Contract

(publishing) contract

the contract you sign that gives a publisher permission to publish your book

When will I receive my contract?

A few months after accepting a deal from a publisher to publish your book. Your agent, if you have one, will work to negotiate every point in the contract, which takes a long time. A contract is dozens of pages long, and every bit of language must be checked to make sure the contract is fair. This involves a lot of back and forth between your agent and your publisher.

What if I don’t have an agent?

You should probably hire a lawyer who is experienced with book contracts to go over your contract before you sign it. You can also look into receiving help from the Author’s Guild, but their legal services are only available once you become a member. In any case, DO NOT sign a contract straight from your publisher. Their boilerplate contract is designed to favor them heavily.