Preview Our Contract

Here you can see an exam­ple of our cur­rent agency con­tract. You are wel­come to review it, ask ques­tions about it, wish it was yours, and so on. In fact, the only thing you can­not do is repro­duce it. It’s copy­righted, a word that will mean a lot more to you when your book comes out.

Please note the straight­for­ward lan­guage and easy-to-understand terms we use, which are by all accounts quite fair to us and to you, the author.  As the author of 31 books under 9 pseu­do­nyms, senior agent Wendy Keller is a vocal advo­cate for author’s rights. But don’t take our word for it. Review the con­tract below.

NOTE TO AUTHORS: Don’t sign an unfair con­tract, or any­thing you don’t under­stand, no mat­ter who offers it to you or how eager you are to get an agent.

WE CAN HELP YOU WITH ANY OTHER AGENCY’S or PUBLISHER’S CONTRACTS… some­times even if it has already been signed! Call for help: (800) 278‑8706 x700 or click Con­tract Con­sult­ing here.

SAMPLE KELLER MEDIA AUTHOR REPRESENTATION AGREEMENT

This Rep­re­sen­ta­tion Agree­ment (the “Agree­ment”) is made and entered into as of the date last writ­ten below between Keller Media, Inc., a Cal­i­for­nia cor­po­ra­tion (“Agency”) and

[Author Name]

(“Author”) on the fol­low­ing terms and conditions:

1. AGENCY:  Author appoints Agency as Author’s sole and exclu­sive Agency to advise, arrange and nego­ti­ate for the pub­li­ca­tion, sale, license or any other dis­po­si­tion in any lan­guage, media, form or for­mat the non­fic­tion con­tent, com­menc­ing with the project (the “Work”) cur­rently entitled:[Title of Project]
2. PERFORMANCE:  Agency will endeavor in good faith to secure the best pos­si­ble offers for the Work in a pro­fes­sional and effi­cient man­ner and, absent other agree­ments made here­after, bear all related costs of the rep­re­sen­ta­tion.  Agency has the right to choose the agent in its employ to aid in place­ment, and may work with inde­pen­dent sub-agents in spe­cific rights cat­e­gories at its dis­cre­tion.  Agency will always offer its best advice and sug­ges­tions for the improve­ment, mar­ket­ing and dis­po­si­tion of the Work.  Author agrees to care­fully con­sider in good faith all advice given.  Author agrees that if a poten­tial buyer approaches Author directly for Author’s lit­er­ary Work or writ­ing ser­vices, any such poten­tial buyer will be referred to Agency for negotiation.

If Author has or does cre­ate addi­tional non­fic­tion works prior to the sale of the Work and dur­ing the term of this Agree­ment (includ­ing as renewed), Author shall offer such to the Agency for review and pos­si­ble rep­re­sen­ta­tion; how­ever, Agency is not obliged to accept any such addi­tional works for rep­re­sen­ta­tion.   If Agency declines such fur­ther rep­re­sen­ta­tion within 60 days of noti­fi­ca­tion of any such addi­tional work, Author is free to take any such works else­where with­out oblig­a­tion to Agency.  Any such new work on which Agent agrees to assume rep­re­sen­ta­tion shall be sub­ject to the terms of this Agreement.

Upon the sale of the Work or any other work for which rep­re­sen­ta­tion is assumed here­un­der, Author agrees to give Agency first right of refusal on Author’s next non-fiction work.

If either party approaches the other with an idea for a work other than the Work, but the par­ties do not agree to or do not pro­ceed dili­gently and sat­is­fac­to­rily to Agency to jointly develop the idea, it shall belong to the party first pre­sent­ing it and such party is free to develop the idea as he/she/it sees fit.  If Agency presents the idea to Author, even though Author may pre­pare a writ­ten man­i­fes­ta­tion of the idea or oth­er­wise have spend time to develop the idea, it belongs to Agency if the par­ties do not agree to jointly develop the idea.   The par­ties agree that the shar­ing of any such ideas shall be con­fi­den­tial and pro­tected from dis­clo­sure to third par­ties with­out the con­sent of the orig­i­na­tor of the idea.

1. COMPENSATION:  Author agrees to pay Agency and Agency has the right to deduct as com­mis­sion the fol­low­ing listed per­cent­ages of all monies received related in any way to the Work, with the sole excep­tion of fees for speak­ing engage­ments in which Agency did par­tic­i­pate in booking:

(a)         Fif­teen per­cent (15%) of all income earned from the domes­tic sale or place­ment of the Work in any form or for­mat from rights granted to the publisher;

(b)         Twenty per­cent (20%) of all income earned from any for­eign, elec­tronic, dig­i­tal, spon­sor­ship, spe­cial sales, mer­chan­dise, dra­matic, film, per­for­mance or other ancil­lary or sec­ondary right related to the Work. This cov­ers the expense in ship­ping and sell­ing books over­seas, as well as travel costs typ­i­cally incurred in the place­ment of sec­ondary rights. An addi­tional five per­cent (5%) of gross income may be required by a sub-agent if one is used; and

