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This next section is designed to do two things, the first is to compare the different types of publishing options. But because these options are so different from each other to truly do a head-to-head comparison takes introducing an equalizer. So, the major elements of the publishing contract was used to categorize the pros/cons of each publishing option.
Rights: Creative Rights
Length of Contract: Duration of the legal binding contract between the author and the publisher.
Author Warranties: what the author promises is true
Price: who sets the retail and wholesale price for the book
Royalties: how much and how often the author gets paid
Advance: can the author get paid early.
Distribution: how the book gets into the hands of the resellers
Initial print run: quantity of books
Shelf Life: length of the time the book is a viable retail commodity
Inventory: who keeps the books once they're printed
Options: who has the right of first refusal for the author's next book.
Marketing Obligations: who has to do what - when
Mistakes: who is responsible
Remaindered Books: what gets done with the leftovers that don't sell through the normal retail channels.
This is not a comprehensive list of the categories and sub-categories of a publishing contract, boilerplate publishing contracts are available all over the internet, take the time to download one and review it for yourself.
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