: Re: Royalty rate for edition of estate-held text I am the literary executor of my father's estate. A relative has started work on producing a (probably very) limited non-professional edition of my

@Cody1607638

Vote Up Vote Down

I cannot advise you without more information. You need to trust each other as 'fair and reasonable' and agree to formalise any 'ballpark' agreement at a later date, or suffer the increased overhead of involving two lawyers (one each) negotiating an agreement on an unlikely outcome.

There a simple too many variables.

Scenario 1: The book is self-published on both digital and dead tree platforms. You promote the work via a nationwide tour. How are your costs considered in the agreement?

Scenario 2: The book is vanity published. You sell 3 copies and the other 19,997 are held (at a cost) in a storage facility until they are burned on Guy Fawkes night. - Who is liable for the loss.

Scenario 3: The rights are purchased by a major publisher. You accept a ,000 advance. The money is split in accordance with your agreement. The book is a flop. The publisher goes bust. The liquidator demands the ADVANCE be returned. Who's liable?

Unless your father is a celebrity or a person of significant notoriety his diaries are of no value. Therefore, the success could be down to your relative's writing skills.

Your desire to publish this story may be deemed 'vanity' on your part and deemed as a 'labour of love' on part of your relative.

If it all went wrong I'm confident a judge (whether or not a contract is in place) would encourage you to 'work it out'.

Without more information I'd advise you not spend money on a contingency for unlikely event.

(0)

Login to post a comment!