Hey guys, wondering what opinions and considerations you may have for a publishing contract like the following:
Can't tell much from that. Looks like the terms are mostly on a separate page. What's the term of the contract? How does it terminate? What rights are they getting? Is there any reversion? Also, how are they coming up with the cost estimate to the writer? There are tons of other terms you should be looking at and thinking about. Read the terms they have linked very carefully, don't just rely on these two screenshots.
This is vanity publishing. They're charging you £2,000 to publish your book. Real publishers pay authors, NEVER the other way around. Run a MILE. Then another one. @Steerpike It's a charge to the author. This publisher calls it an "author subsidy." They claim to publish some books with no "subsidy" from the author, but no way to verify that and that's not what Vince is being offered.
Oh. Screw that, then. I thought maybe they were estimating what it would cost the author in terms of the publisher's cut over the life of the book, which seemed very odd, incredibly speculative, and low if they hoped to sell many books. That seemed strange to me, however if you're telling me that the author has to go out of pocket for this amount then that's reason enough to throw the contract in the trash.
They're asking you to pay them to publish your book? That's... not good, as a general rule... You should check out the thread at http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?114181-John-Hunt-Publishing-O-Books-Perfect-Edge
I'm going to echo everyone else: run far, far away and don't look back. Nothing good will come of this.
Yeah, I agree guys, thanks for the input. I don't actually want to invest any money into publishing my book. I was never going to accept, just curious to see other opinions. Thanks!
Just to make it clear, with a vanity publisher (I don't know about this one; I mean in general) it's not so much an investment as paying someone to steal from you.