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Topic: Literary Agent: Subsidiary Rights
| Author | Message |
| ebpenick | Posted – 3/24/2008 1:20:56 AM | show profile Hi, the short version of my question is: how do the agent and author get paid when the publisher buys some subsidiary rights (i.e. does payment come through the advance up front, or do the agent and author get a commission when the publisher re-sells the rights, or both?) Longer version: I'm new to being a literary agent and am drawing up my contract based on several key sources (Jeff Herman, Mayer, Larsen, 2008 Guide to Literary Agents). Subsidiary rights (incl. print-related: book club and paperback reprint editions, publication of selections, condensations or abridgements in anthologies and textbooks and first and second serial rights (i.e., publication in newspapers or magazines either before or after publication of the hardcover book) and non print- related: motion picture, television, stage, audio, animation, merchandising and electronic rights) are sometimes bought in part by the publisher, with the intent that the publisher will sell the rights. When this happens, what and when do the agent and author get paid? Do they get paid an advance up front against any future subsidiary revenues, and do subsid. revs count when the publisher re-sells the rights or when consumers start actually buying the product? This situation seems different from when the agent uses a sub-agent, but perhaps it's the same? Thank you! |
| foodlit | Posted – 3/24/2008 7:07:01 PM | show profile OK, please don't take this the wrong way, but if you need to ask this on a message board, I'd be very nervous to have you as a literary agent. Have you investigated working for a literary agency? That would really be your best bet, as then you could the ins and outs. How can you best represent an author if you don't know this very basic kind of information? What do you have to offer an author if not this kind of expertise? That said, the whole subsidiary rights things varies depending on how you structure your deal what rights you retain versus what you choose to hold onto. If you sell 'world rights', then the publisher generally pays a higher advance and sells the foreign rights themselves and the author gets a smaller piece of the pie. If you hold onto the rights, you can work with a sub-agent and they will sell them directly for you in foreign countries as well as film. If I were in your shoes, seriously I would try to get a job with an established agency where you'll learn all this on their dime and make the contacts, etc. If you go it alone, you'll be competing with experienced agents, and what do you have to offer other than enthusiasm? You don't know how or what to negotiate? And frankly, that is what you pay an agent for, their knowledge. You'll get going faster working for someone else, as you can sell their contacts and expertise and brainstorm with them. Trying to do this on your own, it's really like flying blind...and it's very, very hard to be a literary agent. Everyone is looking for the same 'sure thing' and the bar is very specific and very high and with the recent scares in publishing, such as Borders possibly going under, that could drastically change what does and doesn't get published, making it even more difficult. |
| westsidestory | Posted – 3/24/2008 10:36:31 PM | show profile foodlit, you are much kinder than I (or most of us here who deal with subrights regularly). ebpenick, I'd also be somewhat nervous if an agent I worked with had to post for an explanation of how agents get paid. The short answer is that your agent-author agreement stipulates that all checks are sent to you and made out to you, then you take your cut and pass on the rest to the author. The long answer (besides foodlit's) is to please, please please find yourself a reputable intellectual property attorney to work with. You're out of your depth at the moment - agenting is much more than simply bringing an author to a publisher. If you can't apprentice yourself to an agency please don't take on any writers. There are several topics on this board that relate to agents winding up hurting authors because they lacked knowlege. Don't be one of them. |
| ebpenick | Posted – 3/25/2008 8:14:10 PM | show profile Very good suggestions. Thanks to both for your honesty and expertise. |
