I am an author!

It's official... I'm getting a contract for my book proposal today, and with the publisher that I think is tops in .NET books right now. Even more exciting is that their marketing people think it will be a big seller. How cool is that? I hope I can deliver on that.

So I'm wondering if, as a first-time author, I should take what they give me (provided it's reasonable, and yes I've read Scott Mitchell's advice) or if I should negotiate something more. It's not my intention to get rich off of this thing, because I know how realistic that isn't, but I do want to get a fair deal. Just having something on the shelf at Border's with my name on the spine is good enough for me, and it'll certainly help establish a little credibility.

I feel pretty good about the project and what it will contain. Right now I'm trying to spend more quality time with Whidbey because it does offer (not exactly change) a lot of different ways to do things in ASP.NET.

Two and a half chapters down, about a dozen to go!

8 Comments

  • Wow cool congrats :D Whats the book about ?



    Im looking for a good .net book right now, something a bit different from the usual. Im sick of most of them covering the same things ad nauseum .



    Anyway best of luck with the book.


  • Whether you should negotiate or not is not something anyone's going to be able to tell you without knowing the details of the contract you've been offered (not suggesting you should post those here, BTW). I can sympathize, though, because it can be hard for an author to know whether or not you're getting a good deal, which is why I use an agent. The advantage of an agent is that they know, from years of negotiating contracts, what's usual and customary, and how much more they can push for over what the publisher initially offers. It's pretty unusual for a publisher to make their best offer initially, but without knowing what's usual and customary, you end up essentially negotiating blind.



    Without an agent, what it ends up coming down to is whether you're willing to write the book on the terms you've been offered. If you are, then negotiation is less important.

  • My advise, make sure you get paid, period. I wrote for WROX, never got paid.

  • Jeff,



    Congrats. I just posted something last week that may be valuable to you in my weblog. Basically, a colleague of mine says go for the largest advance possible.



  • I would make sure the contract is for this book only. That way your next book (assuming there is one) will be under a new contract that will be forged by your insight gained experience with this contract. Don't worry about being a diva yet, if you're worth it, you'll earn it quickly.



    If this is a 1-shot wonder deal for you, the above doesn't apply and you should squeeze every penny out of it. :)



  • Sorry for the late comment, but let me say --



    If you don't ask, you won't get it.....



    Having been in acquisitions and worked as an associate publisher for a major computer book publisher, I can say that if you don't ask for something, you won't generally get it. It is amazing how many people didn't/don't ask for better rates or for changing in a contract. Even if you do ask, the publisher may say no. That is why you ask twice <G>.



    As you mentioned, Scott hits on some of the issues. Things to ask about -



    - higher advances

    - higher starting royalties

    - scaled royalties -- if the book sells more copies, your percentage should go up.

    - lower reserve percentages

    - more frequent payments (if they are larger gaps than monthly)-

    - more free copies

    - better deadlines

    - guaranteed first options on revisions



    Again, if you don't ask, you won't get. It was amazing to see how many author's (and even agents) didn't ask for better deals. Even if they always get a 'no', they should still ask.



    Congratulations on your book deal if it did come through. Writing a book is a lot of hard work, but when you get the printed copy in your hands, you realize the work was worth it.



    Brad!









    Brad!

  • Yep... it came through, and yep, I did some asking. I got more out of it, you bet!

  • I've been writting for years and yet to find a publisher that I don't have to invest hundreds into.
    I don't want to self publish. What should I do?

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