Although I'm not a published author. Their are things I like to know a head of time.

When sending a manu_script_ (If exepted). Will the publishing company send me a fourm to fill out? So I could use a pen name and give my adress.

What other things will I be filling out that I should be aware of?

I just dont want to be taken advantage of.

Hi Nightwrath,

What do you write? One hint I can give. Know the outfit that your are submitting to, before you submit! Commercial publishers, subsidy publishers, vanity publishers. Here's a few of the differences.

A commercial publisher purchases the right to publish a manu_script_ (often along with other rights, known as subsidiary rights), and pays the author a royalty on sales (most also pay an advance on royalties). Commercial publishers are highly selective, publishing only a tiny percentage of manu_script_s submitted, and handle every aspect of editing, publication, distribution, and marketing. There are no costs to the author.

A vanity publisher prints and binds a book at the author's sole expense. Costs include the publisher's profit and overhead, so vanity publishing is usually a good deal more expensive than self-publishing. The completed books are the property of the author, and the author retains all proceeds from sales. Vanity publishers do not screen for quality--they publish anyone who can pay. For an extra fee, some may provide editing, marketing, warehousing, and/or promotional services (often of dubious quality), or they may provide variously-priced service packages that include differing menus of extras.

A subsidy publisher also takes payment from the author to print and bind a book, but contributes a portion of the cost and/or adjunct services such as editing, distribution, warehousing, and marketing. Theoretically, subsidy publishers are selective. The completed books are the property of the publisher, and remain in the publisher's possession until sold. Income to the writer comes in the form of a royalty.

I write Fantasy, Science Fiction, poetry and comics.

I understand what your saying. But it dosen't aswer my quesion about the fourm part.

Here's a quick way to protect yourself, if you are worried about losing your work to unscrupulous editors or other writers: mail your work to yourself.

Photocopy your poem/article/manu_script_. Create a cover sheet with the name of the material you want to copyright, your name, the current date and the universal symbol for copyright: ©. Put the material and the cover sheet into an envelope and seal it. Mail this envelope to yourself (either registered or through the regular post). When you receive the envelope, DO NOT OPEN IT! Put the sealed envelope in a secure place, such as a safe, security deposit box or with a lawyer.

This method protects your copyright because the post office stamp is an official date mark which is difficult to contest. The sealed envelope should be opened only when defending your ownership of copyright in a court of law.

Okay further to what tospher wrote, and maybe coming back to what nightwrath wanted regarding forms, contracts, etc.

Subsidy publisher book contracts from outfits like iUniverse, AuthorHouse and Xlibirs, may outwardly resemble trade publishing contracts, but there's no reason you should be giving away any rights at all when you're paying them to publish the book.

Don't fall for the line that the fee you're paying only offsets part of the production cost, blah, blah, blah. A good subsidy publisher will offer a short contract that describes the publisher's responsibilities, a royalty schedule, and how the author can (quickly) terminate the agreement, not a three year lock-up.

Some subsidy publishers hide their contract details until the last minute, hoping you'll sign simply because you've gone so far down the path. Don't even consider a subsidy publisher who doesn't have their book contract available on their website where you can read it before you contact them.

Unlike contracts from trade publishers, I've never heard of a subsidy publisher willing to negotiate their contracts. It's a volume business, if they don't get your book they'll get somebody else's. They may have different publishing contracts for their different packages, like iUniverse with their different royalty rate contracts.

The contractual relationship between the author and the publisher is _base_d on what's written in the signed book contract, not on implicit understandings. Even experienced authors and agents sometime make the mistake of concentrating on the money and not paying enough attention to the clauses that protect the author's rights.

All contract terms are negotiable, though acquisitions editors like to pretend they have a standard publishing contract that all their authors are happy to sign. A brief summary of standard trade publisher contract terms follows, but it's by no means all-inclusive: I advise everyone who is looking at a contract signing to consult a lawyer.

Just my 0.02! And make sure you polish that manu_script_ till it shines, nightwrath -- ie spellcheck, et al! 8)

NightWrath:

If a story of yours is accepted by a small press magazine, chances are you won't have to fill out any forms or sign anything. The journal will simply let you know they've accepted your story. You should then send an e-mail back to them confirming that you agree to allow them to publish your piece.

With some magazines, and most book publishers, you'll have to provide your Social Security number (so they can report your earnings to the IRS), and may be asked to sign a contract. The two most important elements of the contract are who owns the copyright, and who owns the marketing rights (marketing rights are just as important as the copyright. You can own the copyright to your story, but if you give away the marketing rights, the publisher essentially "owns" your story.)

I hope you don't mind some Dutch uncle advice: Your posts are riddled with spelling and other errors. I guarantee you your work will never be treated seriously by an editor if you don't take more care in how you present yourself. Sorry.

Best,

RRM