Making the Pen Mightier: Negotiation and Writing

In negotiating a publishing contract, sometimes you’ll get everything you want. Sometimes you’ll be told, “We won’t change the terms; take them or leave them.” Most of the time, though, you’ll need to negotiate a compromise.

Often this negotiation will be simple—e.g., the editor offers $1000, you ask for $1500, and you settle on $1250. Just as often, though, a workable compromise will require some creativity on your part. (Although editors and publishers often agree to such compromises, they rarely suggest them.)

One of the biggest dilemmas I’ve faced as an agent involved the co-authors of a bestselling nonfiction book. Both wanted to publish an updated edition. However, only one had the time to create this revised version—yet the other was unwilling to take less than 50% of the new edition’s earnings. This impasse lasted for years—until I suggested that the two split the earnings equally and that the writer who did the lion’s share of the revising receive 2200 free copies of the new edition. She could then sell these at the retail price for a total of about $40,000 additional income. Eventually I got the publisher on board with this plan as well, and the deal was made.

In your own dealings with editors and publishers, when have you made—or saved—a publishing deal by offering a creative compromise? Would you tell the story of that compromise here?

Comments

2 Responses to “Making the Pen Mightier: Negotiation and Writing”

1. Nancy Peske says:

   August 31, 2009 at 11:46 am

   Excellent point about the core of negotiation. You are truly an ace contract negotiator!

   As you’ve noted before, one of the best negotiating tactics when there’s a disagreement on who retains a particular subsidiary right (for instance, audio rights) is to grant it to the publisher for a limited time only, with rights reverting to you if they don’t use them. True, sometimes, years later, the publisher will want those rights, but they probably won’t see that now.

   Once, as an in-house editor, I re-bought a book that had gone out of print and was now being turned into a movie. The author sold the rights back to the publisher but retained book club and large print rights, which turned out to be quite lucrative. Most authors would’ve just sold back all rights, but this fellow, a seasoned author, had a hunch he should retain some of those rights for his agent to sell on his behalf. As a result, a much bigger chunk of money went to him than if the publisher had sold them!
2. Randi Kreger says:

   August 31, 2009 at 1:29 pm

   Scott: it’s nice you’re sharing the techniques you’ve used to get me great deals. Don’t forget the idea of using books as part of the advance.

   Randi Kreger
   http://www.BPDCentral.com