Writing and Selling the YA Novel (23 page)

The Authors Guild is also a great resource (
http://www.authorsguild/
. org). They offer their members a free sixty-four-page reference guide to negotiating contracts called
Authors Guild Model Trade Book Contract and Guide,
along with seminars on contract negotiation and free contract reviews.

I won't attempt to cover all of the relevant information in one small section of this book, but I will provide you with a primer so you're familiar with the terms used in contracts and you'll know what points you want to pay special attention to. Even if you have an agent, it would be worth your time to familiarize yourself with these definitions so you'll be able to understand what's happening throughout the negotiation process.

Here are some basic contract terms every author ought to know:

Grant of Rights.
This clause specifies who controls the rights to your book. The copyright to your work should almost always belong to you, unless you're negotiating a work-for-hire agreement where you sell all rights and have no further say over how the publisher uses the material. Otherwise, you control the copyright and you grant the publisher specific rights, such as the right to print, publish, and sell your book. Rights can be exclusive—meaning only one party can control them at a time—or nonexclusive, meaning you can sell them to multiple parties. Most publishers want exclusive rights. Rights can also be relegated to certain territories. For example, a publisher might ask for exclusive world rights, but you might only agree to sell them exclusive rights to publish the material in the United States, Canada, and their territories. Rights can also be limited by language. You can sell English language rights or specific foreign language rights. Which rights you grant to your publisher should depend on who has the best opportunity to exploit those rights to your benefit.

Subrights.
Subrights refer to all the forms your novel might take other than a traditional hardcover or paperback book. Think of all the formats stories take in our society. There are movies, plays, TV adaptations, audiobooks, book club editions, foreign editions, magazine excerpts, electronic downloads, reprints, merchandizing. These rights can be licensed to outside parties, either by you or your publisher, depending on who controls the subrights as stated in your contract.

Advance.
Your advance is the amount of money your publisher will pay you up front, either upon signing of the contract or in some other split that your contract specifies. (Often contracts state that the advance will be paid with one portion on signing of the contract and another portion on delivery and acceptance of the final edited manuscript; sometimes a third portion will be paid on publication.) It's important to note that the full term is "advance against royalties," meaning that whatever you've been paid up front will be deducted from the profit you make on royalties later on. You'll need to earn back your advance before you receive any royalty money.

Royalties.
Royalties are a percentage of the retail price (or net price, depending on what your contract specifies) you'll receive for each copy of your book that is sold. Generally, royalties escalate slightly, so as you sell more copies of your books you also receive a higher percentage of the sales. Not only will different royalty rates apply to hardcover and paperback sales, but there will also be specific royalty rates for books sold through nontraditional means, such as books that are exported, sold at a "deep discount," or ordered through the mail.

Accounting and Audit Clauses.
Your contract should specify when you will receive your royalty statements (for many publishers it's twice a year) and should provide you with the right to have an outside party audit the publisher's books if you suspect a discrepancy in their bookkeeping.

Option Clause.
This is a very important clause in any contract and most people try to strike it out entirely if possible. The option clause says you are obligated to submit your next work to your publisher. This does not mean your publisher has to buy it. What makes this clause so dangerous to authors is it can tie up your work so you can't freely submit it to another publishing house, and if you are unhappy with your original publishing house it makes it that much more difficult to leave. If you cannot get the option clause removed from your contract, be sure to use language that only refers to one book, and at the very least try to limit this to the exact type of book you're obligated to submit for your publisher's first refusal. For example, you would want to be sure the option only applied to your next book for teens, and not a picture book or adult book you might decide to write later on.

Author Copies.
Believe it or not, authors do not get unlimited free copies of their own books. It's sad, but true. Your contract will specify exactly how many copies of each format of your book you're entitled to, and after that you'll have to purchase copies, usually at a discount. Most contracts offer ten free copies, but you will probably want to negotiate for more since you can imagine how quickly those copies disappear, especially if you're using them for promotion.

Approval and Consultation.
These terms exist in some contracts and grant the author the right to be consulted on issues surrounding cover art, subsidiary rights sales, or grants of permissions.

Warranties and Indemnities.
This clause has to do with legal responsibility in the event that you are accused of plagiarizing another writer's work, or should a legal suit be brought against you and your publisher for any reason (for example, libel). Usually the clause states who will pay for the legal costs of such a proceeding (generally a percentage split between you and the publisher, provided you're not found guilty).

