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Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » Writing Craft » Book Business » Page 2

Book Business

I Is for Indemnification

By Steve Laubeon April 25, 2022
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Publishing is not without risks. Plagiarism, fraud, and libel by an author are real possibilities. Thus within a book contract is a legal clause called indemnification, inserted to protect the publisher from an author’s antics.

The indemnification clause, in essence, says that if someone sues your publisher because of your book, claiming something like libel (defamation) or plagiarism etc., your publisher can make you pay the fees to compensate for their losses. This is to “indemnify” which is defined as “to compensate (someone) for harm or loss.” Bottom line: The publisher has the right to hire its own attorneys (at the author’s expense) to defend against these claims.

Doesn’t sound like a happy clause, does it? But you can understand why it is there. This clause and the warranty clause are notoriously difficult to negotiate. (The warranty clause is where the things the author guarantees or warrants are listed, i.e., the book is original or it is not libelous in content. I will cover this clause more fully at another time.) The language has been written by the publisher’s attorneys and is usually set in stone.

At the very least, try to indemnify only on a final judgment or ruling for actual damages in a breach of the warranty section of the contract. Try to avoid language that reads “any claims” because anyone can sue for any frivolous reason nowadays. Normally, a publisher will handle the frivolous cases that are covered by their publishing insurance.

In addition, try to limit the indemnity to material you submit to the publisher. If they add illustrations, text, or charts that trigger a lawsuit, you should not be held accountable for their additions. I know of a case where an author did not do this. The publisher put something on the cover of the book that triggered a lawsuit. The publisher looked at the indemnification clause and said, “Hey, Mr. Author, you get to pay these legal fees!” Cost the author $5,000 for the defense. By the way, that publisher is now out of business, so you don’t have to worry about it. The author decided they should have had a literary agent and secured my services, but it was too late for this situation. (Side note: This is an illustration of those times where going alone without a good literary agent is a bad idea.)

On occasion, the publisher may require a legal reading to be done of your book if there are concerns regarding your content. This was done for one of our client’s nonfiction books last year. Some highly charged things happened to the author, so because that story was being told, the publisher did a legal reading. The manuscript passed the scrutiny without a hitch. But if there had been issues, the publisher would have asked for changes to avoid legal action. So if your book is a memoir or a tell-all or something where you name names, you should talk to your publisher and have their legal department do a reading. (Whether you pay for the reading, they do, or you do a 50/50 split may be part of your contract.)

If you are so concerned that you want to buy your own liability insurance for something called “Media Perils,” check out these three articles: Tara Lynne Groth’s “Get Covered: Media Insurance for Writers,” Daniel Stevens’s “Do You Need Liability Insurance?”or Brad Frazier’s “5 Things Nonfiction Authors Can Get Sued For.”

Do I recommend you buy such insurance? It depends. When asked by clients, I go through the author’s reasons for being concerned. I know of one who did buy liability insurance for themselves (fortunately never had to use it). Most either rely on their own vigilance in avoiding inflammatory material or, in a few cases, utilize a publisher’s legal reading.

If you are publishing independently, you may want to consider joining the Author’s Guild and take advantage of their Media Liability Insurance program (find that link here). Or join the IPBA (Independent Book Publishers Association) for their program (find that link here).

You might think, “I write fiction; that will never happen to me.” But what if, during your research, your assistant copied word-for-word an article on “how to start a campfire without matches in a wet forest.” You then used that material word-for-word in a scene in your book because you thought your assistant had summarized the article, not copied it. Your book is published. The author of that article notices and accuses you of plagiarism and copyright violation. An unlikely situation? A variation of this scenario actually happened to an author I know.

Remember that writing becomes a business once you enter into a contractual arrangement. Plus, as soon as you publish something with your name on it and make it available to the public, you are subject to the laws of your land related to publishing something in writing. So be aware and be careful.

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Category: Book Business, Contracts, Copyright, Legal Issues, Publishing A-ZTag: Contracts, indemnification, lawsuit, warranty

A Is for Agent

By Steve Laubeon March 14, 2022
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by Steve Laube

I thought it might be fun to write a series that addresses some of the basic terms that define our industry. The perfect place to start, of course, is the letter "A." And even better to start with the word "Agent."

