Our terms,published in full
Every clause we would ask you to sign is on this page or in the contract below. Read it before you submit, not after we make an offer.
A contract you can read before you trust us
Almost no publisher does this. We think that is the problem. Writers are asked to submit their work, wait months, receive an offer, and only then discover what they have been offered — often without an agent to tell them whether it is fair.
So here is the whole thing. If a clause troubles you, say so in your submission. We would rather have the conversation before you send us your manuscript than after.
These are our standard terms. The first ten authors we publish receive better ones under the Founding Authors program, and those improvements are attached to the contract as Exhibit B. If your book has been published before, including self-published, the Previously Published Work Addendum is signed with the agreement as well.
What we pay
| Format | Royalty |
|---|---|
| Hardcover | 10% of net receipts |
| Trade paperback | 7.5% of net receipts |
| Mass-market paperback | 6% of net receipts |
| E-book | 25% of net receipts |
| Audiobook | 10% of net receipts |
| High-discount, book club & premium sales | Half the applicable rate§ 10.2 |
| Remainder, below-cost & promotional copies | No royalty§ 10.2 |
| Subsidiary rights — all categories | 50% to you§ 11.2 |
What "net receipts" means. Royalties are calculated on what we actually receive for the book, not on the cover price. From what we receive we may deduct returns, credits, discounts, allowances, freight, shipping, insurance, taxes and duties, and any commissions, fees or amounts payable to distributors, wholesalers, retailers, agents, sub-licensees or other third parties. § 1.4, § 10.1
Copies sold at more than 50% off list price, through book clubs, or as premiums or special sales earn half the normal rate. We may hold back a reserve against returns of up to 25% of the royalties earned in a period, and must release it within four accounting periods. Founding Authors are paid a higher percentage on the same basis. § 10.2, § 10.3, § B.2
Advances. We may pay an advance against royalties; if we do, the amount and schedule are written into Exhibit A. If you have more than one book with us, we may recoup an unearned advance on one from royalties earned on another. § 9.1, § 9.2
We publish through Kindle Direct Publishing
Sterling Letter Press is a sole proprietorship based in Peoria, Illinois. We publish through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing, which means your book is printed on demand and sold principally through Amazon.com rather than stocked in bookstores. The contract says so in writing, so there is no ambiguity about how your book will reach readers. § 1.7, § 2.1, § 8.1
Because the whole arrangement depends on Kindle Direct Publishing, the contract also says what happens if it goes away: if Amazon ever shuts down KDP, or stops allowing us to use it to publish your book or to operate as we do, the agreement terminates automatically and your rights return to you. § 20.3, § 20.4
We tell you this before you submit because it shapes what we can and cannot promise. We cannot get you onto a table at the front of a chain bookstore, and we won't pretend otherwise.
Under the standard agreement we publish within a reasonable time, and no later than twelve months after we accept your manuscript. Format, price, print run and marketing are decided by us in our business judgment, and the contract does not guarantee a particular print run or marketing budget. We must make the book available on Amazon.com through Kindle Direct Publishing, and may add other platforms as well. If we miss the twelve-month deadline, you can give us written notice; if the book still isn't out six months later, you can terminate and your rights return to you. § 8.1, § 8.2, § 8.3
We use AI tools in our own production work — for editing support, drafting synopses, and cover design. The standard agreement does not set aside AI-training rights as a separate category reserved to you. If that matters to you, raise it with us before you sign.
What you grant, and what you keep
Licensed to us
- Exclusive worldwide publication rights in every format — hardcover, paperback, e-book, audiobook, large print, print-on-demand, and formats not yet invented
- Serial, excerpt, reprint and book club rights
- Foreign-language translation and territorial rights
- Dramatic, film, television and radio rights
- Merchandising and commercial tie-in rights
- Any other right not expressly reserved to you
We control and license these subsidiary rights. We consult you on material licences where practicable, but the final decision on terms is ours, and the proceeds are split 50/50. § 2.1, § 11.1–11.3
Yours
- Copyright, which stays in your name throughout
- A copyright notice in your name in every edition we publish
- Any right the agreement does not grant to us
If we register the copyright with the Copyright Office, we do so in your name and at our expense. Translations, adaptations, cover art and other material we create or commission for the book belong to us; the underlying text remains yours. § 2.3, § 7.1, § 7.2
Editing, cover and title
We edit for style, length, clarity and house style, and we decide the final title, cover, design and packaging after consulting you. Our decision is final. We send you proofs, and you have two weeks to return corrections. § 5.1, § 5.2
Your next book
We have an option on your next full-length book: you show it to us first, and we have thirty days to say whether we want it. If we can't agree terms, you may take it elsewhere — but an offer from another publisher that is no better for you than our last written offer must come back to us first, and we have fifteen days to match it. § 14.1, § 14.2
Competing books
During the agreement, and for twelve months after the book first comes out, you agree not to publish another book-length work that we reasonably determine would compete with it or materially reduce its sales, unless we agree in writing. § 15.1
If your book has been published before
If the book has been self-published or otherwise released before, you sign the Previously Published Work Addendum alongside the agreement. It requires you to disclose every prior edition, ISBN, platform and agreement for the book, and to withdraw competing editions if we ask.
