Jess here with Sarina Bowen to help simplify and demystify author contracts. Let’s start off with a wonderful resource called The Authors Guild. They have sample contracts on their website

The Authors Guild Sample Contract

Sarina made a lovely outline to prepare for the episode (because of course she did) so I’m dropping that here.

* You’re not “selling” your book. You’re licensing it.

* Grant of rights

* Term length

* Which territories

* Which formats

* Territories

* North American

* World English

* World

* Formats and sub rights

* Print and digital and audio

* Sub rights like “first serial”

* Translation MAYBE

* Time limits

* X years

* The life of the copyright

* Financial remuneration: advances and royalty rates. WHEN is it paid? What percentages?

* Advance and payment schedule

* On signing

* On acceptance of the work (after an edit)

* On publication

* A year after publication

* Manuscript delivery and acceptance. What happens if people are unhappy.

* Other clauses

* Copyright stipulation

* The Option Clause

* The Next Published Work Clause

* Cover approval vs consideration or collaboration

* Narrator approval vs consideration

* Indemnification

* What are reserves against returns?

* Reversion terms: bankruptcy, failure to publish, failure to pay, and out of print

* Red flags:

* Film rights, even if they say “non exclusive”

* Derivative works

* Lack of reversion language

When a former NYT journo who now writes novels (that would be me, hi) gets together with a current NYT journo now writing novels, they—we!—cannot stop talking about the challenges, advantages, schedules, pros and cons of book leave and what it is about fiction that lights some journalists up, and turns some off. It’s the good, the bad and the overcome-able, and a class in how people who know they can get the work done also flail, and yet still get the work done.

Mentioned on the pod:

Fates and Furies, Lauren Groff

Twice in a Full Moon, Christina Lauren

#AmReading

Liz: Naked in the Promised Land, Lillian Faderman

KJ: Didion and Babitz, Lili Anolik

Follow Liz on Instagram: @lizzyaharris

Hi #AmWriting listeners, Jennie here! Today, I'm talking to Jane Friedman, who is one of the most trusted voices in the world of publishing.She has advised and served organizations such as Writers Digest, The Chicago Manual of Style, The Editorial Freelancers Association, the Alliance of Independent Authors, and the National Endowment for the Arts, among others. She writes two must-read newsletters for industry professionals. One is her personal newsletter, and the other is The Bottom Line (previously called The Hot Sheet), where she provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals. The reason I wanted to speak with Jane on the podcast today is that she has just released an updated version of her book, The Business of Being a Writer, which digs into the nuts and bolts of the writing life, including the work of getting published and choosing how to do that, and the work of making money. It is one of those must-read books for writers who are serious about making a mark.

Jane offers so much information, some tough love, and also a reason for hope, and I'm so excited I’m talking to Jane about her own writing process, and her advice for writers.

Links from the Pod

Jane’s Trademark situation via Writer’s Digest

Jane’s The Bottom Line Newsletter

The Author’s Guild (for AI info)

Simon Willison’s Things We Learned About LLMs in 2024 (via Substack)

Make Art Make Money, Elizabeth Hyde Stevens

How to Reform Capitalism, Alain de Botton

The Gift, Lewis Hyde

Dana Gioia

Alan Watt’s Out of Your Mind

Find Jane via her website: www.janefriendman.com, or on Instagram at @janefriedman

Hey listeners: This week, everyone gets a taste of what paid supporters will get more regularly—a special Booklab: First Pages episode. Each month (and sometimes more often), we’ll choose two “first pages” to review. A first page, for our purposes, is the first 350 words of your book—fiction, non-fiction or memoir. We will read the page aloud on the podcast and discuss with a single thought in mind: Would we keep reading?

First pages are incredibly important in every genre. If you can’t grab a reader on that first page, you might lose your chance of grabbing them at all. On the podcast, we’ll read the page aloud and then each cast our “vote”—would we keep going? Then—and this is the most important bit— we’ll discuss why or why not. Were we dying to know what would happen next, or turned off by an info dump? Ready to learn what you have to teach us or ready to see what’s on YouTube? Totally on board with a character or uncertain why we were there in the first place?

In this episode, we discuss a high-action page of sci-fi/fantasy and then a memoir, and in both—even though we KNOW we told the writers to give us only 350 words… we want more. Not more words—more from THESE words. And we have ideas for how to make that happen.

The opportunity to have your first page reviewed is available to our Sticker and Sparkly Star Sticker supporters only. (That’s anyone with a monthly or annual subscription via Substack). Always, there’s one central question: Would we turn the page? We tell you why or why not, and help these generous, brave writers to make their first pages irresistible—and their examples will help you make your first page sing.

This episode is for everyone! But Booklabs (like the one we released in December, discussing a novel with another great first line: Every expensive hotel has its own scent and a memoir of parenting an adult child with addiction) are usually for paid subscribers only. Find the rest HERE.

So if you haven’t—yet—decided to support the podcast we know you love, now’s the perfect time. BUT WAIT THERE IS MORE.

I want you to put my first page to the test… but not until I listen to all the others!

Not only do paid supporters get Booklab episodes and the ability to submit first pages for consideration for a future episode of Booklabs, they also get monthly AMA’s with your hosts (This month is with KJ, coming April 25th). And…. formal announcement coming, but Jennie and I (this is KJ) realized last month that we’ve both finished a Blueprint and are starting to draft our manuscripts. We’re doing a (mostly) weekly series we call Writing the Books (WTB for short), and the first very very personal episode is coming your way April 15. Those will be paywalled, so that we can share everything.

Want to submit a first page? Paid subscribers, click HERE for details.

Social media is all aflutter over an article by Alex Reisner in The Atlantic: The Unbelievable Scale of A.I.’s Pirated Books Problem. In this episode, Jess and Sarina cover the news and its ramifications for authors.

You won’t want to miss this discussion about the lawsuits against Meta and OpenAI. We discuss problems and remedies, and the formation of legal markets for A.I. training. Like the work by HarperCollins on a paid licensing deal.

We also discuss the root cause: ebook piracy, and author reactions. Including this heartfelt one from author Julia Sykes.

Sarina has also written more about piracy, and how to move toward a world where it’s not as prevalent.

Join us for all the latest news!

Michael Dante DiMartino graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in Film and Animation. His directing credits include the primetime animated series King of the Hill, Family Guy, and Mission Hill. DiMartino is the co-creator of the award-winning animated Nickelodeon series Avatar: The Last Airbender and its sequel, The Legend of Korra. From 2002 to 2014, he served as executive producer and story editor for both series. He continued Korra’s story as the writer of the graphic novels Turf Wars and Ruins of the Empire. His other projects include authoring the fantasy novels Rebel Genius and Warrior Genius as well as creating and writing the Audible Original fiction podcast, Sundown: A Time Capsule Society Mystery. His latest novel is the YA coming-of-age story, Both Here And Gone.

Currently, DiMartino serves as the co-Chief Creative Officer of Avatar Studios, developing new content for the Avatar-verse.You can find out more about Michael by visiting his website www.michaeldantedimartino.com, on Facebook /MichaelDanteDiMartino, or on Instagram @mike_dante_d