If you are a writer, you've got it easy. When you say you are a writer your audience lights up because they know what that means. (Their perception is that you …

Read moreA Is for Agent
Category: Agents, Book Business, Book Business, Career, Creativity, E-Books, Legal Issues, Publishing A-Z, Writing CraftTag: Agent, Book Business, publishing

B Is for Buy Back

By Steve Laubeon February 28, 2022
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by Steve Laube

Many authors are also speakers and as such usually have a book table in the back of the room where the audience can purchase a copy of their book during an event. This can be a very valuable source of income for the author if they have negotiated a “buy back” price (also known as the author’s discount) at the time of signing their book contract.

Check Your Contract …

Read moreB Is for Buy Back
Category: Book Business, Publishing A-ZTag: Author Buy Back, Author Purchases, Author Sales Tax, Book Business, Publishing A-Z

A Is for Advance

By Steve Laubeon November 22, 2021
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by Steve Laube

Whenever I lecture about money the room becomes unusually quiet. Instead of a common restlessness from listeners there is a thrumming impatience to reveal the punch line. The punch line that declares every writer will be rich.

Now that I have our attention let’s turn to the topic of the day. The Advance. This is defined as the money a publisher pays to the author in …

Read moreA Is for Advance
Category: Agency, Book Business, Publishing A-ZTag: advances, Book Business, Publishing A-Z

What to Do About Morals?

By Steve Laubeon November 8, 2021
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In a post written last weekend Richard Curtis, agent extraordinaire, expressed surprise at a new morality clause that has apparently appeared in HarperCollins' contracts. Read his post here [warning: there is some Adult content and comments included in the post].

What the general market doesn't realize is that many Faith-based publishers have had a "moral turpitude" clause in their contracts …

Read moreWhat to Do About Morals?
Category: Book Business, Contracts, Legal IssuesTag: Book Business, Contracts, Legal Issues

Always Be Curious (The ABCs of the Writing Life)

By Steve Laubeon October 4, 2021
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by Steve Laube

Depending on where you live and your school district policies you may already be in a back-to-school mode or preparing for it.

It got me to thinking about the need for all writers to always have a "back to school" mentality.

Here are five things we can learn from always going "back to school."

Read moreAlways Be Curious (The ABCs of the Writing Life)
Category: Book Business, Steve, Writing CraftTag: Book Business, Creativity, Writing Craft

Books, Hooks, and Good Looks

By Bob Hostetleron September 30, 2021
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I love hooks. As a writer, I work hard on my hooks. When I was a magazine editor, the hook was often the best way for a writer to make a good first impression on me. And now, for me as a literary agent, the hook is the first and one of the most important criteria I use in evaluating a book pitch, proposal, or manuscript. A good book hook will often prompt me to give a project a more careful, …

Read moreBooks, Hooks, and Good Looks
Category: Book Business, Book Proposals, Career, Get Published, Pitch, Pitching, Platform, Self-Publishing, Social Media, The Writing Life

God Gave Me This Blog Post

By Steve Laubeon September 27, 2021
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God gave me this blog post.

By invoking divine inspiration I have guaranteed that you will read this post and possibly give me money to read more.

Sound like a stretch? Then what if I just wrote or said:
“God spoke to me”
“I was led to write this”
“God revealed this to me”
“I have been called to write this”
“I believe this is an inspired post”

Read moreGod Gave Me This Blog Post
Category: Book Business, TheologyTag: Pitching, Theology

When Editorial Errors Matter

By Steve Laubeon September 20, 2021
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by Steve Laube

Writers make mistakes. It happens. Often an editor’s job is to be the safety net and catch those tidbits that find their way into an early draft of a manuscript for any number of reasons.

The simplicity of “cut & paste” has created more opportunity for error than ever before. I've seen half sentences left in their original place because the writer failed to cut and …

Read moreWhen Editorial Errors Matter
Category: Book Business, Craft, E-Books, Editing, Grammar, Steve, Writing CraftTag: Editing, Errors, Writing Craft

To Comma or Not to Comma?

By Steve Laubeon June 28, 2021
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by Steve Laube

I came across this entry in the Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynn Truss. The book is a classic on punctuation (although based on British English usage it is still a great book). Read the story below and then answer the questions in the comment section.
On his deathbed in April 1991, Graham Green corrected and signed a typed document which restricts access to his papers at …

Read moreTo Comma or Not to Comma?
Category: Book Business, Contracts, Grammar, Language, SteveTag: commas, Grammar, Language, punctuation
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