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Contract #1 (with proposed changes)

AGREEMENT BETWEEN EDITOR AND PUBLISHER

This Publishing agreement is entered into, effective on date:                                 2002
Between:
(Editor)
Name
Address


and:
(Publisher)
(address)
E-mail:

NATURE OF CONTRACT
Editor understands that this agreement in no way constitutes any form of employment. Editor is not an employee of ******* Publications or any of its associates, or other web projects. Any work performed for ******* Publications or its associates, or other web projects is purely voluntary. ******* Publications will not be liable for any payment of advances, salaries, wages, benefits, or other income of any form. Editor remains entirely a free agent. ******* Publications will pay Editor a stipulated percentage of the cover price of any book sold under this agreement. What this should say is not that the work is voluntary, but that I am an independent contractor. Saying that the work is voluntary contradicts the promise to pay me from royalties––and I must be guaranteed income if you sell as few as one copy. I am not guaranteed any specific amount of income, but guaranteed income if there are any sales at all. Also, as written the publisher is not liable for paying its own company salaries! The implication is that if you are not, I am! This whole clause has to be replaced.

PAYMENT
Editor, in return for bringing to Publisher a finished, polish Work of professional quality, which requires no further editing of any kind, will receive from Publisher a fee. This fee will be paid to Editor for every copy of the work sold, no matter what format, whether electronic, print, or other. Publisher will pay as follows: This is the guarantee of income. The paragraph above needs to be rewritten by someone with some idea of the legal terminology, and checked by a foreign lawyer––the U.S. term "Independent Contractor," used by our IRS, may not be the proper term in foreign country of origin.
10% of the Publisher's gross receipts of the first 5,000 copies of the Work sold.
10% of the Publisher's gross receipts minus distribution cost of the first 5,000 copies sold through various distribution channels. Delete yellow portion, as distribution costs will most certainly exceed receipts if the accountants want them to.
15% as per above for medium difficulty with editing.
20% as per above for difficult edit.
5% of gross receipts of all copies sold in excess of 5,000.
Payment will be periodic and reasonably prompt when a reasonable amount has accumulated. There will be no advance against royalties. Quarterly payments, and specified that the payment will carry over to the next pay period if not owed a specified amount ($50.00 foreign is reasonable––about $40.00US), and that the statement with or without payment is to be sent to me within thirty days of the end of the pay period.

DELIVERY OF MANUSCRIPT
Publisher expects to receive from Editor a final, finished product, ready to format and publish, as determined by Publisher. Publisher will spot check the Work, and, if necessary, return it to Editor for further processing with no additional out of pocket expense to Publisher. Author will cooperate in a timely and efficient manner to make changes specified by Publisher and Editor. If Author and Editor and/or Publisher cannot agree about the changes, this Agreement will become void upon written declaration of either the Author or the Publisher. This is likely cribbed without thought from your author's contract. The fact that an author voids his/her author's contract should not reach out and make the editor's contract with the publisher void. I don't want to have to sign a separate editing contract for every book. Publisher is the final arbiter in all disputes, and has the authority to terminate this Agreement if a dispute cannot be reasonably resolved, or if the Work is not finished and delivered under reasonable circumstances. In no event shall Publisher be liable for work not deemed acceptable, or work performed by Editor or Author if the work is not acceptable. If Agreement is terminated, Author is free to take the Work elsewhere. This garbled mess needs to be replaced with the appropriate clause from another contract. Perhaps what is in my ****** contract (which I can supply) is suitable. Someone with legal background must adjust this section.

EDITOR'S REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES
Editor represents and warrants to the Publisher that Editor will not enter into any agreement or understanding with any person or entity that might conflict with the rights granted to Publisher in this Agreement.

ACCOUNTING
Publisher will keep accounts of all receipts and expenditures regarding the Work, and these accounts will be available for Editor's inspection. Inspection will be available to the editor on request.

APPLICABLE LAW
Regardless of the place of its physical execution, this Agreement shall be interpreted, construed, and governed in all respects by the laws of the United States of America and foreign country. Could this ever create a legal mess! In both author and editor's contracts it should specify the laws of city and country, or the city nearest to ***** that has a law court. No way was this contract prepared by an experienced writer, agent, or lawyer. I used to be a secretary to a lawyer, so I have some contract law experience. See my resume for support of that fact.

TERMINATION
This Agreement may be terminated at any time by either Publisher or Editor within 60 days written notification. Moreover, Publisher may, at Publisher's discretion, at any time cease working on the Work if Publisher deems it in Publisher's best interest, in which case Author and Editor will be free to take the Work to another publisher. Again, this seems to be cribbed from the author's contract, with "and editor" added. However, my contract is with the publisher, not the author. An author who is cut loose is never going to share with me anything s/he might get from another publisher. Furthermore, this contract is not for one work; it is for my work for the publisher, not for the author. The termination clause should specify that if either I leave the publisher (30 days notice or completion of manuscript in hand, whichever comes last in this case because there may be tweaking on the ms.) or the publisher dismisses me I am still owed any money forthcoming from the books I edited. When the last of the books I edited goes out of print, I will be paid any money left in your account even if it is less than $50.00.
Nothing in this contract is to be interpreted to make Publisher and Editor joint venturers. (I do not want to be responsible for bills if the company piles up debt, and the company doesn't want to have to give me half the profits if you strike it rich.)

Signatures
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, Author Change to Editor and Publisher have executed this Agreement as of the day and year written above and below.

*****, Publisher___________________________________________________
******* Publications,
P.O. Box *******
Complete Address
And:
(name)______________________________________Editor_______________________________
Books edited:
...................................................
....................................................
....................................................

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