Small Press Looking For Suggestions on Contracts for New Authors
Cozy Cat Press is very new and very small; we specialize in cozy mysteries. So far we have published only two books--mine and my co-founder's. We are now starting to receive submissions--some of which we would like to publish, but we are uncertain as to what type of contract and/or contact provisions we should offer. We really can't afford to offer advances (at least not large ones). We will be hard pressed merely to be able to afford getting one (let alone two) books ready for publication, printed, and promoted, but we could probably do so in the next year or so. My arrangement with my co-founder is that she pays for all of her book's production costs and keeps 100% of the profits. I don't know if such an arrangement would be appealing to other authors. We are open to creative solutions and trying to brainstorm ideas that would be beneficial to both CCP and to potential CCP authors. Any thoughts?
Patricia Rockwell
Cozy Cat Press
www.cozycatpress.com
Obviously, it doesn't mean you are required to use the model verbatim, but it is an excellent place to start. As your publishing house grows, you'll want to review and make changes to suit your needs.
I'm not sure what you mean by "such an arrangement would be appealing to authors," but it sounds like you need to decide if you are going to be the "full" publisher--meaning that you pay for all costs of production--or a subsidy press where you require the author to pay any production costs, no matter how little. There are pros and cons to both.