Re: Re: RWA's latest

> 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.

The two that I've seen (my own from Wiley) don't, I don't pay for my  
own indexing. I'm not sure that it's as standard as you think. IN  
fact, I have never seen a contract that requires an author to pay for  
indexing. Granted, that means naught, but still different people may  
have far different experiences than you do. Also, it may vary highly  
from genre to genre. Academics may be expected to provide their own  
indexes while trade books may 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.

Yeah, but far from standard. An authors can kind of cheat. You may  
have to source the pictures, but it doesn't mean you have to use ones  
that you have to pay for. I did have to obtain permissions for the  
screenshots that we used the required it, but there was no cost  
involved. Frankly, the author is better suited to getting those  
permissions (though not for paying for them if absolutely necessary)  
because they are the ones choosing the pictures, finding them, getting  
usable files are whatever resolution. But permissions is a BIG area,  
and not all of it is done by authors.

> 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.

Now, THAT, I have seen.

> 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.

But it's not the publisher charging the writer for editing. It's the  
publisher saying, "go get an editor." In the case of many/most non- 
fiction books sold on proposal, you work with a developmental editor  
AS you write the book and the publisher pays. If you manage to finish  
the book, it's pretty much assumed that it comes out acceptable. Would  
I pay my own developmental editor? Hell no. They don't pay me enough  
for that.

dej

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