Sample Contract
In consideration of mutual promises and forbearances, the parties agree as follows:
1. Author’s Grant. The Author grants permission to publish their short story, titled ________, a work expected to be ________ words hereinafter referred to as the “Work,” in electronic, paperback, and audio editions by the Publisher, to be published in ________.
The Publisher will pay for all costs (including cover design, editing, ISBN, and formatting) associated with printing/producing the Work.
2. Rights Purchased. This use of the Work by the Publisher entails the assignment of First World Anthology Rights for publication in the English language anywhere in the world. It is also understood and agreed that the Publisher may use this Work only in the above-mentioned manner; the Author shall retain all other rights to the Work not specified here.
3. Payments and Royalties. No advances will be paid. From all earnings/royalties received by the Publisher for the above-mentioned collective Work, 100 percent of all profits after cover and editing costs will be distributed evenly to the contributing Author(s) via Pubshare. Payment will be made via Pubshare using whichever form the Author chooses through their Pubshare account.
4. Author’s Warranties and Indemnities. The Author represents and warrants that he is the sole author of the Work, the Work is original, and no one has reserved the rights granted in this agreement. The Author also represents, to the best of his knowledge, that the Work does not contain any libelous material, and is not in violation of any rights of privacy or any other rights of third persons, and does not violate any existing common law or statutory copyrights. The Author agrees to hold the Publisher harmless against any judgment finally sustained that the Work contains libel, plagiarism, and/or invasion of privacy.
5. No Competing Publication. The Author agrees not to publish or permit others to publish this Work for one year from the date of publication unless released by the Publisher. Should an opportunity arise that the Author wishes to pursue, the contract may be revisited and re-negotiated at that time.
6. Author’s Copies. The Author may purchase as many paperback copies as they would like at a price equal to the Publisher’s cost; the Author will be responsible for all taxes and shipping costs.
7. Copyright. The Publisher agrees to list a copyright notice for the Work in the name of the Author in the front matter of the Work.
7.1. Credit. The Author will be credited on the table of contents and at the beginning of the story as listed at the end of this contract.
8. Additional Works. The Publisher will make no major alterations to the Work's text or title without the Author's written approval. The Publisher reserves the right to make minor copy-editing changes.
9. Governing Law. This Agreement will, regardless of the places of physical execution, be interpreted and construed according to and under the laws and statutes of Texas, USA.
10. Specific Details of 1st edition publication. The completed work is being accepted by the publisher as is. Minor corrections may be done to the work upon review by the publisher if deemed necessary. The publisher will be responsible for any expenses incurred with the publication of the work in question. The work will be published by the Publisher through Amazon for Print and Amazon KDP for Ebook.
10. Promotion and Distribution. The Author and Publisher agree that the promotion of a work is a very important task that is required to succeed. Publisher agrees to promote the contracted work through its main website, social media pages, through its agents, and by distributing at events that the Publisher is able to obtain a vendor table. In addition, the Author agrees to promote their own works on personal pages, social media, and at any events that they may be attending as the Author.
The Publisher only has a small amount of operating capital. Purchased advertising through Amazon, BookBub, Facebook, and Google can/will be considered on a case by case basis per submitted work. In addition, special sales and giveaways may be promoted periodically across all platforms in order to build readership and garner page reads, helping to build the reputation and ranking of the title.