I received contracts today from Berkley for my next two Heat books.
This is always a thrilling thing, because it’s nice to be contracted. Contracted means I’m employed through “X” number of books. I am one happy camper when I receive a contract. :hips:
However, reading through contracts is not thrilling.
It’s like publishers hand you this document and say “Here’s War and Peace–in Croation. Please read this, sign it and return it tomorrow.”
Um…yeah.
Now my agent does go through the contracts first after they arrive from the publisher, and she pronounced them good and sends them to me. But of course it’s my job to go through them too. No author should ever take a contract at face value. That’s bad. Bad bad bad. Always read your contracts. Every word. Every time. Things can change. Things get missed. There might be something in there that wasn’t there the last time, or something that was that you might not want in there, or something you don’t understand that you need your agent or your publisher to clarify. It’s vital that you know what’s in your contracts before you sign them. You can’t come back later and say “I didn’t want that in there”. Once your signature is on there, it’s a done deal.
And it’s always okay to ask to have something changed before you sign. Really. It is. Or to question a word, or phrase or clause. It’s your book, your money, your career. You have to take care of it.
Off to read War and Peace…in Croation. :chair:
