Writers in the Storm

Susan Spann

This is the third in a subsidiary rights series. If you missed one of the posts, click to read the first or the second article. 

In publishing, “merchandising rights” refers to the right(s) to create, market, and sell merchandise (products) based on a book or its characters and settings. “Jurassic Park” T-shirts and Bertie Botts’ Every-Flavor Beans (yes, they make them) are two examples of merchandising rights in action.

 The term “merchandising rights” covers everything from greeting cards to candy bars, from clothing to action figures—and every publishing contract allocates these rights to the author, to the publisher, or both.

Often, authors don’t realize that many publishing contracts contain an exclusive license of all merchandising rights to the publisher. (They also require the publisher to pay the author a royalty share (usually 50%) of merchandising income.)

However, there’s no legal obligation for authors to license merchandising rights to the publisher at all. Publishers don’t produce T-shirts, and merchandising licenses are a windfall for publishing houses. Authors, by contrast, can benefit from the ability to create, sell, and profit from merchandise based on their works—if they’re savvy enough to retain the merchandising rights.

The grant of merchandising rights is usually located in the “subsidiary rights” paragraph. Read the contract carefully: you’re looking for “merchandising” or “product” rights, and they’re usually found about halfway down the contract, in a list of subsidiary rights and royalty percentages.

Some things to consider before signing a grant of merchandising rights:

1. Is the grant of rights exclusive?

Granting someone else exclusive rights to create merchandise prevents the author from making his or her own merchandise, or granting anyone else the right to do so. Think carefully before you deprive yourself of that right.

2. Is the publisher (or other entity seeking the license) capable of exploiting the merchandising rights?  

Don’t license merchandising rights to anyone who cannot use and exploit them effectively. Few (if any) publishers have merchandising departments – in fact, few publishers have sales departments capable of licensing merchandising rights effectively.

Merchandising rights normally become important after a book becomes a bestseller (or a film or TV series). Most commonly, manufacturers either approach the author (or publisher), seeking permission to make a licensed product, or the author uses his or her own contacts to generate a merchandising deal. If you’ve licensed the rights to a publisher, you lose the chance to make that deal yourself, and the publisher gets a significant percentage of the merchandising income.

3. Does the licensee actually plan to produce a product?

This might seem obvious, but … You wouldn’t sell your manuscript to a publisher who had no plan to publish the book, and you shouldn’t license merchandising rights to anyone who hasn’t got a plan to produce a product.

4. Is the author’s royalty or payment percentage fair? 

Insist on an industry-standard merchandising contract (and a fair royalty percentage) when contracting with a company to produce merchandise based on your work. “Industry standard” varies depending on the type of product being produced, so hire experienced merchandising counsel to review any contracts before you sign.

Note: 50% of the publisher’s income from merchandise licenses isn’t the same as 50% of the proceeds received by the company making the products.

Normally, merchandising rights have little value at the time the author enters into a publishing contract. Consider Jurassic Park and the Harry Potter series. In both cases, the merchandising rights are much more valuable now than at the time of release. Managing your rights carefully now can help avoid regrets down the line.

Is it worth abandoning a publishing deal to retain your merchandising rights?

Only you, the author, can make that call—and today, I’m empowering you to make it any way you choose. Don’t feel intimidated if a publisher pushes back on the issue of merchandising rights. They’re your rights, and you, the author, get to decide whether or not to license them, and on what terms. Make the decision you believe is appropriate for you and for your work.

Remember: once you’ve signed the rights away, you can’t get them back as long as the contract remains in force, so get professional advice and treat it as a business decision.

Is it OK to license merchandising rights to a publisher?

Sure—and don’t beat yourself up if you’ve already done it. It’s not the end of the world. Sometimes it makes business sense to license merchandising rights (at proper percentages) to make a deal. Other times—especially when the contract over-reaches in other areas—it’s better for the author to walk away. The key is making an informed, reasonable decision based on your individual situation.

How do your contracts handle merchandising rights? If you don’t have a contract yet, do you feel better prepared to manage these rights when you get an offer?

