Hugh Howey Breaks New Ground with a Unique Contract.
From Hugh Howey:
After three rounds of publishers winking, flirting, and making passes at WOOL this year — after a dozen or so offers that I would’ve fallen over myself to accept earlier in my career — after walking away from two 7-figure deals last month that would’ve meant giving up all control of my publishing future and all of my rights — Simon and Schuster blew my agent and myself out of the water with a deal that is everything we’ve been looking for from the very beginning (and never expected to get).
Less money. More respect. Ultimate freedom.
This is the contract I’ve been hoping for, and not just for myself. To be honest, I didn’t think it would happen to me. I thought this was a contract for the future — for other authors. But my agent and I went into these several rounds of discussions telling each other that it was crucial to have these conversations with publishers so that they would get used to hearing what was important to authors. And what’s important to authors isn’t *always* large advances (which are just piles of horrid royalties). We want long-term stability; we want to retain our rights; we want the freedom to publish our way; we think digital rights should either remain in our hands or pay a whole lot better. (I’m not speaking for everyone, of course. But I know I’m not alone).
By keeping my digital rights, I’ll be able to retain the sensible (i.e. cheap) price of my ebooks so that they will (hopefully) continue to sell. I can lower the price and do promotions anytime I want. I can see my sales in real-time like I always have so I know what works and what doesn’t. I can keep the first book at perma-free.
. . . .
Simon and Schuster, meanwhile, will do what they do best: They are releasing WOOL in March under their prestigious, titular imprint (not under Author Solutions, sadly). They are also doing something awesome here at my behest (read: begging) by releasing the hardback and paperback simultaneously! This means a major push with an affordable paperback in bookstores, with a hardback available for libraries and the handful of people who might prefer one (i.e. my mother).
Link to the rest at Kindleboards and thanks to John for the tip.
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Good for Hugh Howey. I hope this is the first in more favorable contracts for authors.
Congrats, Hugh!
Before I express an opinion either way about this announcement, I’d like to know a little more about the details. As has been discussed both on this blog & elsewhere, there are a number of contractual clauses affecting how writers can do business, & Hugh Howley doesn’t say much whether he or his agent negotiated more fair terms.
If he has succeeded in this — I’d like to believe he has, but his mention of Author Solutions suggests he may not have made the wisest choices — not only do I congratulate him on his success, but I’d like to know more about his agent. (I suspect she’ll be getting a lot more business in the near future.)
That’s my question. As much as I’d love to believe and hope he’s broken new ground, I have to wonder about the AS connection given that we all know that S/S is already intending on redirecting certain authors toward their ‘new imprint’. What exactly does this mean? Will he have the S/S label or an A/S one?
I think his reference to Author Solutions may have been sarcastic as in the sense that it was a real imprint as opposed to the vanity one. At least I read it that way.
I read it that way too.
I know he’s posted on the Passive Voice before, so I’m confident it *is* sarcasm. I put Wool on my wishlist a while ago so I can remember to buy it as a reward for finishing my WIP. Maybe I’ll break down and read it sooner.
Reading it again (slower this time) I have to agree. He’s being sarcastic. *snark* Good for him and it’s about time a major publisher got turned down until they figured out to write a decent contract.
Yes, the reference to AS was a joke. He is publishing through the S&S imprint. LOL
Well, all I had to go by was what he wrote in the post. (The computer I have at the moment doesn’t play sound from YouTube clips for some reason.) People have gotten what they thought were good deals before, only to be blindsided by a clause they didn’t think carefully enough about.
Still would like to know about the terms he got. Not in photographic detail, but enough information to understand if he did do well.
The snark was intended for the KB crowd who know Hugh well. I can understand it being puzzling for someone not acquainted with him.
Yeah, sorry about the snark. The book is with the S&S imprint. The deal was put together before the AS announcement, actually. Just trying to inject some humor in there for my friends on KB.
I can assure you without going into details that this is quite possibly the most fair contract an author in my position has ever received. Unless you prefer a mountain of cash over a fair contract, in which case plenty of authors have done much better. I wasn’t interested in the money as much as the rights and freedoms. And Simon and Schuster deserve a TON of credit for putting this together. This wasn’t the case of us wearing them down so much as us saying “no” to other deals until the perfect one came along.
My esteem of S&S couldn’t be higher right now, and it was high to begin with.
“I wasn’t interested in the money as much as the rights and freedoms.”
Excuse me for being skeptical, but isn’t the purpose of retaining as many rights as possible having the ability to exploit them to generate more income per unit sale than if the publisher held those rights?
I shouldn’t try to speak for Hugh, but I think his point was that he was not as interested in the amount of the advance as in retaining e-book rights.
Peter, NY contracts are increasingly trying to tie up ALL of the author’s work in non-compete clauses, plus make it nearly impossible for rights to ever revert back to the author. NO huge advance is worth mortgaging your entire career for.
Peter:
I understand your skepticism. To me, every right and freedom has value. There’s value in sticking to your ideals. There’s value in having creative control. Those things have to be weighed against the money offered. For some, the money would more than cover what’s given up. I’m not one to judge. I think each individual makes their own valuations and comes to their own conclusions. For me, the amount of money it would have taken to sign a traditional deal would’ve been astronomical. More than my book is worth. And that’s possibly because I overvalue my freedom and my creative control.
A great deal for me might be a horrible deal for someone else and vice versa.