Agency is enti­tled to the com­mis­sion per­cent­ages set forth in para­graphs 3(a) and 3(b) for the legal life of the Work on all agree­ments sub­stan­tially per­tain­ing to or made pos­si­ble by the Work, whether they arise from an agree­ment ini­ti­ated or nego­ti­ated by Agency or any­one else, includ­ing Author.  Agency is enti­tled to the com­mis­sion per­cent­ages set forth in para­graphs 3a and 3b for the legal life of the Work on all agree­ments per­tain­ing to the Work when Keller Media directly engages in the place­ment or nego­ti­a­tions of said agreements.

1. TERM OF AGENCY:  While book pro­pos­als rep­re­sented by this Agency often sell within 90 days of pre­sen­ta­tion to pub­lish­ing houses, the tim­ing of sale can depend on a vari­ety of fac­tors, includ­ing, with­out lim­i­ta­tion, how long it takes the Author to pre­pare the best pos­si­ble pro­posal; the opti­mal sea­son of pre­sen­ta­tion of the Work for sale; the sub­ject mat­ter; the quan­tity of sim­i­lar con­tent being pro­posed con­cur­rently by third par­ties; and world events.  Agency agrees to work on Author’s behalf as long as it believes a sale is pos­si­ble, and notify Author in writ­ing if no sale seems likely; Author agrees to allow Agency such rea­son­able time to sell the Work.  If Agency believes that it is not likely to make a sale or if Author fails to meet Author’s agreed time frame for com­ple­tion of the Work or parts thereof or oth­er­wise cre­ates an unsat­is­fac­tory work­ing rela­tion­ship, Agency may ter­mi­nate this Agree­ment upon writ­ten notice to Author at the address set forth below for Author and Author shall be free to sell or license the Work directly or through oth­ers with­out oblig­a­tion to Agency.

If the Agency suc­cess­fully places any right to the Work while this Agree­ment is in effect, Agency will be the “Agency of Record” on the con­tract with the pub­lisher or other third party and is thus enti­tled to com­pen­sa­tion as out­lined in 3 above and to par­tic­i­pate in the place­ment of all sec­ondary rights extant within the Work not granted to the pub­lisher or first licensor.

If within three (3) months of ces­sa­tion of this Agree­ment a pub­lisher to whom the Work had been sub­mit­ted by the Agency noti­fies Author or Agency that it desires to con­tract pub­li­ca­tion of the Work, this Agree­ment shall be reac­ti­vated and Agency shall be enti­tled to all rights pro­vided here­un­der, includ­ing, with­out lim­i­ta­tion, the right to receive commissions.

 

1. RECEIPT AND DISBURSAL OF FUNDS:  All third par­ties acquir­ing rights to the Work or any other work cov­ered by the terms of this Agree­ment in any form or for­mat shall be directed and autho­rized by Author to remit Author’s advance or upfront lump sum pay­ments to Agency.  Receipt of all such pay­ments by Agency shall be deemed receipt by Author.  All such funds are placed in an Author’s Trust account held by the Agency at Chase Bank. Within ten (10) busi­ness days after any such monies have been received by Agency, it shall remit the funds to Author less Agency’s then unpaid and owing com­mis­sions.  Author agrees that any Author-Licensor or Author-Publisher con­tract for the Work or any other work cov­ered by this Agree­ment shall incor­po­rate the oblig­a­tion that such advance or upfront pay­ments be made directly to Agency; there­after when­ever pos­si­ble, licen­sors shall be instructed to send Agency’s por­tion here­un­der of any roy­alty and other pay­ments due Author paid directly to Agency and the Author’s por­tion here­un­der of any roy­alty and other pay­ments due Author paid directly to Author.

 

1. EXECUTION OF AGREEMENTS:  Agency will not enter into agree­ments on behalf of the Work with­out Author’s approval.  No agree­ment for sale of a Work shall be valid with­out Author’s sig­na­ture unless Author has expressly pro­vided per­mis­sion for Agency to sign by proxy (usu­ally only applic­a­ble for the sale of translation/foreign rights.)  This Agree­ment may be dig­i­tally or fac­sim­ile signed and in coun­ter­parts, each of which together shall be deemed one and the same document.

