Decide who is publishing the book
Map the contract responsibilities
Read the contract for what it actually promises about marketing, copyright registration, metadata, and review or award submissions, then write those promises down.
Authors often hire help with this: legal or contract.
Why it matters
Authors regularly discover months after signing that the contract said nothing about marketing, or that award entries require publisher approval, or that a clause restricts what they may sell directly. None of that is a surprise if you read for responsibilities as well as royalties. It also gives you the exact wording when you ask a publisher what they plan to do.
Your part
- What you do
- Do it. You normally do this yourself.
- Who normally owns it
- Author and Agent. Author reads; agent explains and negotiates where relevant
- When
- At contract signing, and again about nine months before publication when responsibilities become tasks (Decide who is publishing the book: as soon as the contract is signed, or the decision to publish is made)
Your part changes with your publishing route.
How to do it
The full walkthrough
A publishing agreement is mostly about rights and money, but buried in it are the clauses that decide who does the launch work: who registers copyright, who controls the metadata, whether the publisher commits to any marketing, and who may submit the book to reviewers and awards. Read those clauses now, not when a deadline is a week away.
Read for responsibilities, not just royalties. A trade contract typically gives the publisher control of metadata, cover, and format decisions, sometimes with author consultation; marketing commitments are often general; award submissions are frequently at the publisher's discretion, and an agent can walk you through what is standard and what is negotiable. A hybrid agreement is a service contract, so the specifics matter more: look for an itemized list of deliverables and a clear statement of who owns the International Standard Book Number (ISBN), the files, and the copyright. If you publish the book yourself, the equivalent documents are the platform terms of service and your contractor agreements, and they still decide exclusivity, who holds the ISBN, and what you may do with the files.
Read the agreement twice: once at signing, and again about nine months before publication when the clauses turn into tasks.
Common mistakes
- Reading only the advance, royalty, and rights sections and skipping the boilerplate where responsibilities live.
- Assuming silence means the publisher will do it. Silence usually means nobody has decided.
- Not asking the agent to explain a clause you do not understand.
- Signing a hybrid contract without a written deliverables list.
A template for this
Publisher responsibility confirmationA short, routine note asking your publisher to confirm which publisher-handled items are done, and to send the identifier, link, date, or confirmation for your records.
When to use it: Use this when several checklist items belong to the publisher and you have no record that they happened. It works best a few months before publication, then again after launch for anything still open. Do not use this when you only have one question, or you already have the confirmation on file. Ask the single question directly instead.
What done looks like
- A one-page summary of the agreement's responsibility clauses in your own words, with clause numbers.
- Answers to four questions: who registers copyright, who owns and controls metadata, what marketing is promised, and who may submit to reviews and awards.
- Any restrictions noted: exclusivity, direct sales limits, approval rights over descriptions or covers.
- A calendar reminder to re-read the summary nine months before publication.
Sources and last checked
- Official source
- No single official page for this step.
- Last checked
- Not checked against its source yet.
- How confident we are
- Verified