You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em
Know when to fold ‘em
Know when to walk away
Know when to run
Kenny Rogers’ The Gambler

Let me just get this announcement out of the way: the terms I was offered by Carina Press were not acceptable to me, and we were not able to come to agreement. I apologize for disappointing readers who were looking forward to the consecutive June, July and August release dates that were planned, but I think it’s fair to say that the initial deal announcement and release scheduling were done in good faith on both sides. At the time of the offer, Carina’s contract wasn’t final. So it wasn’t possible to hash out the details until it was. I’m disappointed, but I hope that my Wishmasters trilogy will find a home elsewhere.

In the meantime, to turn lemons into lemonade, let’s talk about when to walk. It’s very easy for an author to succumb to desperation, especially in today’s economic climate. Publishing is going through changes, the competition is fierce. It’s very easy to feel like any deal is better than no deal. But a bad deal has far-reaching consequences. It can lead to lasting resentment, years of regret, and it can poison working relationships. A contract can be signed in a moment, but the terms of it may be binding for as long as the lifetime of copyright. That’s a long time to regret a bad decision.

The first thing to understand is that a bad deal is subjective. One writer’s hill to die for is another’s so what. What constitutes a good or bad deal for you comes down to your values, what you want to get out of the deal, what you’re willing to give. If the contract requires more than you feel it’s worth it to give, it’s time to negotiate. Ask for what you want. You might get it, or at least enough of what you want to make the deal worthwhile.

Before you can determine what constitutes a good or bad deal for you, you need to know what basic contract clauses mean. The internet is a fabulous teaching tool, writer’s organizations and workshops are a font of knowledge, and there’s an excellent book called How to Be Your Own Literary Agent by Richard Curtis* that explains the basics. Don’t be ignorant about contract terms, and don’t sign anything you don’t understand. If you have to, hire a literary attorney to go through the contract with you to make sure you understand what you’re getting into. You should educate yourself on what is considered fair compensation. Then decide what terms you can give on and which terms will constitute a deal-breaker for you. That way you’ll have some standards for decision making in place before the emotional reaction of the offer hits.

Next, clauses should be considered in the context of the contract as a whole. Basket accounting is a walk-away clause for many authors. But if the wording of your contract binds you to multiple option books, preventing you from selling elsewhere until after the last book under contract releases, it can cost you far more than the royalties you might have been receiving from the first book. Many books just break even. Many fail to earn out even after a couple of years. Very few become such enormous blockbusters that having the earnings from that first book tied up until after the last book earns out is a significant loss. So while it’s true that basket accounting is an unfavorable clause, in some cases it’s not cause to walk.

As Kristine Kathryn Rusch points out in her terrific Freelancer’s Survival Guide, posted on her blog chapter by chapter on the donation model, sometimes a clause in a contract will be mitigated by other clauses that lessen or even negate it outright.

A good example of this is the lifetime of copyright contract clause. It’s bad, because resale of rights is an important means of earning income for authors. But lifetime of copyright may be offset by a reversion of rights clause that allows for an author to regain the rights to the work when sales fall below a certain point. That number of copies per year which must be sold to constitute “in print” before rights revert will be the truly important negotiating point.

Authors who aren’t willing to walk on any point, ever, are in a terrible negotiating position. It’s often said in this business the only power authors have is the power to say no. You should have some standard for what is a good deal for you, and what is not, and be willing to wait for good terms instead of taking anything you’re offered just to have a deal. It’s hard to say no, but it’s much harder to live with the consequences of saying yes when it goes against your values.

*You may have an agent, but you still shouldn’t leave it up to them to decide what constitutes a deal-breaker or to educate you about what contract terms mean. It’s your career, and your values guide it. You are the one signing the contract, you’re the one who will have to fulfill it, and you’re the one who will have to live with the terms you agree to.