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What to look for in a book contract with an academic press

Brian Leiter

A young philosopher in Europe writes:

I’m soon about to receive a book contract proposal from a prestigious university press. I was wondering if you or the readers of Leiter Reports might be able to offer any advice on this: what to watch out for; what might I regret in the future; are the terms actually negotiable in the case of a junior academic etc.

I'll open this for comments, though please post them only once, comment moderation may be slow today given my other obligations. 

A few comments of my own.  First, many book contracts include a clause that gives the press the right of first refusal on your next book.  That might be great if it's a great press, that you'd love to work with again, but otherwise, you should ask that clause be stricken.   You aren't signing up for a lifetime contract just because a good press is publishing your first book.  Second, you ought to be clear going in about whether a paperback edition will appear:   as a junior scholar, you don't have much leverage, but it may depend on your topic.  Simultaneous publication in cloth and paper is more common for established scholars, but sometimes a press will commit to a paperback edition after one or two years, perhaps if certain sales goals are met.  It's fair to raise the issue but don't be surprised if the press says no to including that in the contract.   Third, junior scholars can't really negotiate about royalty rates, at least not in my experience.  I wouldn't worry about it, since this is an academic philosophy book!    Fourth, and this is more idiosyncratic to me since as a lawyer I actually read these contracts carefully, the contracts usually ask you to warranty that there is no libel or copyright violation and to agree to indemnify the press otherwise.  That's not unreasonable if it means that the author must indemnify the press against a successful claim of libel or copyright violation, but not if it means the author must indemnify the press against frivolous lawsuits.   Whether that's a significant distinction may depend on your topic!

Those with experience in these matters are invited to comment.  I would prefer real names, but at least include a valid e-mail address (which wont' appear).

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13 responses to “What to look for in a book contract with an academic press”

  1. Lucas Thorpe

    One thing that some young authors might want to think about are translation rights, especially if they have strong contacts in any non Anglophone countries.
    Normally publishers will include in the contract translation rights into all languages, but are often willing to waive rights to particular languages (especially if such rights are unlikely to be lucrative). For example, I live and work in Turkey, and know of a number of publisher who are willing to waive translation rights into Turkish, if asked. So if you know people who are interested in translating your work into a particular language, you might want to consider asking to keep translation rights into this language.

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  2. Tom Hurka

    As a junior scholar (way back then) I did negotiate an extra point or two on the royalty rate, though I agree with Brian that this isn't important. Royalties ain't going to make you rich. I also got a commitment to a paperback within two years, and I strongly recommend going for that — it's important if you want individuals, as against just libraries, to buy your book. And is there an issue about royalties on the e-book, if there will be one? One contract for a book of mine had a much lower royalty rate for the electronic edition, so I'd look closely at that part of the contract to ensure that it isn't wildly different. But, really, the main thing is having a contract at all, and congratulations to anyone who's crossed that hurdle.

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  3. Fritz Allhoff

    Brian's comments are great, I'd definitely agree with all those. Another I'd add is to think about indexing, which can be a big headache. Many major presses expect you to either do the index yourself or to pay for it to be done. (Of course, check to see that an index is required in the first place.) But you can generally negotiate an advance of $1k-$2k to offset this, which can be used to hire a freelancer–sometimes the press will coordinate that, too. That advance might also be used for other manuscript preparation things, too, like hiring someone to help with footnotes or sources. But it also generally is a debit against your royalty contract; e.g., you'd "start" negative and have to clear that before you come out ahead.

    And he mentions formats, e.g., hardback/paperback, but you can also at least try to start a conversation on print runs and pricing. So just ask these questions: how many copies of the book are you making? What's it going to cost? If they say 500 copies and $100+, you're looking at something that's basically for libraries. If they say 1000+ copies at under $50, that's something else. OUP tends to do better at pricing and availability than some of the other major presses, but it really depends on what the editor's trying to do with your book–monetize library sales or get something read more broadly. You won't generally have leverage in this conversation, but you might make progress (e.g., surely with inclusion of concurrent/forthcoming paperback release), and you'll at least show that what you care about is getting the ideas out there, which is what you should be caring about.

    Also, ask about how they'd promote or market the book. A lot of people get disappointed with publishers that the books effectively get thrown online or put in some catalogue, without a lot of targeted marketing; that marketing effectively reverts to the author. I've had good luck with OUP and Chicago in those regards, some other presses really take it less seriously–feels like they're basically done with the book once it's published. Or ask if you can have a budget to advertise on the blogs, which can also help with sales and readership.

    Finally, what publishers tend to be most flexible with is copies of the book. Your contract will likely say 3-5 free copies or something; ask for 20. Say you'll give them to prospective adopters or send copies to researchers who work in the field. The marginal cost to the publisher on that contractual term is comparatively low (e.g., a couple hundred dollars), and you really will use those copies for something or other.

    Congratulations on your forthcoming contract!

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  4. Andy

    I disagree that OUP does well on pricing – monographs cost about twice or three times the major American presses, I should think ….