Congrats to you and your agent for sticking to your guns and getting a great deal that’s going to be a game-changer. This shows how indies are bringing positive changes to the whole business. Awesome news, Hugh.
Very nice, Hugh. I recall some of the discussions in which you were embroiled on another site earlier in the year. It’s great to see some positive groundbreaking going on. How does it feel to be a pioneer?
I give all of the credit to my agent, the folks at Simon and Schuster, and the authors who brokered similar deals in the past. I’m just along for the ride (and dumb enough to say “no” to large advances).
I really think the industry would be better for all involved if advances came down and rights improved. There are questions above on whether or not this is truly a good deal. I can tell you right now that it is. I just feel dumb lucky.
Congrats, Hugh. I agree. I’d rather see smaller–or no–advances and better rights than huge advances with draconian clauses–especially since an advance is just a loan against future royalties.
Advances for most authors are already very low. And publishers do nothing to promote books thy have invested little in. It would benefit those authors if advances increased. Not only would they have something to subsist on, but it might motivate the publishers to do something to recoup their investment.
Good points. Maybe I should’ve said that I think advances should equalize. The massive advances that don’t earn out put undue pressure on a handful of books. And if the author doesn’t perform, that huge payday hurts their career rather than helps it.
If digital royalties came up for authors, more of them would be able to subsist without worrying about the advance. I’d like to see artists making it by based on their actual sales. And if that seems like a pipe dream, you should see how many writers on the KB forums are paying their bills and quitting their day jobs. Writers who aren’t grabbing headlines but are making $5,000 to $10,000 a month. There are hundreds if not thousands on this single forum. To me, that’s the real story. Not the outliers, but the growing number of people subsisting on their fiction, all because of the control they have over price and the incredible royalty rates paid by digital distributors.
Well said. I was saying something similar on another forum just the other day.
I read that Author Solutions comment as a bit of sarcasm.
Nice!
Nice going, Hugh. You’ve been my “poster guy” for smart indie authors for quite a while now. I’m looking forward to knowing whatever details you choose(or are contractually able) to share about the S&S deal. Thanks for making it better for writers going forward, because it certainly will.
“By keeping my digital rights, I’ll be able to retain the sensible (i.e. cheap) price of my ebooks so that they will (hopefully) continue to sell.”
That will keep me buying.
Congratulations to both Hugh the author AND Hugh the businessman. I hope to have a hardcopy of Wool on my shelf soon.
I would also like to point out that Hugh did’nt have to share any of the details of his deal with anybody. He’s being a friend to us all by offering what he did. I would like to know more as well, but this is his business to run, so I’ll take what he offers and be happy.
Thanks Hugh.
If you read the whole post the AS comment is clearly sarcastic.
Check out this video for more- he talks favorably about Kristin Nelson, his agent: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vi51srrtrc
If i am not mistaken this is the agent courtney milan uses, and she has been self-publishing (after walking from 6-figure contracts) for at least a year now. Her agent was supportive of that decision.
Kudos to Hugh. The contractas described is in the vein that would tempt me.
Yeah, Kristin Nelson is clearly one of the agents who gets it, and from everything I hear, is a wonderful advocate for her authors. (Clearly!)
I’m curious about royalty reporting. The Big Six/Five still have problems with paying royalties accurately and on time, as Kris Rusch keeps reporting.
I’d love to know if Hugh insisted on some transparency there.
This may be my inherent pessimism, but I view an advance as all the royalties I’ll ever get. I wish it weren’t so, but it happens often enough to brace for the worst and weigh a deal accordingly.
Keep in mind that a publisher profits long before an advance is earned out. So they don’t have to offer what they think the author will earn, only what their cost should be vs. how much they project to profit.
That’s more sensible than pessimistic, Hugh. Sure, you’ll probably do better than that, but then it’s a pleasant surprise.
Congrats to Hugh! And good on him for hanging tough until he got a great contract!
INNNNteresting.
Now, I just need a zillion more fans, and then I can say, “Let’s start with WOOL’s contract and see where we want to go from there.”
Hugh, you’re an indie hero! Thanks for trailblazing.
we are proud of you Hugh, Keep on truckin’
the old people, the Kubs.
Hugh, I’m really happy that you’re happy, but I’d really need details before I was totally behind this.
What is your royalty rate? What exactly do you have control over?
Did you sign a confidentiality clause, Hugh? If so, that gives me pause. I don’t mean to through cold water on this, because I know that you are feeling valued, but I would be hesitant to toot the horns of this company. They could simply be trying to garner good press through their deal with you, and give less positive terms to the next indie.
I’m sorry, but I trust S&S, about as far as I can throw them. They may have given you a good deal – I’d still want to see the terms – but they are trying to screw over other authors left and right with their new Authors Solutions merger, and with referring unsolicited manuscripts to Author Solutions. You may have gotten a good deal with them, but you are just one author, and Simon and Schuster are not the good guys to authors in general.
“’ll be able to retain the sensible (i.e. cheap) price of my ebooks”
Huge,
That’s ONE of the reasons Wool is in my library. (Plenty of others, but it’s an important consideration.)
Thank you.
brendan
CONGRATULATIONS TO HUGH!! I’m so incredibly happy for him!! When I read the “Author Solutions” announcement on the Kindle Boards, I have to admit I had a WTF moment, since I knew WOOL had been doing so well.