Susan Spann writes the Hiro Hattori Novels, featuring ninja detective Hiro Hattori and his Portuguese Jesuit sidekick, Father Mateo. The fourth book in the series, THE NINJA’S DAUGHTER, will release from Seventh Street Books in August 2016. Susan is the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ 2015 Writer of the Year, and a transactional attorney whose practice focuses on publishing and business law. When not writing or practicing law, she raises seahorses and rare corals in her marine aquarium. Find her online at http://www.SusanSpann.com, on Twitter (@SusanSpann), and on Facebook (SusanSpannAuthor).

It’s here. The first anniversary of Write Up a Storm.

We’re writing up a storm from 4:00 a.m. to 10:00 PDT. If you missed the tips, you can read them on our Facebook page.

Eighteen hours of opportunities to connect with others, meet goals, and get your words “on paper.”

We’ll be writing from the top of every hour for fifty minutes. In the interest of health, we’ve planned a ten minute break at the end of every hour for walking around and other physical necessities. If you need to work on a different schedule, say around breaks and lunch at work, that’s fine. Keep track of your progress and, when you get a chance, let us know how you’re doing.

During that ten-minute break, you’re welcome to post your word or page counts and anything else in the comment section on our Facebook Event page. (No other electronic “stuff” which might end up being a time sump and stealing your planned writing time!) We’ll tally numbers and post them every hour. Or so. Heck, we’ll be writing, too!

We’re hoping for at least a novella-length combined word count. I’m betting we can get a novel’s worth of word count.

You can commit to hours or only a fifteen minute block of writing time. Just follow through on your goal. That’s how you finish a book. And today is a chance to make headway on finishing your book. As Laura Drake says, “You can’t sell a book if you haven’t finished one.”

So let’s support each other and make this fun. Because it can be, with a community. Writing is, by nature, a solitary endeavor. That doesn’t mean you have to feel alone. Join us.

Here’s your dance card:

Laura Drake will start the party from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. PDT.

Fae Rowen‘s on duty from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. PDT.

Orly Konig-Lopez will be onboard from 10:00 a.m. to noon. PDT.

Fae Rowen returns from noon to 7:00 p.m. PDT.  (Yes, I plan on getting a lot of writing done!)

Jenny Hansen runs totals and presides over the closing ceremonies from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. PDT.

Of course, we’ll all be checking in throughout the day, even when we don’t have “formal” responsibilities.

You can let us know you’re writing as you begin, or you can share what you’ve accomplished when your writing stint is finished.

Today’s the day. 

Write Up A Storm.

Share your experiences and word counts on our Facebook page.

Fae Rowen discovered the romance genre after years as a science fiction freak.  Writing futuristics and medieval paranormals, she jokes  that she can live anywhere but the present.  As a mathematician, she knows life’s a lot more fun when you get to define your world and its rules.

Punished, oh-no, that’s published as a co-author of a math textbook, she yearns to hear personal stories about finding love from those who read her books, rather than the horrors of calculus lessons gone wrong.  She is grateful for good friends who remind her to do the practical things in life like grocery shop, show up at the airport for a flight and pay bills.

A “hard” scientist who avoided writing classes like the plague, she now enjoys sharing her brain with characters who demand that their stories be told.  Amazing, gifted critique partners keep her on the straight and narrow. Feedback from readers keeps her fingers on the keyboard.

When she’s not hanging out at Writers in the Storm, you can visit Fae at http://faerowen.com  or www.facebook.com/fae.rowen.

We interrupt the normally scheduled blog for important news!

The WITS Annual 'Write Up a Storm' is this Wednesday! Join us from 4 am - 10 pm PST for hourly writing sprints, inspiration, and the knowledge that you're not writing alone! Come hang with fellow writers and write up a storm!

Click here to join the Facebook event.

On to today's blog:

I just stepped down off ‘Mistress Duty’ here at WITS (we all take turns), and one of the last things I do is go through the WITS mailbox to clean it out for the next person. I wanted to rant, but instead, thought I’d use the stats to illustrate how to target your market, rather than spamming the Universe.

Of 124 emails:

3 were relevant

70 -  were just plain spam (wow, if I wanted nude pics or to date a married woman, I now know where to go)

7 -  wanted to advertise with us - we do NOT take advertisements; anything you see on WITS is because we’ve used it, and we believe in it.

39 -  were people wanting us to pimp/read/review their book. Really? Have you READ our blog? We don’t do any of that!

