Friday, April 11, 2014

There Be Sharks Out There

I ran across a press this morning that had three anthology calls listed.  My first thought was this is great, some new markets.  And then I read about their payment split and the rights they acquire.  Yeah, it wasn't with the anthology guidelines, it was tucked away in two spots, their regular submission guidelines and their structure page.  You see they pay in royalties, a 70/30 split, thirty being the author's share.  Not too bad, but then they break it down and they get 50%, the editor gets 20%, and the author gets 30% so you're basically paying them to edit your book. 

Oh and the rights?  "MONTAG PRESS will retain a 70/30 share with the author for worldwide primary and secondary rights including digital, options, film and video production, and print rights, which will be exclusive for 10 years from the date of publication."

They basically own your work for ten years and they get the lion's share if it sells big time.  You don't even have the right to reprint your work in a collection of your own.  Always remember to check out everything, folks and be aware of the rights you're selling.  

2 comments:

Lisa M. Collins said...

Thanks for the heads up.

sandra seamans said...

Welcome to the Corner, Lisa!