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  5. Richard Baron

    On copyright, is there merit in running the text through the software that universities use to detect plagiarism by students? That might not catch everything, but a clean bill of health might give the publisher enough reassurance to limit the range of circumstances in which the contract entitled them to call on the author to indemnify them.

    If the author and the part of the publisher that will pay royalties are in different countries, and if there is any prospect of getting more royalties than the price of a few drinks, it may be worth asking how they will be paid. You will have zero leverage here, because the publisher will have its system already set up and you will have to live with it. But it is nice to know in advance how much money will stick to the paws of banks on the way. I recently did a pre-publication review of a book for an American university publisher. The American bank took 33 dollars as a charge for the money transfer. The British bank only took 2 pounds to receive and convert what was left.

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  6. Former UP employee

    A point of clarification/context on the right of first refusal clause: I worked for several years in the acquisitions department of a major university press. The clause was always understood by the press and (as far as I know) by authors as a "right to first consultation" on the author's next book. That is, the clause gave the press the right to be the first to learn of and bid on the next work, but the author was under no obligation to accept the press's offer or refrain from going on to shop the book elsewhere. All this was spelled out in clear language in the contract, though perhaps the phrase "right of first refusal" inadvertently suggests something like a multibook contract (or perhaps other publishers' contracts have more restrictive versions of this clause).

    BL COMMENT: No doubt there is variation in contract language, but I have read and stricken genuine "right of first refusal" clauses, so it's worth keeping an eye out for this.

    Reply
  7. Jonathan Cohen

    in my view the single most important thing to talk about at this stage is keeping the price as low as possible (and, secondarily along the same lines, trying to get the cheaper paperback edition out quickly). as others note, a high price is unlikely to make you rich (given the sales volume of most academic philosophy books), but can very easily keep the book out of range for adoption by graduate seminars, and thereby do significant harm to the book's intellectual impact. your utility function may differ, but I would think for most academics the issue about intellectual impact is enormously more important than the marginal increase in royalties (if there is one) coming from a higher price.

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  8. Tom

    At least in my book contract (with a major philosophy press), the press' "right of first refusal" obliges me to send my next book MS/proposal to it before I approach other publishers–and that's it.

    It does not obligate me to accept the offer, if any, my current press makes on that next project. I would be free to go to a different publisher, for whatever reason.

    BL COMMENT: I'll just observe that even that is a significant obligation time-wise.

    Reply
  9. Kevin Harrelson

    Regarding ‘right of first refusal clauses’: when I tried, unsuccessfully, to get that clause stricken, the press gave me the interpretation represented here by ‘former UP employee’. I relented, but wish I hadn’t. I’m not sure what, if anything, I owe them, nor whether that clause will make it harder to publish my next book.

    So my recommendation is to get rid of it if possible.

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  10. wesley

    Indexing fees!

    Reply
  11. Junior faculty

    I recently signed an "option clause"–presumably the same as a "right to first refusal clause"?–with a top publisher. Since the publisher is excellent, I'd be happy to publish with them again, so I didn't mind agreeing to the clause. However, I'm wondering whether the clause is just boiler-plate or whether it actually shows commitment or interest on the side of the publisher. Put another way, is signing the clause advantageous to the author in any way?

    Reply
  12. Charles Pigden

    Unlike Fritz Allhoff I have (to date) no book of my own, but I have edited three and in each case I prepared the index myself. It’s a lot work but in my opinion it is worth it. I often find that what I remember about a book, paper or an article is the jokes, the vivid examples and sometimes the specific arguments or the specific formulae. These are the things I want to access, and these are the very things that professional indexers tend to miss. A good index by a professional philosopher (or of course a professional scholar in another domain) can make a book a lot more user-friendly and consequently a lot more useful. I am also of the opinion that a decent index should have at least one joke. One of my favorites is from Alan Musgrave’s index to Popper’s (1963) Conjectures and Refutations:

    Marxism:
    – made irrefutable 34f, 37, 333f
    – refuted 37& n, 333

    Not only is this funny but the index represents a ‘teaching moment’; Popper thinks that Marxism is refutable in some senses but has been made irrefutable in others. By following up on the jokey reference you might actually learn something.

    Reply
  13. Robert

    (I am not the OP). Before this thread dies down, I wonder if I can hijack it a bit, and ask: Do I need an agent? Some background about my specific situation — I'm somewhat junior, with a full time Lecturer position at a top-ish school with a graduate program, though I teach undergrads. I've published one academic book, and another on the way, both with the same top-ish publisher. I'd like (1) to move up a few rungs in the ladder for the next book, and (2) soon think about publishing something a bit more popular — something that may find itself on shelves at a bookstore at the mall (if such things even still exist). Can we hear from philosophers who have approached, been approached by, or have engaged the services of, a literary agent? Are there any benefits generally (which would interest others on the thread or the OP) or maybe to my situation specifically? Of potential relevance — an agent would be the person to ask and negotiate all the things discussed thus far on this thread.

    I should say, I've emailed a few agents, and none ever write me back, which may portend an answer to my question.

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