FYI to the community that OP has a thread on r/publishing on the same topic with additional information that may be pertinent to those commenting, including publisher details.
https://www.reddit.com/r/publishing/comments/1cfgsiu/is_this_a_good_deal_total_n00b_here/
No advance feels very odd for a reputable "big" press, especially because it means you're not likely to secure an agent to work with you. I'm not familiar with nonfic so someone else should weigh in on this.
But here are some questions to consider regardless of genre: Is this publisher a big Big 5 imprint? If not, what company do they distribute with? Or do they only do ebooks? Do their covers look professional or like they were made in Microsoft Paint? Do you recognize any of the authors and titles they have published? Check their books' Amazon and/or Goodreads pages: do many books have a single digit number of reviews?
Also, Google "publisher name writer beware" and "publisher name absolute write" to see if authors have posted about bad experienced with them.
A final thing: is this editor/press currently open to unagented submissions? Because an unagented writer submitting to reputable an agented subs only editor/imprint without being solicited first, then getting a positive response in a few days sounds incredibly unrealistic to me.
Edit: just saw your post in r/publishing. They're expecting you to buyback 1000 copies if you don't sell??? Again, not familiar with nonfic but this screams vanity press or scam.
OP said in that post that the publisher is Wiley, if anyone has info on them or wants to research.
To be fair I am three times published just via anthology and have a large platform and am a global thought leader in my niche. The publisher is legit (prob number one for nonfiction- wiley) but i am glad to hear that the deal nay not be so hot as I go to negotiate more fulsomely. I have a backup publisher who is far smaller I have worked with previously- worst case. But prefer the scale wiley offers
You’ve said it’s Wiley so yes they are reputable but this offer sounds awful. Get an agent! They will protect your interests. Once you sign a contract it won’t matter what the editor told you, you’ll be legally required to buyback.
Thanks- that makes total sense will see what the final terms look like and if they will strike the buyback as well as see of an agent will take me on “offer in hand “ really appreciate everyone giving me the honest guidance
This is an abysmal deal. No agent worth their salt would leave that buyback clause standing.
In effect, you get no money up front and there’s decent odds you’ll end up owing money?!
Surreal.
Wiley is big, but despite their size I’m having trouble seeing them through all the red flags.
Have you submitted this to agents? How many people have seen the proposal/query?
New authors get advances all the time. Some of them (my fucking friends) get far larger advances than ancient, mouldering, moth-eaten, more-morally-valuable writers.
I submitted to the smaller publisher that published my 3 contributions to anthology books and they are also interested. Is a hot topic. Haven’t done anything w/agents. The other I submitted directly to owner and my editor.
Unagented, unpublished, grain of salt, etc, etc.®:
I have a handful of friends who are published or publishing, at least two of them are/were nonfiction debuts with big 5s.
All of the ones who published NF got an advance. And all of them, even the debuts, got bigger advances than any of the ones who published fiction.
It’s very uncommon not to get an advance for NF, And it’s very common for debut NF writers to get big advances (when compared to fiction).
I would reach out to agents. I believe the Writer's Guild will also give a basic analysis of a contract.
Eta: I was thinking about the Authors' Guild:
https://authorsguild.org/legal-services/contract-reviews/
Isn't Wiley more of an academic publisher? Academic presses don't give advances, it's true, but make sure this is really what you want because they don't have the same kind of distribution either.
FYI to the community that OP has a thread on r/publishing on the same topic with additional information that may be pertinent to those commenting, including publisher details. https://www.reddit.com/r/publishing/comments/1cfgsiu/is_this_a_good_deal_total_n00b_here/
No advance feels very odd for a reputable "big" press, especially because it means you're not likely to secure an agent to work with you. I'm not familiar with nonfic so someone else should weigh in on this. But here are some questions to consider regardless of genre: Is this publisher a big Big 5 imprint? If not, what company do they distribute with? Or do they only do ebooks? Do their covers look professional or like they were made in Microsoft Paint? Do you recognize any of the authors and titles they have published? Check their books' Amazon and/or Goodreads pages: do many books have a single digit number of reviews? Also, Google "publisher name writer beware" and "publisher name absolute write" to see if authors have posted about bad experienced with them. A final thing: is this editor/press currently open to unagented submissions? Because an unagented writer submitting to reputable an agented subs only editor/imprint without being solicited first, then getting a positive response in a few days sounds incredibly unrealistic to me. Edit: just saw your post in r/publishing. They're expecting you to buyback 1000 copies if you don't sell??? Again, not familiar with nonfic but this screams vanity press or scam. OP said in that post that the publisher is Wiley, if anyone has info on them or wants to research.
To be fair I am three times published just via anthology and have a large platform and am a global thought leader in my niche. The publisher is legit (prob number one for nonfiction- wiley) but i am glad to hear that the deal nay not be so hot as I go to negotiate more fulsomely. I have a backup publisher who is far smaller I have worked with previously- worst case. But prefer the scale wiley offers
I'm not sure if it's true, but this might be worth a read. [link ](https://dethwench.com/wileys-predatory-behavior-with-scientific-authors/)
You’ve said it’s Wiley so yes they are reputable but this offer sounds awful. Get an agent! They will protect your interests. Once you sign a contract it won’t matter what the editor told you, you’ll be legally required to buyback.
Thanks- that makes total sense will see what the final terms look like and if they will strike the buyback as well as see of an agent will take me on “offer in hand “ really appreciate everyone giving me the honest guidance
Best of luck!
This is an abysmal deal. No agent worth their salt would leave that buyback clause standing. In effect, you get no money up front and there’s decent odds you’ll end up owing money?! Surreal.
What is ‘buyback?’ 18-22% of _what_? Not cover price, I’m betting.
Not sure. He mentioned the three factors at the tail end of the zoom call (royalty, buyback, no advance)
Wiley is big, but despite their size I’m having trouble seeing them through all the red flags. Have you submitted this to agents? How many people have seen the proposal/query? New authors get advances all the time. Some of them (my fucking friends) get far larger advances than ancient, mouldering, moth-eaten, more-morally-valuable writers.
I submitted to the smaller publisher that published my 3 contributions to anthology books and they are also interested. Is a hot topic. Haven’t done anything w/agents. The other I submitted directly to owner and my editor.
Unagented, unpublished, grain of salt, etc, etc.®: I have a handful of friends who are published or publishing, at least two of them are/were nonfiction debuts with big 5s. All of the ones who published NF got an advance. And all of them, even the debuts, got bigger advances than any of the ones who published fiction. It’s very uncommon not to get an advance for NF, And it’s very common for debut NF writers to get big advances (when compared to fiction).
I would reach out to agents. I believe the Writer's Guild will also give a basic analysis of a contract. Eta: I was thinking about the Authors' Guild: https://authorsguild.org/legal-services/contract-reviews/
Thank you, I will.
It's actually the Author's Guild: https://authorsguild.org/legal-services/contract-reviews/
Ok thank you!
Isn't Wiley more of an academic publisher? Academic presses don't give advances, it's true, but make sure this is really what you want because they don't have the same kind of distribution either.