I know I did at least twice. A book in print is a powerful drug. To all the authors to be out there, there are several threads, including the Author's Thread in the writer's workshop, that discuss what to look for.

 

For all the fine advice about what you should/shouldn't do, let's also recognize that in most of the situations we're discussing here, the leverage is entirely with the publisher.

Doesn't mean that you should get cheated or abused, but it does mean that you "need" to have the book published a lot more than the publisher needs to have it in the catalog.

Until you become Feinstein and have the sway to customize a contract or put a book out for bids, the pendulum is probably not swinging in your direction.

 

Mr Sloan,

What you write is only true with a book that is marginal in the first place.

If you have a good book, strong subject material, a story that you own, and a modicum of talent, you have some leverage with publisher. And you're better off to wait to do a good book rather than just any book for the sake of having one done.

YD&OHS, etc