Publication Date.
This is more important than it might sound. Although your contract won't include an exact publication date, it should include language that says that the publisher must publish your book within a certain amount of time (often eighteen months after delivery and acceptance of your manuscript). Without publication language, your publisher could tie up the rights to your work indefinitely, always promising to publish your book but never delivering on their promise. And if you have an option clause that says something about submitting your next book "after publication," you could be in trouble!

Is your head spinning yet? Contracts can be overwhelming, and it's important to be as detailed as possible so the language used within them can cover any circumstances that might arise. The definitions above only scratch the surface of this topic, but the good news is there are plenty of resources available to help you out. In addition to The Authors Guild and SCBWI, check your local bookstore for titles that will further your knowledge. Be sure to read reviews on Amazon.com or ask for recommendations so you get the best possible information on the subject.

How many of you took some version of shop class when you were in school? In ninth grade, I took a computer class, meant to give us hands-on experience with programming DOS (how dated is that?!). I'm sure my teacher would be dismayed to learn that my most vivid memory from this class is printing out long sheets of scrolled paper with lists of the nicknames my best friend and I used for all the boys in our grade. My memories of wood shop have fared a little bit better. Here, I recall using the skill saw to cut puzzle shapes and building model bridges that could hold our body weight. But really, what I most remember from both of these classes—and from every other class I took that fell under the elective category of "shop"—was the opportunity they provided to interact with an entirely different set of kids than my normal schedule allowed.

Shop classes have always been great levelers. Kids on the honors track and kids pursuing technical careers worked side by side, learning

the secrets that skilled trades have to offer. There was always an air of the real world to shop classes. The teachers seemed different—less concerned with philosophy and more focused on the practical, everyday concerns of their subject matter. Shop class wasn't about theory, it was about facts. Here, you learned the way the world
really
worked and made decisions to apply this knowledge accordingly.

When it comes to writing books for teens, it's important that authors understand both the philosophical aspects of creating quality literature for teenagers and the practical realities of writing and marketing your books for this age group—realities like varied expectations from kids and adults, and the difficult choices authors have to make about content in teen fiction.

When you're writing for teenagers there are plenty of "rules" that others are ready to impose on your books. These range from literary rules, like keeping abreast of slang and technology in order to keep your books sounding current, to moral rules, like avoiding swear words or sex scenes in order not to corrupt impressionable young people. Break one of these rules and your book is apt to be shunned or banned, at least by a certain percentage of your audience.

On the other hand, there are those who might avoid your books precisely because you keep the rules! Can you realistically portray teens today without swearing or alluding to sex? Will teenagers want to read books that don't accurately reflect the world they live in? Won't your story suffer if you modify it in a false way to please other people?

And at the end of this whole process will it be the parent or the teen who picks your book up off the shelf? Should you appeal to the high school librarian or the high school student? How can you reach actual teenage readers with your work?

Shop class is our chance to turn theory into practice before our time together comes to an end. It's time to talk directly about sex, drugs, swearing, and every other hot-button issue you'll confront as you write and market your book to young adults. And then it's time to get that book into the hands of teen readers, which is what you've intended all along.

WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE,
REALLY?
_

By now we've come full circle—back to the question of audience. Remember when we defined teen literature as books written for and marketed to teens? How, then, can there be any question now as to who you're writing for? On one level, there isn't. Your audience is exactly who we've said it was all along: teenagers. But on another level, when you write for teens you need to deal with the dual nature of who buys, stocks, promotes, reviews, and possibly bans your books. Most often, these people are adults.

Many times adults act as gatekeepers to what teens read, watch, and listen to. This is true for several reasons. For one thing, teens are usually still at an age where they're living with their parents or other family members who take care of them. They have not yet achieved independence either financially or emotionally. Since parents or guardians are responsible for guiding teens into the adult world, they often limit what they can experience either in real life or vicariously through TV, movies, and literature.

At the same time, if you think back to first-period history class, you'll remember that teens have often been on the cutting edge of change-challenging the boundaries adults set for them, pushing the limits of their freedom and independence. Many teens are looking for books that reflect the world as
they
see it, and that world is increasingly complex.

So how does an author navigate these waters?