5 - were companies wanting us to buy their writing-related product. Um. We’re not a person.

 

Which means that, in spite of the maturity and professionalism of many indie authors, some people need help.

Don’t:

• Don’t use a shotgun (or frag grenade). Take the time to check out the sites where you’re asking for reviews. You may think that it doesn't hurt to just hit 'include all', but it does. Those authors/books are going to stick in my mind, and I’ll make a point of NOT buying/reading/recommending them. Because they’re unprofessional, which means they haven't taken time to learn, so their books will probably be dreck. Now maybe those were sent by marketing firms that authors hired. But it's still your job, as the person who's name is on the cover, to know what's going on. I know it’s time consuming to research, but is your goal to sell books and build buzz in a positive, or negative way?
• Once you DO find review sites, follow their rules: you’re paying nothing (you’re NOT paying for reviews, right?), so they’re doing you a favor. If you're asking for a favor, you’re polite, right? I’ve run into many review sites that won’t take self-pubbed books. A believe the reason is all the newbie, read-my-book clumsiness.
• We're all excited for everyone to read our book. But sending DM’s, IM’s, and messages to all your followers will not only irritate them. At best, it'll lose you followers. At worst, it'll get you banned from Social Media sites. Your marketing should lead readers to your water – not waterboard them.
• Gaming the system. Paying for reviews or trying the latest scheme to game the Amazon lists won't work. And even if they did, is that how you define your success?

How to find your readers:

Writer Unboxed just did a great blog on this (you can read it HERE). What author writes books like yours? Follow their followers. Let those readers get to know you. Let THEM find YOU. I know, it takes time, effort and patience, none of which authors have to spare. Do it anyway. Do you agree to go out with the smarmy, stalker dude? Your readers won’t, either.

Target your readers. Keywords, ‘also bought’, and Metadata help. Educate yourself on how to do this. Follow indie marketing blogs, even if you’re not indie – there’s a wealth of tips that will help. The best one I’ve found so far is Digital Book World.

Don't sell milk until you have a cow. You want to build anticipation for your release. Cover reveals are great for this. But if you're doing giveaways, and tons of posts months before your book comes out, you're not only wasting your time and money, you're wearing out potential readers before they can do what you want them to - buy your book!

Beware. As in any new frontier, there are carpetbaggers, trying to make money off the uneducated.

• Don’t pay for reviews.
• Be careful with ‘free’. If you’re prolific, and have a series, making the first one perma-free can help. Hook your reader on your voice, and they’ll buy the rest. But be careful not to drink the Koolaid – I’ve seen authors squeeing on Social Media as their free book rises on the ‘free bestseller list’ (oxymoron alert). First, the reader took your book for free. That doesn’t mean they’ll read it, or like it, or leave you a review. And you did get in this gig to make money, right?
• Shelf-life. Even the best of ideas for marketing only work for a short time. Once everyone starts doing it, there’s no advantage. But that doesn’t mean you should jump in blindly, either.
• Keep your common sense engaged. Like your mom said, If it sounds too good to be true, it is. And spam is as spam does.

Be proud of your work. Put in the time. Be patient. You know I'm the quote queen, so I'll leave you with one:

 

WITS readers, I've only touched the surface of this subject. What tips can you give us? Have any  blogs or sites to help us?

*****************

A bit about Laura's latest release - Days Made of Glass:

Harlie Cooper raised her sister, Angel, even before their mother died. When their guardian is killed in a fire, rather than be separated by Social Services, they run. Life in off the grid in L.A. isn’t easy, but worse, there’s something wrong with Angel.

Harlie walks in to find their apartment scattered with shattered and glass and Angel, a bloody rag doll in a corner. The doctor orders institutionalization in a state facility. Harlie’s not leaving her sister in that human warehouse. But something better takes money. Lots of it.

When a rep from the Pro Bull Riding Circuit suggests she train as a bullfighter, rescuing downed cowboys from their rampaging charges, she can’t let the fact that she’d be the first woman to attempt this stop her. Angel is depending on her.

It’s not just the danger and taking on a man’s career that challenges Harlie. She must learn to trust—her partner and herself, and learn to let go of what’s not hers to save.

A story of family and friendship, trust and truth.