How you get your book back
The standard agreement runs for the full term of copyright. § 20.1
Many contracts define a book as "in print" so long as it is technically orderable — which, in the age of print-on-demand, means forever. Ours adds a sales test. Your book counts as in print only while it is both available for sale in some format and selling at least 25 copies, across all editions and formats, in each accounting period. The sales test starts once the book has been on sale for a full accounting period. § 17.1
If the book does go out of print, you can ask in writing for it back. We then have six months to return it to print, including by print-on-demand or e-book; if we don't, the rights revert to you, subject to our right to sell off existing stock and to any subsidiary-rights licences already in place. § 17.2, § 17.3
If Amazon stops allowing us to publish through Kindle Direct Publishing, the agreement ends automatically and your rights come back to you. § 20.4
Either of us may terminate if the other materially breaches the agreement and doesn't fix it within thirty days of written notice. On termination, rights return to you, except that we may sell existing stock for six months and existing subsidiary-rights licences continue. § 20.2, § 20.3
We may assign the agreement to an affiliate or to a successor that acquires our publishing business without your consent; you may not assign it without ours. § 22.1
Founding Authors have a twenty-year term, automatic reversion if the press ceases operating, and other protections set out in Exhibit B.
What it costs you
No reading fee, no submission fee, and nothing to pay us to be published.
You are not required to buy copies of your own book. There are, however, a few situations in which the standard agreement puts a cost on you, and you should know them before you sign:
- Changes in proof. If your alterations at proof stage (other than fixing our or the printer's errors) cost more than 5% of the original typesetting, you pay the excess — before publication, or deducted from royalties. § 5.3
- Warranty claims. If a claim is made that the book breaches your warranties — for example, infringement or defamation — you indemnify and defend us, we may hold back a reasonable reserve from sums due to you, and we may defend with counsel of our choosing at your expense. § 6.2, § 6.3
- Revised editions. If a revised edition is needed and you can't or won't prepare it, we may hire someone who can, deduct the reasonable cost from your royalties, and adjust your royalty on that edition. § 16.1
- Buying extra copies. Optional. Your price is what we would pay Amazon, plus 10%, plus shipping; the copies are for personal use, not resale, and earn no royalty. § 13.2
Founding Authors are never required to pay us anything, or to buy copies or services, in connection with publishing their book. § B.13
What we commit to in return
- A written decision on your manuscript within sixty days of delivery
- Publication within twelve months of accepting your manuscript
- Availability on Amazon.com through Kindle Direct Publishing
- Proofs to review before the book goes to print
- Five complimentary copies of the first edition
- Royalty statements twice a year, within ninety days of 30 June and 31 December (payments under $25 roll over to the next period)
- The right to have your statements audited once a year; if the audit finds we underpaid you by more than 5%, we pay for it
§ 4.1, § 5.2, § 8.1, § 12.1–12.3, § 13.1
Have someone read it
We mean this. Take our contract to a literary agent, a lawyer who does publishing work, or the Authors Guild if you are a member. Compare it against the Authors Guild model contract. Ask us about anything you don't like.
A publisher who would rather you didn't check is telling you something. We would rather you did.
For the record: the agreement is governed by Illinois law, and disputes go to binding arbitration before a single AAA arbitrator in Peoria, Illinois. We may still go to court for an injunction to protect our rights in the book. In any action to enforce the agreement, the winning side recovers its reasonable attorneys' fees and costs. § 24.1–24.3