Colossal Concepts Management

Intellectual Property Environmental Dynamics & Often What's Missing in Author's Packages

What we instruct, what we advise, and what we help make possible for agents and authors:

• Grant of Rights - If the worldwide rights are sold, then YES to translations of Author's book(s), NO to virtually all other plum considerations - TV, movies, play adaptations, etc.
• Competing Works - Where the author is typically enjoined from writing another work that competes with a title under publisher's contract, and essentially YES, but only if publisher agrees not to publish books that compete directly with our author's titles  YES, when the agreed condititions are limited to the author not being allowed to formularize and re-write a book already under contract
• Author's Warranty - YES, but only if the client author's liability is limited to the author paying the publisher's costs for something that is clearly the author's fault, and nobody else's fault; further, authors are instructed to keep all permissions for a minimum of 10 years; our objective, to help our client avoid being involved in frivolous lawsuits
• Manuscript Preparation - The manuscript is the deliverable described in the contract; therefore, we insist that the intellectual property attorney draft a description of the book as exactly as what the author has agreed to write, with some flexibility thrown in for good measure; and NO author payments to a publisher for Indexing a book - we advise the author to handle this chore
• Viability & Publication Delay - We work with literary agents who insist the publisher must describe exactly what makes an author's manuscript 'fit for publication'; we urge a cautious YES to an Intellectual Property Lawyer and Author-client to agree YES to some copy-editing so long as no other material changes are made; and we work with our clients as to how to agree, YES, to this part of negotiations so long as the author retains all advance money paid and so long as the full rights revert to the author for future sale elsewhere should the publish drop the project
• Copyright - We only work with authors who insist upon retaining their copyright
• Proofing, Editing - We can help our client-author agree that YES, a publisher can reserve the right to make revisions subject to the author's approval and subject to the author's editing of any subsequent errors; and, we help our client's rep' say YES so long as the author is not expected to pay fees for correcting errors or problems that are due to the publisher or to an outsourced book designer, typographer, research editor, etc.
• Publication - Authors deserve to see a conditional publication date limit; protective reversion of all rights provisions are a hallmark of legitimate dealings between our authors and their trade publishers
• Royalties - The division of money for domestic sales, often as much as 10-15% of trade hardcover cover book gross sales, after a minimum number of books have sold, with customary escalation terms built into contracts based upon negotiated break points that should correspond to the number of both domestic full price sales and discounted sales.
• Advances - Advances against royalties are often tendered to financially support an author while a book is being written and edited, with payments made at signing and upon reaching contractual milestones. We train authors who intend to write many books to hire agents who will fight against any contract clauses that favor cross-accounting schemes.
• Foreign Sales - We train up authors to look for any and all foreign royalties to be based upon the cover price rather than any net formulas or arrangements made by a publisher relying upon sales from its foreign subsidiary.
• Discounters & Book Clubs - Limit a publisher's ability to discount as much as possible, especially during the book tour, the speaking engagement phase or the early three promotional rounds wherein the author is most heavily engaged.
• Sale of Rights - Applies only to authors who sell their exclusive international book rights: Our literary agent affiliates always negotiate a 50:50 split plus translation rights considerations to protect the income stream of their author-client.
• Payments - We help our authors bargain for firm payment schedules, often quarterly; contracts always include the services of an independent auditor to check a publisher's accounts.
• Reserve Against Returns - Limit a publisher's reserve to 20% or less; the reserve retention period may last up to a year, reasonable market conditions prevailing - any longer than that, and the author might be perceived as an active investor in the publisher's business.
• Author's Copies - Many authors receive a dozen or more books gratis from a publisher without restrictions; free review copies to critics and reviewers are the norm; and, additional copies of a title can be purchased by an author or an author's production company at discount - often with restricitions as to  re-sale and use.
• Revised Editions - Our author's literary agents negotiate to have the author prepare revised editions; should the author not be available to make the revisions, then the royalty schedule  basis is determined by the percentage of the original work that is revised by another author; further, new and revised edition costs are to be limited to a mutually agreeable amount if, and only if, such sums are to be debited against the original author's royalties.
• Out-of-Print - We help our authors and their agents define 'out-of-print' as being when a predetermined number of books have not been sold by a publisher during a specified time period or when two consecutive royalty periods produce no moneys to an author; thereupon, rights to the book revert to the author.

 Strategy & Policy Framework

Copyright or Patent Protections Case Study (if warranted)

Audit & Valuation Lessons from a leader in the field

Litigation Proof Mobility Messaging (viral impact)

Consumer & Enterprise Tactics USA

Competitive Analysis CANADA

Roadmap EU

Market Research Others

Product & Techne Development

Technical Due-Diligence PARTNERS

R&D, or Niche Development

Business Plan/Model E-Book

Publishers & Mobile Device Platforms

Production Companies

Blog Communities

Design Firms

colossal concepts management | a division of 7 Arts Foundation | 2005 Primer

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HOW CCM WORKS WITH LITERARY AGENTS & MANAGES WHAT AGENTS CANNOT DO TO PROFIT OUR CLIENT AUTHORS

• We only shop book-length works to agents and production companies.
• We attend writers' conferences and 'workshops' when needed -- that is when our client's literary agent cannot represent our author.
• We seek relationships with agents who are members of SAR, The Soc. of Authors' Representatives and the ILAA (The Independent Literary Agents Assn.)
• We build a lasting relationship with agents, producers, directors, documentary film makers, talk show gatekeepers
• We help authors follow the guidelines set forth by agents as to exclusive review time and multiple submission authorizations
• We help build a case for both marketability and critical acclaim that is extraordinarily useful to agents and their associated or affiliated publishers and editors
• We help build a wall around the author by means of a production company designed to protect subsidiary and use rights, and that makes for a good fit with legitimate literary agency objectives
• We help edit the outline, the synopses and the first 40-50 pages of a completed manuscript, including copyright protections -- all as prelude to what the literary agent must shape as a sellable 'package'
• We also help prepare one or more marketing pitches that can be amended by the agent into a number of submission 'pitches' made to prospective publishers, editors
• For nonfiction projects, we help coordinate multiple submissions to publishers, complete with deadlines, a statement of expeditiousness, ground rules, etc.
• For authors with highly commercial properties, we help fashion bases for winning guaranteed print orders, publicity rounds' planning, bidding and auction procedures
• We handle financial matters: Advances, commissions, royalties, expenses, fulfilling contractual matters, "agency clause" issues, subsidiary rights, funds management - with or without tax attorney assistance
• We work with literary agents to handle publisher negotiatons and exchanges in cooperation with agents or assigns: Expectations as to consultations on marketing, the choice of publishers, the number of submissions made to prospective publishers, the frequency of contact between management, literary agent(s), author, and publicist(s), foreign sales issues, publishing advances, rejection letter pass-through, quarterly summaries, reviews and summaries, territories granted, approvals and/or consults as to jacket design, advertising guarantees (for the established author), option requirements, publication schedules, publishing house promotions, reprints, book club sales, hard-soft deals, trade paperback deals, co-presentations with author's production company
• We handle creativity issues with the blessings of the author: Formulating book ideas, passing along notions from editors, publishers, literary agents, introducing agents and editors, writer contributions as to forwards, book jacket quotes, collaborative projects

• We handle what literary agents cannot, as a rule, be realistically expected to do: Publicity, PR and promotions coordination, and special event productions coordinated with bookstores, chains, and scheduling around the lives of professionals who express themselves through their writing while often conducting busy careers that may or may not be centered in writing, editing and promoting books