Re: RWA's latest

At 1:23 PM +0000 3/20/08, you wrote:
>--- In <mailto:ebook-community%40yahoogroups.com>[email protected], Chris Smith <smith@...> wrote:
>
>> == Subsidy => requiring the author to pay costs associated with
>> editing, production or publishing of the work.
>>
>> == Not subsidy => requiring the author to pay costs associated
>> with the creation (the actual writing) of the work.
>

<snip>

>However it is a widely used and not unreasonable defintion that if
>the author pays money for anything beyond the stamp or internet
>connect that sends the manuscript to the press, that crosses the line
>from third party to subsidy. And if RWA does not accept subsidy and
>they define it along those lines--well maybe that is their
>prerogative. There's a whole lot of other stuff they don;t accept
>either and there's a pointed to stop banging on the door and accept
>it isn' the club for you, I think?
>

Personally, I don't think this definition is fine-grained enough. There are many things (generally associated with the creation and editing of the manuscript) that author's pay for. In the case of non-fiction books, almost every trade contract I've seen requires the author to provide the index for the book, and says that the publisher will charge the author for the index if the author does not. I've also seen contracts that require the author to furnish the interior photos in the case of biographies, and pay the associated fees for using the photos. These are both in contracts from major New York publishing houses that everyone has heard of.

I've also seen editors reject manuscripts as "unacceptable" under the contract, and suggest that the author work with an outside editor and pay the costs of that editor.

My point is that in the case of editing, there is an assumption in most contracts and by most publishers that the quality of the manuscript will meet a minimum level before it is "acceptable." The author must either submit a manuscript at that level, or pay someone (usually NOT the publisher) to get it to that level.

So, I believe that editing is a bit more fuzzy than the production or publishing areas.

Kent




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