While I attended Life the Universe and Everything this year I took some great notes on a panel about contracts.  Here are the rest of my notes which I started last week.

• when you work with a publisher. You agree upon if you keep rights of e-books or foreign rights.
• State in the contract when the author receives access to audiobooks other rights always set a time limit.
• Rights of first approval: do not do. Or if you do may be specified. That’s only for the series that they now have rights to
• Rights of last approval: do not do.
• If any section of the contract that you disagree with exit out and put your initials on it.
• Always be willing to walk away on issues that you feel very strongly about when it comes to contract. There are other options/fish in the sea.
• That should always be an exit clause, such as if the publisher goes under what happens.
• If you don’t want that publisher to have rights to other genre fiction, specify that in the contract.
• If you give them access for first read then have a 90 day deadline.
• All contracts should have escape clauses and time limits.
• If you don’t have an agent. You need to have an intellectual property lawyer look at your contract.
• Reversion rights: when novel comes back to you as specifically if e-books count because otherwise publishers have a tendency to print and e-book at no cost and still maintain rights.
• Allow mutual examination of the books so that you can see in the records.
• If books on Amazon are not priced high enough, they will charge you for the privilege to print your books. And also for download costs.
• Set the contract for five years and then continue it on a month to month basis.
• Publish America is very bad. Believe is located in Utah.
• bargaining is used in publishing, ask for more.

If you would like to add to the list, please present them in the comment section of this bog.