Two kinds of promise

Publishing depends on two kinds of promise. One is about rights: who may publish a book, where, and for how long. The other is about delivery: which company carries your books into shops, and what that company keeps for doing it. Both belong in Contracts, in two kinds of record.

A rights promise

“You may publish this book in English, in print and ebook, worldwide, for seven years, exclusively — and here is what you pay me for it.”

A book starts as a bundle of rights owned by whoever wrote it: print, ebook, audio, translation and film. Each right can be split by language, by country and by time. A contract passes one part of that bundle from one party to another. The money terms are what you pay for that part.

Rights promises work in both directions. An author grants rights to you. You might grant translation rights on to a publisher in another country. Pubblish records both in one kind of record. Its Direction field says which way the rights move.

A supply promise

“We carry your paperbacks to shops everywhere except North America, and we keep 55% of the list price for doing it.”

No rights move in a supply promise. A distributor does not become part-owner of anything. It is a delivery service. It covers which company gets your books into stores, where they do it, and what cut they keep. An arrangement with a single retailer is the same promise on a smaller scale.

Why the difference matters

Pubblish treats the two kinds differently.

Royalties come from rights promises only. A royalty exists because somebody let you publish their book, and the contract says what each sale owes them. A distributor’s cut creates no royalty. The distributor takes it before the money reaches you, and the sales report you upload already reflects it.

Only rights promises answer “what do I hold in this book?” Each title’s Rights page adds up its rights contracts and reports on every right in the book. Supply arrangements are not part of that answer. See The Rights page.

Only supply promises answer “who sells this, and where?”

Territories means “where you may publish” on a rights contract. On a supply arrangement it means “where they ship”.

What each record holds

A rights contract records:

  • Who: one entry from your People list, and which way the rights travel
  • What it covers: one title, a named list, or every title, narrowed by right type, territories, dates, and whether it is exclusive
  • Money: the rate typed once for the whole contract, with a row naming a title when that one title differs
  • Notes: anything else worth keeping

A supply arrangement records:

  • Who: one People entry, the distributor, wholesaler or store
  • What they carry: one title, a list, or every title, in the formats they handle
  • Where: the territories they serve
  • Their cut: the share they keep, for reference
  • Notes: anything else worth keeping

Both point at the same People list. Amazon and IngramSpark are entries there, as your authors are.

One list, two kinds

The Contracts page shows both kinds in one table. The table has a Type column and three filter buttons: All, Rights contracts and Supply arrangements.