Emerging Term on Agent Contracts
Book authors have directly felt the pinch of falling advances for a time. Royalties are all well and good, but the vast majority of titles don't earn out, which means that the money you see up front is likely to be all that ever comes your way.
But now there seems to be the possibility of a secondary bite. A writer had asked if I would review an agency contract. One of the interesting terms was in the commission section. If the book didn't sell for more than an $X advance, then the commission automatically jumped from from 15 to 20 percent.
There are a number of problems, here. One is that the agent is supposed to get the best deal possible. This clause can actually give the agent a disincentive to get the best deal possible when things are borderline. Let's pretend that the point at which the commission changes is $10,000 and a publisher has offered $9,000. The agent has done work with the publisher before and knows that it might be possible to get the advance up to $11,000 with an accommodation elsewhere in the contract. But work out the numbers: 15 percent of $11,000 is $1,650, and 20 percent of $9,000 is $1,800. It pays the agent better to take the deal that is poorer for the writer. Of course, the author wouldn't know that $11,000 would have been a possibility. The net amounts to the author are even worse: $7,650, versus $9,350.
Then there are other considerations. If the book does really well, the agent is now getting 20 percent of all additional money, and not seeing a drop in commission for what the writer and publisher have actually pulled off. Such deals become even more problematic when you're looking at the series books, where the advances really do hover in this range - and it's in this range that I've seen the demand for a commission escalation. I'm sure some agents would say that they can't make a living doing 15 percent deals at such money levels. I'd counter that the authors don't have the luxury to move to more profitable projects once they've locked into the one, while the agent can go sell other properties.
If you get a contract from an agent and see this sort of provision, I'd strongly advise against signing the paper, and even reconsider whether you want to do business with an agent who isn't willing to take his or her share of the selling risk.
But now there seems to be the possibility of a secondary bite. A writer had asked if I would review an agency contract. One of the interesting terms was in the commission section. If the book didn't sell for more than an $X advance, then the commission automatically jumped from from 15 to 20 percent.
There are a number of problems, here. One is that the agent is supposed to get the best deal possible. This clause can actually give the agent a disincentive to get the best deal possible when things are borderline. Let's pretend that the point at which the commission changes is $10,000 and a publisher has offered $9,000. The agent has done work with the publisher before and knows that it might be possible to get the advance up to $11,000 with an accommodation elsewhere in the contract. But work out the numbers: 15 percent of $11,000 is $1,650, and 20 percent of $9,000 is $1,800. It pays the agent better to take the deal that is poorer for the writer. Of course, the author wouldn't know that $11,000 would have been a possibility. The net amounts to the author are even worse: $7,650, versus $9,350.
Then there are other considerations. If the book does really well, the agent is now getting 20 percent of all additional money, and not seeing a drop in commission for what the writer and publisher have actually pulled off. Such deals become even more problematic when you're looking at the series books, where the advances really do hover in this range - and it's in this range that I've seen the demand for a commission escalation. I'm sure some agents would say that they can't make a living doing 15 percent deals at such money levels. I'd counter that the authors don't have the luxury to move to more profitable projects once they've locked into the one, while the agent can go sell other properties.
If you get a contract from an agent and see this sort of provision, I'd strongly advise against signing the paper, and even reconsider whether you want to do business with an agent who isn't willing to take his or her share of the selling risk.
Labels: agents, authors, books, commissions, contracts
posted by Erik Sherman | 8:27 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home