In order to make sure you have your bases covered for your business in the new year, here is a checklist for this month to ensure you’re starting the new year on a good foot: Ensure corporate formalities are being observed. This is really simple, but it’s good to check in on from time to …
“Subsidiary rights” usually refer to the right to exploit the book in other media. Pretty much any use of the book other than to sell copies of the book is a subsidiary right. Some lawyers would call these “derivative works” but in the literary world, they are subsidiary rights. Some examples include: Serial rights. This …
What are subsidiary rights in a literary publishing agreement? Read More »
Generally speaking, a media perils insurance policy protects the policyholder from lawsuits for libel and various intellectual property infringement claims. If the holder of the policy is sued for a covered claim, the insurance company would pay legal expenses to defend against the lawsuit and also pay any monetary damages or settlements related to the claim. …
This is an excerpt from the free ebook, Key Provisions in Video Game Publishing Agreements. In the marketing provisions [of a video game publishing agreement], there are three main questions to answer. Who has responsibility for marketing? Who has the right to market? Who has creative input in the marketing? The agreement should explicitly say …
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In a previous post, I wrote about what an “advance” is. In short, it is a payment up front that is an advance against the future revenue streams for a book. What is a “good” advance? A cynical answer to this might be “any advance is a good advance.” That is a reflection of the …
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In the free ebook, Key Provisions in Video Game Publishing Agreements, I write about a lot of different rights and responsibilities a publishing agreement might cover. But happens when the relationship between a developer and a publisher really just needs to end? Ideally, the termination provisions of the contract will set out exactly how that …
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From the horse’s mouth: The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is the non-profit, self-regulatory body that assigns ratings for video games and apps… The ESRB has been around since 1994, and it is, in short, a self-regulatory body. It works like the MPAA for film or the RIAA for music, assigning ratings to games as …
Royalties are probably the biggest part of an author’s publishing agreement. The section can read like a list of jargon-heavy terms that, unless you’ve looked at one of these agreements before, might as well be a foreign language. Generally, the royalty rate paid to an author will be based on the list price. The amount …
What is the author royalty rate in a literary publishing agreement? Read More »
An “advance” in a publishing deal is similar to an advance on future payment in any other context. That is, it is not just a check written to an author in advance of the deal like you might think from the name. It is an advance-on-royalties. Meaning, the amount the author gets in the advance …
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Choice of law provisions are common in business agreements. Where one or both parties are in North Carolina, a North Carolina choice of law is common, too. A new law in North Carolina allows for parties to choose North Carolina law and litigation in North Carolina, even when they have no other ties to the …