Month: September 2023

THE INDIE PRESS NETWORK GUIDE

Legal Deposit

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A publisher is required by law to send a copy of every book (print and, since 2013, digital) they publish in the UK to the British Library.

How many copies do I have to send?

The British Library only requires one copy, although there are, of course, other copyright libraries in the UK, and they also aim to hold as near a complete record as possible. The other copyright libraries are:

  • National Library of Scotland
  • National Library of Wales
  • Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
  • Cambridge University Library
  • Trinity College Dublin Library

Most publishers choose to supply the British Library with one copy, and to supply the other five copies via the ALDL (Agency for the Legal Deposit Libraries), who then send on the books to these other libraries.

Do I have to deposit future editions of the same title?

Guidance is usually that a publisher need not supply copies of reprints unless they’re substantially different and have a new ISBN. Once you have a relationship in place you will be able to ask your liaison officer if you have specific questions.

Resources

ABOUT THIS ARTICLE
Last updated: 30th September 2023
Author(s): Will Dady, Renard Press

THE INDIE PRESS NETWORK GUIDE

Copyright

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The very foundation of publishing is the concept of intellectual copyright – that is, if you make something, it’s yours to replicate and distribute, and no one else can come along and, say, photocopy it.

As a publisher, if either republishing a ‘classic’ work, or when publishing a new work that quotes from other sources, you will of course have to think about the copyright implications. Even if, as most do, your author contract indemnifies the publisher against copyright claims that the author has plagiarised, the buck really stops with the publisher, so it’s best to think of such issues up front.

And of course, while it might be obvious that quoting from a famous book might be covered by copyright laws, all too often authors are surprised to learn they can’t quote song lyrics, or include pictures, so it’s an important part of the editor’s job to spot possible copyright issues where permissions might need clearing.

Here are a few things to look out for:
• Lyrics – whether five words or fifty, whether it’s the Pussycat Dolls or Stormzy. (NB just because a song is old doesn’t mean it’s in the public domain – the usual rules, as outlined below, apply)
• Lines from a film or TV show
• Quotes from any other books
• Quotes from a blog or social media comment

This list is not exhaustive, but is a good starting point.

And now, if you’ve identified any quotations, you need to work out whether they’re in copyright…

Copyright guidelines

(Please bear in mind that this is blanket advice, not legal guidelines. If you have any specific concerns or you aren’t sure, err on the side of caution and seek an expert’s advice. Members of organisations like the Publishers Association and the IPG have free access to a business-support hotline, which can be helpful in such situations.)

First, work out where you want to distribute your book. If you want to sell it internationally you’ll have to bear in mind international copyright rules. In this short guide we will focus on UK law, which is applicable to much of Europe, as well as ‘commonwealth territories’ (in publishing this covers Australia and Canada and others), and we will touch on US copyright law.

IN THE UK

Copyright in the UK is governed by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, which says that all intellectual copyright is automatically applied (i.e. you don’t have to do anything for copyright to apply) to all creative works, and is covered for 70 years from the end of the year the creator (we’ll assume author) died.

So what does that look like? Let’s take a couple of authors – how about the outrageous (and sadly neglected) author Tom Sharpe (1928–2013), and the wonderful Virginia Woolf (1882–1941).

Tom Sharpe’s books will therefore be in copyright from 2013, when he died, for a further 70 years, so 2083 – and until the end of that year: so his books will enter the public domain in the UK on the 1st of January 2084. A while to go.

Woolf, however, dying in 1941 (+70 =) entered the public domain on the 1st of January 2012.

EXCLUSIONS

There are slight complications – if a book was published posthumously, it is in copyright for 70 years from the date of first publication.

So back to Virginia: several of her works are still in copyright – for example, the pieces included in the 1976 collection of her work, Moments of Being. These will be in copyright until (1976+70) the 1st of January 2047.

If you’re quoting a translation, even if the ‘underlying copyright’ (i.e. the author) is in the public domain, you’ll have to check the translator’s dates, since they are covered by the same legal protections.

IN THE UNITED STATES

Things are a bit different in the States, and – dare we say – even more complicated, due to a hefty about-turn in the twentieth century. Generally speaking, works are protected by copyright for 70 years after the author’s death or 95 years after publication.

