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‘Guide to Textbook Publishing Contracts’ featured in ‘Wisconsin Bookwatch’

The following review of Guide to Textbook Publishing Contracts was published in the June 2016 issue of Wisconsin Bookwatch, published by Midwest Book Review. It is being posted here with permission.


The forming of contracts to the benefit of authors is a subject never taught in any creative writing class or workshop but it is a vital and necessary skill — especially for writers of textbooks. In Guide to Textbook Publishing Contracts, Stephen Gillen (a partner at the 145-year-old legal firm Wood Herron & Evans which specializes in intellectual property law) provides a complete and comprehensive course of instruction that is as ‘user friendly’ as it is do-it-yourself practical.

Guide to Textbook Publishing Contracts begins with an Introduction, followed by practical orientation advice (You Have More Leverage Than You Think / You Have to Do Your Homework / Determine What’s Important to You. Then continues with Key Provisions of a Typical Textbook Contract; Grant of Rights and Royalties; Advances and Grants; Electronic Rights; Copyright; Competing Publications; Obligations of the Publisher; Manuscript Submission; Ancillaries; Editorial Control; Warranties and Indemnities; Permissions to Use Other Material; Author’s and Publisher’s Changes in Proofs; Marketing and Promotion; Royalty Reporting and Payment; Inspection of Publisher’s Accounts by Author; Author’s Copies / Revisions of the Book; Assignments and Successors / Reversion; Choice of Legal Venue; and Signature Block.

Guide to Textbook Publishing Contracts is enhanced further with the inclusion of ’20 Questions to Ask Your Editor’, a list of Resources, a Glossary of Terms, and Contact Information. Although as the title lays out, Guide to Textbook Publishing Contracts is focused on contracts for textbooks, the core basic information about contract negotiation and content will prove to be of practical value for any author entering into a contractual arrangement with any publisher for any book, fiction or non-fiction.


Buy Guide to Textbook Publishing Contracts today to learn more about how to leverage a better publishing contract. ($29.95 paperback; $24.95 eBook — Click here for Special member pricing!)