Contracts

A contract can be drawn up only after a proposed project has been approved by the New Publications Committee. The publisher proposes the project and it is discussed in the context of the company's wider publishing plans, its financial viability and allocation of resources. The publisher must have the backing of the company's marketing, sales and production staff before the investment required for the project can be approved.

The contract will be between Pearson Education and the author and acts as the final seal of approval for the proposal. It marks a commitment between the author and Pearson Education to publish the project in accordance with the specification, brief and budget approved by the Committee.

The contract is a legal statement of the relationship between you, the author and Pearson Education and sets out both the author's responsibility to the publishing house, and the publishing house's responsibility to the author.

The contents of the contract relate to the following issues:

• Confirmation of copyright ownership.
• The agreed fee and/or royalty percentage.
• The date by which the author agrees to deliver the final manuscript and in what form (e.g. word file via email with hard copy, or hard disk with hard copy for book products).
• Any advance payments (which are debited against future royalty earnings). These rae sometimes paid on larger projects and are often dependent on meeting agreed delivery dates for draft and final manuscript.
• The two dates int he year when royalties are paid and the sales period they relate to.
• Author entitlement on subsidiary rights. This would provide, for example, for the author's financial remuneration if the material is licensed to, translated or quoted by a third party.
• The number of compimentary copies to which the author is entitled.
• Permissions fees. If an author needs to use copyright material, permssion for inclusion of such material needs to be sought, and often a fee will be payable. Pearson Education will commit to expenditure for permissions up to an agreed sum on any project. Should an author request that permissions be sought above this sum, it is possible that he or she could be asked to contribute. This is, however, uncommon.
• The author's responsibility to the material after final manuscript is completed, e.g. approving page layouts, proofreading and checking diagrams and artwork.
• Pearson Education's commitment to quality and its responsibility as arbiter of quality control.
• The author's responsibility for supplying material for new editions.