Author’s Commissioning Agreement

This Author’s Commissioning Agreement is designed for use by publishers who wish to commission an author to write an original literary work. Under the terms of this agreement, the copyright and other rights in that work will be licenced to the publisher on an exclusive basis either within a defined territory or throughout the world, for either the full period of copyright or for a defined period.

The provisions of this template address each stage in the development process of the work and set out milestones from the delivery of the initial outline through the submission of the typescript and editing to the final publishing of the work.

Payment to the Author takes the form of an advance, payable in three stages, followed by royalties which are defined at multiple levels and percentages with each level dependent upon the form in which the work is sold, the numbers sold, where the work is sold, and any discounts to which those sales are subject.

A number of additional or subsidiary rights are referenced in this agreement. These should be examined carefully and, along with the rest of the agreement, can be edited in order to fit the exact requirements of the transaction you envisage.

Copyright infringement under this template may be dealt with exclusively by the publisher or, at the author’s option, jointly. The author and publisher may wish to enter into a separate written agreement or understanding as to how such matters are to be handled.

Further key matters such as promotion, author’s warranties, royalty accounting, dispute resolution and termination provisions are also addressed in detail.

Optional phrases / clauses are enclosed in square brackets. These should be read carefully and selected so as to be compatible with one another. Unused options should be removed from the document.

This Author’s Commissioning Agreement contains the following clauses:

1. Definitions and Interpretation
2. The Work
3. Editing, Corrections and Author’s Credit
4. Publication
5. Promotion
6. Advance
7. Royalties
8. Specific Royalty Provisions
9. Rights
10. Subsidiary Rights
11. Author’s Warranties
12. Accounts
13. Acceptance and Rejection
14. Remainder Sales and Notice to Recapture
15. Actions for Infringement
16. Alternative Dispute Resolution
17. Termination
18. Notices
19. Miscellaneous
20. Entire Agreement
21. Law and Jurisdiction

and the following schedule:

1. Subsidiary Rights

This document is in open format. Either enter the requisite details in the highlighted fields or adjust the wording to suit your purposes.

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