My Contract Offer

Just over a month ago I received a contract offer for my first novel Enchantment and I thought I would share with everyone what I’ve learned by going through that process.

I received the offer by email and…well I can’t actually describe how excited I was. I could only read the first line where the publisher stated they loved my story. After that my husband had to take over and read the remaining portions of the message. Every part of my body shook with excitement and for the rest of that day I was glued to the ceiling. I celebrated with family and friends because I was so thrilled that somebody appeared to like my work.

With the first day behind me I began to look at the offer in honest. I have to say the contract terrified me. The publisher was good enough to recommend I have a lawyer look at the contract and understand every clause before I signed on the dotted line.

I didn’t call my lawyer, but I contacted my good friends from CARWA. Everyone offered their kind words of accolade and wisdom. The published authors who’ve had the opportunity to see many contracts looked things over for me. I finally determined the contract was pretty much standard.
I should back up for a moment and explain how I ended up with the offer. Back in December while on the Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal website (which is a special interest chapter of RWA) a three-line blog pitching contest was offered. Well I entered and couldn’t believe that I was actually picked as one of the winners. I was asked to submit my full manuscript then offered the contract.

I can honestly say that up until this happened to me, I had never paid much attention to what publishers offer. I wasn’t looking for a publisher. I wanted an agent. Silly me, but I somewhat assumed that all publishers offered the same things. I assumed they would all offer print books and try to sell them in as many stores as possible. I also assumed that selling a book, as an e-book was just an added perk.

I didn’t understand the meaning of POD (print on demand). Here’s the scoop. Print on demand (POD) is the commonly-used term for the digital printing technology that allows a complete book to be printed and bound in a matter of minutes. Digital printing makes it easy and cost-effective to produce books one or two at a time or in small lots, rather than in larger print runs of several hundred or several thousand. These books are made available through many companies such as Amazon or Barnes and Noble. Consumers may purchase them on-line, but I must say after trying this option, it is a very expensive way to purchase a paperback novel.

After surfing numerous publishers I started to get the picture. The publisher who offered me the contract was just one of many small e-publishers. Besides the e-publishing they also offered some POD. My contract stated that I would receive “one copy”.

Finally, I decided to contact the publisher by telephone. I can’t tell you how important this one step became for me. I’m not going to mention names, but I have to say how incredible nice and professional this person was. They answered all my questions thoroughly. When I got to my questions about the POD, it was explained that while they do offer that service it would not be guaranteed. Sadness descended upon me immediately. I want to see my name on bookshelves in bookstores. I soon realized that if I accepted the contract I would be going against what my original plans and dreams have always been.

It was a hard decision to make, but I decided I would not be accepting the offer.

In this past month I’ve also learned a few other important things for those who are actively querying agents. I pulled out my file of queries that I had not heard back from. Now having said this it’s important to realize that not all literary agents will allow you to follow up with them due to the sheer volume of submissions they receive. For some of them, you are to assume that if you have not heard from them given a certain amount of time that they are not interested in your work. I respect those guidelines, however, for the few that did not have that information stated on their websites, I sent them a follow-up email. I was surprised to get three responses stating they had not received my original query. I received no notices that my original messages did not go through. I was asked to resubmit, but this time I was able to send my queries directly to the agents. Bonus for me. So, do your follow-up emails!

Sorry everyone, I know this is an EXTREMELY long blog post, but hopefully some of you may benefit from it. For those of you who follow along with me on my quest THANK YOU. Someday my books will be available on the bookstore shelves, until then I’ll keep learning and writing.

Tagged as: Contest, Contract offers from publishers, follow-up query letters, POD, Print on demand