Because US estates were given the option of renewing copyright, but not everyone took this up, it’s not always easy to ascertain which books are still in copyright in the US.

What to do about copyright

OBTAINING PERMISSION

If you want to go down this route, bear in mind that it’s going to cost. You might be pleasantly surprised and find out that it’s not always a huge amount of money – and indeed sometimes music bands will bemusedly say ‘Right on, go for it, how original!’

If it’s an author you’re hoping to quote, you’ll likely need to go through their publisher. A good place to start is looking that up online. Go to Waterstones (there are other good sites available!) and look up the book. You’ll see the publisher listed – you’ll then need to look up that publisher and find their rights or permissions contact. They will probably walk you through it (or, if they’re a bigger publisher, might well have an automated system – Faber, for example, have a tool that spits out an instant quote), but they will want to know a few details – who you’re quoting, how many words you want to use, the context (epigraph? in an essay? Using character names for your chapter titles?), and a bit of info about your book (paperback or hardback, RRP, print run and – all important – territory, i.e. where you want to sell your books – UK only or international?).

When you’ve given them all the information they need you’ll have a £ figure for permissions clearance, and then you can make an informed decision on whether to include or no.

AVOIDING ASKING

If you haven’t got time to go through the permissions process (bear in mind, while some estates and publishers can expedite the process, on the whole it can take a while – many publishers ask for six months, and some take longer), or if you can’t shoulder the permissions costs, you’ll need to remove the quoted text.

BUT WHAT ABOUT ‘FAIR DEALING’?

Perhaps one of the most over-quoted phrases on the Internet, ‘Fair dealing’ is indeed a get-out-of-jail-free card – but it’s not something you decide. Even if you think ‘but I only quote ten words – I’m sure it’s fine’, the usual advice is to clear permissions and hope for this outcome. You can always negotiate!

Why? Because the fair-dealing clause doesn’t quantify or qualify. It doesn’t say ‘quotes under ten words are exempt’. And there’s a big difference between quoting the opening lines of a book, say, than a passing comment embedded in the book.

Resources

There are plenty of online sources if you want to go hunting for more information, and many books on the subject. Just a few include:

ABOUT THIS ARTICLE
Last updated: 30th September 2023
Author(s): Will Dady, Renard Press

THE INDIE PRESS NETWORK GUIDE

Distribution

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Distribution is really one of the most vital aspects of your business – it’s the method by which your books get to market. Whilst it doesn’t have the same glamorous reputation as Marketing and Publicity, it’s important to get it right from the outset to make sure your readers can actually buy your books.

Do I need a distributor? Can’t I do it myself?

There is no hard-and-fast rule that says you can’t do your own distribution, but if you’re thinking of doing your own distribution, think hard about all that entails.

In general, it’s the very small, often new publishers and the very large publishers who are able to run their own distribution. If you’re just starting out, you have one or two titles and you only want to sell to bookshops you already have a relationship with, you could absolutely distribute yourself.

For most, though, it will be a necessity – many indie presses run on far fewer staff than is really comfortable, and there just isn’t the time to be boxing up books, invoicing, processing returns, chasing non-payment, etc. – or the room to house so many books!

Most will find that outsourcing your distribution to a specialist book distributor will free up much of your time, and will provide you with an invaluable relationship for getting books to customers on time. With dedicated resources, their warehouse will likely have better conditions than your cellar or shed for storing books; they will have the flexibility to meet rises or droops in demand; and in an ever-changing marketplace, particularly with post-Brexit legislation changing the way distribution over borders operates, their specialist knowledge will be important.

Which distribution company should I use?

If you’ve made the decision to use a distributor, do a little homework about who looks best for you. Go with a specialist distributor (even if a craft-glue or dairy distributor offers to take you on, it’s a very different industry, so won’t do you much good), and have a look at their publishing clients. There aren’t loads of companies around, so it shouldn’t take you too long. We’ve added a short list below (which aren’t necessarily recommendations), but if you’re a member of the IPG you might find that they have a more extensive list.

Distributors will likely have requirements for application – they might want you to have a list of two or three titles, say, or some of the bigger distributors might want you to have hundreds.

