Jane
Doe
Slick Rock Road
Poptown, VT 00001
Dear Jane,
This letter will serve as our publishing agreement when you sign the enclosed copies and return one of them to me.
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Description of the work
1. Your project is approximately XXX book pages in length and is entitled XXXXXXX.
The Grant of Rights
By law, the author of a work is the owner of the rights in it. Her name appears on the copyright page. The author must assign those rights to the publisher in order for the publisher to print, distribute, and sell the work.
2. You grant The Preservation Foundation, Inc. the exclusive right to print, publish, distribute, and sell copies of the work, and things derived from the work, in printed form and in electronic media such as CD-ROM, DVD, E-Books, etc. and to license others to do so, for the duration of the copyright in the work, in all languages, throughout the world. Your name will appear on the title page of the work as its author and copyright holder. If we wish to edit, add to, or delete from the work we must first submit all proposed changes to you for approval.
Royalties
3. We will share all net income derived from royalties paid by Amazon or other retailers with you on a 30/70 basis (30% being our share and 70% yours). You can buy books from us at our publisher's cost, plus shipping. Should you make a profit on the sale of such books we hope you will make a voluntary contribution of 30% of profits to our program. Since we are a nonprofit corporation such a contribution would be tax deductible for U. S. taxpayers.Royalty Payments
4.
Amazon delays payment to us by
20-30 days after the end of each pay period. So, we will make royalty
payments to you quarterly, within 30 days after the end of the quarter
in which the royalties were accrued. Payments will be made in January,
April, July, and October. However, if total royalties due are less than
$10.00 in any quarter they will accrue and be paid in the quarter in
which the
total exceeds $10.00.
You Get to Audit our Accounts
We hope that we'll give you reports often enough that you never feel the need to invoke this clause, but for your protection, we give you the right to check up on us.
5. You or your qualified representative may examine our files and other records pertaining to this agreement at our principal place of business, during normal working hours, not more than once each year, on reasonable written notice.
Final legalizeThe next two paragraphs may sound scary. The first really just states that you didn't plagiarize or slander anyone. You have to take responsibility for this, because we have no way of knowing what sources you might have used. It also states that you actually wrote the work and not someone else.
6. You warrant to us that the material you provide is original, except that for which you obtain permissions acceptable to us, and that it won't impair any other person's rights, and that you have the power to make this agreement. You will indemnify us, our agents, and our employees, and hold us and them harmless, against any loss or cost, including reasonable attorney's fees, arising out of a breach or claim of breach of these warranties.
7. Neither of us may assign this agreement without first getting the other's written consent, unless we sell or transfer substantially all our assets or ownership interest to the assignee, when no consent will be needed.
What paragraph #7 means is that we could not assign the publishing rights to another publisher unless we sold our company to that publisher. If we did then that publisher could continue to publish your work.
8. Our agreement is subject to the laws of Tennessee governing contracts made and to be performed there.
Copyright laws are the same everywhere in the U.S., but this means that if we had a disagreement, any court proceedings would be held in Tennessee, where our office is. But if we had a disagreement, we'd like to think that any discussions would be far more likely to take place over the phone or via e-mail!
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If you find these terms to be acceptable, please sign, date, and return the original of this letter to me. You should keep the other copy for your files.
Very truly yours,
J. Richard Loller (signature)
The Preservation Foundation, Inc.
(you sign here)___________________________________
Agreed and accepted by Jane Doe
Date____________________________
SS#:____________________________
(We need your social security number, or tax identity number for non-US citizens, so we can send you the appropriate form each year for royalty income you received. If you have any questions about the contract, please be sure to ask.)