 

1. INDEMNIFICATION: Author hereby war­rants own­er­ship to all the rights related to the Work and other works gov­erned by this Agree­ment and rep­re­sents that Author is autho­rized to dis­pose of them and rep­re­sents and war­rants that all man­u­scripts are orig­i­nal, are free from any pla­gia­rism, slan­der or libelous con­tent or intent, and do not give advice or make state­ments that are not sup­port­able and may, if fol­lowed, cause harm to oth­ers or prop­erty.  Author will keep an orig­i­nal copy of the man­u­script in Author’s pos­ses­sion and declares that there are no liens or pend­ing legal action against the Work or any other work sub­ject to this Agree­ment.  Author accepts full and com­plete respon­si­bil­ity for the results of the autho­rized dis­po­si­tion of the Work or any other work sub­ject to this Agree­ment by any third par­ties.  Author shall defend, indem­nify, and hold Agency and its employ­ees, sub-contractors, and cor­po­ra­tion harm­less from any and all lia­bil­i­ties, losses, claims, demands, costs (includ­ing attor­neys’ fees and expenses) and any other expenses aris­ing from or in con­nec­tion with any breach or claimed vio­la­tion of any of the rep­re­sen­ta­tions or war­ranties set forth in this para­graph 7.

 

1. PREVIOUS EXPOSURE: Prior to or upon sign­ing this Agree­ment, Author will pro­vide Agency with a com­plete list of pub­lish­ers, if any, located any­where in the world who have seen the Work or any other work sub­ject to this Agree­ment or a pro­posal for the Work or any other work sub­ject to this Agree­ment in any form.

 

1. NO WARRANTIES:  Author acknowl­edges that Agency does not pur­chase lit­er­ary prop­er­ties and can­not guar­an­tee or war­rant a sale of the Work or any other work cov­ered by the terms of this Agree­ment.  Author acknowl­edges that other works may exist in the mar­ket­place which may be sim­i­lar to the Work, and that nei­ther the Agency, its employ­ees, suc­ces­sors or assigns can bear any respon­si­bil­ity for the exis­tence of such com­pet­ing works.  Agency has the right to rep­re­sent sim­i­lar con­tent as long as the rep­re­sen­ta­tion does not directly inter­fere with the efforts made on behalf of the Work.  At the Author’s option, works sub­mit­ted for rep­re­sen­ta­tion can be reg­is­tered with the United States Copy­right Office, although it is cus­tom­ary for the pub­lisher to obtain copy­right on behalf of the author when the work has become a viable com­mer­cial prop­erty as a result of a legally bind­ing con­tract.  Author agrees to notify Agency if and when such copy­right is obtained.

10.          ENFORCEMENT:  In the event that a dis­pute should arise for breach, enforce­ment or inter­pre­ta­tion of this Agree­ment, the par­ties agree to resolve such dis­pute by bind­ing arbi­tra­tion admin­is­tered by JAMS, Inc. or ADR Ser­vices, Inc. Santa Mon­ica or Los Ange­les, Cal­i­for­nia, at the elec­tion of the party first fil­ing for relief and sub­ject to the applic­a­ble rules of the selec­tion arbi­tra­tion tri­bunal.  Pre­judg­ment reme­dies may be sought in the Los Ange­les Supe­rior Court, with the par­ties hereby con­sent­ing to such exclu­sive court juris­dic­tion.  The pre­vail­ing party in any dis­pute aris­ing out of or relat­ing to this Agree­ment, whether in arbi­tra­tion or court, to pro­cure pre­judg­ment relief or con­fir­ma­tion of any arbi­tra­tion award or on appeal shall recover from the other party his/her/its rea­son­able attor­neys’ fees, costs and expenses, includ­ing those charged by the arbi­tra­tion tri­bunal and arbi­tra­tor.  This Agree­ment shall be gov­erned by the laws of the State of Cal­i­for­nia except its con­flict of laws principles.

11.          GENERAL TERMS:  The par­ties hereto are inde­pen­dent con­trac­tors of one another and, except as expressly set forth herein, they are not agents or rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the oth­ers, and in no event an employee of the other.  Due to the per­sonal nature of Author’s ser­vices, this Agree­ment is not assign­a­ble or trans­ferrable by Author, how­ever, Author’s heirs and assigns shall be bound to pay Agency any fees due here­un­der as if Author were alive.  This Agree­ment con­sti­tutes the entire agree­ment between the par­ties, super­sed­ing all prior dis­cus­sions, under­stand­ings, and agree­ments.  No waiver or indul­gence of any breach hereof shall be deemed a waiver of any other breach.  In the event any part of this Agree­ment is deemed unen­force­able or invalid, the remain­der of the Agree­ment shall remain enforce­able and in effect.  Para­graph titles are inserted for con­ve­nience only, and are not to be used to con­strue the pro­vi­sions.  This Agree­ment shall be inter­preted accord­ing to its fair mean­ing and intent and not against the drafter of all or any pro­vi­sions hereof.  This Agree­ment can­not be can­celed, altered or amended except in writ­ing and signed by both parties.

The under­signed rep­re­sent and war­rant that they have read and fully under­stand the terms of this Agree­ment and agree to be bound thereby and that this Agreement.

 

 

That’s it!  Hope your work is so fab­u­lous we offer YOU one of these soon!

COPYRIGHT © 2013, Keller Media, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Infringe­ment WILL be prosecuted.