Think about what you want from your distributor – do you want a basic service, or are you looking for a company that also does sales representation? Also does print on demand? UK and Ireland only or also Europe? Worldwide?

It’s also important to note that not all distributors want to hold physical stock – if you only want to do print on demand, this might make your choice easier, but if you want to print and hold copies you’ll want to check this first.

Word of mouth is one of the most important aspects of distribution – check out their client lists and see if you recognise anyone. Is there a publisher in the Network who might be able to speak to their experience with that distributor?

Bear in mind that, while it might feel like ‘the bigger the better’ in terms of market resilience or reach, a distributor isn’t your sales rep, and a small indie distributor probably also has a good bookshop client base – and it’s worth thinking about whether it’s important to you to be able to swing by and collect your books in person too.

On the other hand, if you just want everything to be as slick as possible, maybe you’re after a more automated system where there’s perhaps less room for human error?

And of course, we live in an era where we cannot ignore the environmental implications of business. Look into what your shortlist of distributors are doing – look past the greenwashing. Are they using renewable energy? Using ‘responsible deliveries’?

What terms should I expect to see in a distribution contract?

What might initially come as a surprise is you shouldn’t expect to be paid immediately. Distributors stagger payments slightly – usually by three months or so – meaning that sales made in January will likely be paid to you at the beginning of May.

They should, irrespective of this, inform you of sales every month (and/or via an online portal so you can check live or near-live sales data).

You will be paid for your sales, minus distribution charge (plus VAT), minus your sales representation fee (if you have it, and also plus VAT).

Usually your distributor charges for their service irrespective of returns, so if a bookshop returns a few copies six months down the line they won’t refund the deductions for their service.

In terms of the distribution charge itself, this will be slightly different if you’re talking about print on demand as well (which you should consider as printing plus distribution charges), but in general a distributor will charge somewhere between 10% and 20% of sales. (Bear in mind that distributors’ bills have gone up hugely with staffing, heating, lighting costs, and many have passed on increases recently rather than going bust.)

You might find you’re able to barter, and bring the cost down a bit, but so long as you’ve got quotes from several distributors (as you would when getting quotes for any services, be it printing a book or getting a tap replaced), you’ll get an idea of what the average is.

Ask about other services – are there any additional fees? Storage charges over a certain volume? Handling fees for returns? Carriage charges for gratis orders?

Overseas distribution and alternatives

When you’re slightly more established you might start looking for a distributor in different markets. It’s worth noting that different territories have different expectations of books – you might think, for instance, it makes sense to make a distribution agreement for North America, but you should remember that American and British readers are used to different formats of books, and we have different spelling and punctuation conventions, so it’s worth thinking about this hard before putting too much time or resources into it.

Most UK distributors will limit their contract to the home market – UK and Ireland – although some will also factor in Europe. Most will allow you to process orders through them internationally if you want, so it’s worth thinking about whether you need another distributor.

There are also environmental factors to consider in shipping books around the planet, so make sure this is a big part of your planning.

Finally, there are other options – worldwide print-on-demand wholesalers, for example, who give international retailers access to your back catalogue. It’s worth noting that some leading companies offer discounts via membership organisations – at the time of writing, for example, the IPG and Ingram offer a discount on set-up and access to the digital wholesale ‘global connect’ market.

Resources

  • The IPG offers page – for discounts and recommendations

A selection of UK book distributors 

ABOUT THIS ARTICLE
Last updated: 16th September 2023
Author(s): Will Dady, Renard Press

THE INDIE PRESS NETWORK GUIDE

Contracts

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Contracts (sometimes referred to more euphemistically as ‘Agreements’) are perhaps the most important part of publishing – not only is your company only as valuable as your filing system (these pieces of paper, after all, are the proof you hold the rights to publish works), but they are of vital importance in building your reputation. Here’s a whistle-stop tour of the world of contracts.

When should I write a contract?

You’ll probably find it’s a good idea to have a boilerplate contract in place from Day One, because you’ll want to be ready to be reactive and make offers as soon as you open submissions (if that’s the route you’re going down) or accept submissions from agents.

In terms of negotiations, once you’ve found a work you really want to see on your shelves, you’ll probably want to start by outlining terms (and if you’re working with an agent, they will probably steer the conversation by asking). When you’ve agreed on the essentials – advance, royalties, etc – you can get a draft contract in the works.

How can I write a contract?

Initially the contract itself might feel like an insurmountable object, but there is plenty of guidance around. Perhaps the best place to start is Clark’s Publishing Agreements, which is considered the Bible for Contracts.

Working in reverse, it’s also important to consider what terms are fair for your authors, and the Society of Authors has some guidance on this. See, for instance, their CREATOR fair contract terms.

While most agents will defer to you for your preferred contract, some bigger authors and agents might request that you use their boilerplate contract (or update clauses of yours to match theirs).

Things to include

As a baseline a contract should include the contracting parties’ names and addresses, and details of the work in question. The contract should make clear what advance is being offered, and contain details of royalty percentages and payment schedules for remittance to the author. They will include a warranty on the author’s behalf that the work is original and not plagiarised (and, increasingly, that it wasn’t written by AI) and a ‘grant of rights’, which details which rights are being licensed to the publisher, and the terms under which the deal is being made – which languages and territories, for instance. They should also cover the percentage split for any rights sales the publisher might make, and any terms and the protocol for the reversion of rights.

While most indie presses will have agonised over their contract boilerplate, once you have a working draft you might be able to convince one to give you some feedback. Likewise, the Society of Authors (and other membership organisations) gives authors a contract-reading service, and you’ll soon get used to receiving feedback and incorporating this into your model.

Of course, with rights it’s important to get it right right from the beginning – so if in doubt, it’s worth speaking to a specialist.

Remuneration

It’s important to think about your author: while you might feel like you’ve ‘discovered’ a book and are vital in helping it get to market – and while there is some truth in this – an author will likely have spent months, years, possibly decades working on their book, so it’s important to pay close attention to remuneration.

While some publishers choose to pay a fixed fee (a one-off payment – more common in buying rights to include a piece of work within a publication), the majority of trade publishers pay royalties, sometimes with a lump sum, or ‘advance against royalties’ up front.

Royalty rates vary drastically from publisher to publisher (author to author) and between areas of the industry, but it’s fair to say that they’re generally between 5% and 10%. The most common trade model is 10% on hardback sales and 7.5% on paperback sales, and this is traditionally paid on the RRP of a book, although in some cases they are paid on net receipts.

It’s important to make this clear in the contract, as it makes a big difference. For instance:

On sales of This Great Book by J. Smith, which retails at £10

Paid 7.5% of the RRP, J. Smith would receive 75p per sale.

Paid 7.5% of net receipts, and presuming sales were made at an average discount of 50%, with sales and distribution charges of 30%, J. Smith would receive 26p per sale.

After this, terms can get a bit trickier – perhaps an agent wants to see an escalator (e.g. 7.5% up to 10,000 copies, and then 10%), and if you’re selling copies in export or at high discounts you might need to adjust the royalty rate so you’re not losing money.

Royalty periods

When you’ve decided on all of the above, you’ll need to work out when you pay royalties. Since it’s a time-consuming and fiddly job, most publishers only run royalty reports once or twice a year, and it’s common practice to pay swiftly afterwards.

I can’t afford advances

If this is you, it’s important to bear in mind that the advance isn’t everything. If you can’t afford to pay advances, make sure your royalty model is more than fair – after all, an advance is only a share of the royalties up front, so if you can’t afford to pay thousands up front, focus on making it better for the author in the long run.

Some small presses also look to find other ways to demonstrate a commitment to their authors beyond an initial cheque – what can you do to make your press a better home for your authors? Perhaps it’s free copies, discounts on your list, free author websites, etc.

Resources

  • Clark’s Publishing Agreements (ed. Lynette Owen)*
  • Society of Authors – CREATOR

 

* For those who might find the RRP cost-prohibitive, bear in mind your library might have a copy. Some guild and society membership also offers a discount – so if you’re planning to join some societies, it might be worth checking this first.

ABOUT THIS ARTICLE
Last updated: 16th September 2023
Author(s): Will Dady, Renard Press