I can’t claim to have the experience with contracts that someone like John Scalzi has when it comes to publishing but after 12 books, and a bunch of speaking contracts, I know the bad parts when I see them and I’ve generally be able to negotiate to my satisfaction. But in this case even I can tell that the contract from the Random House digital imprint Alibi, is a big ball ‘o crap. Mr. Scalzi got ahold of a copy and has a great write-up of it’s contents. His conclusion:
I want to be clear: I can say, without reservation, that this is the worst book contract I have ever personally encountered. Not only would I never sign it — which should be obvious at this point — I can’t imagine why anyone whose forebrain has not been staved in by an errant bowling ball would ever sign it. Indeed, if my worst enemy in the world was presented with it and had a pen poised to scratch his signature on it, I would smack the pen out of his hand and say to him, “I hate you, but I don’t hate you this much.”
Michael Sauers is the Director of Logan Library in Logan, UT. Prior to this he was one of the founding staff and Technology Manager for Do Space in Omaha, NE. After earning his MLS in 1995 from the University at Albany's School of Information Science and Policy Michael spent his first 20 years as a librarian training other librarians in technology along with time as a public library trustee, a bookstore manager for a library friends group, a reference librarian, a technology consultant, and a bookseller. He has written dozens of articles for various journals and magazines and has published 14 books ranging from library technology, blogging, Web design, and an index to a popular horror magazine. In his spare time, he blogs at TravelinLibrarian.info, runs The Collector's Guide to Dean Koontz website at CollectingKoontz.com, takes many, many photos, and typically reads more than 100 books a year.
Unless otherwise stated, all opinions are my own and are not to be considered those of the City of Logan, UT.
View all posts by Michael Sauers
I can’t claim to have the experience with contracts that someone like John Scalzi has when it comes to publishing but after 12 books, and a bunch of speaking contracts, I know the bad parts when I see them and I’ve generally be able to negotiate to my satisfaction. But in this case even I can tell that the contract from the Random House digital imprint Alibi, is a big ball ‘o crap. Mr. Scalzi got ahold of a copy and has a great write-up of it’s contents. His conclusion: