
Adam Frankel
General Counsel · Technology & AI
15+ years as General Counsel to technology, cloud & AI companies
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This document is a formal contract between a writer and a publishing company for the commercial production of a book. It contains specific financial penalties for author-requested revisions and sets a 10-day deadline for returning printer proofs. It is not an employment contract or a work-for-hire agreement.
Use this template when a completed or planned manuscript is being licensed to a commercial press for a royalty-based return. Use a Ghostwriting Agreement instead if the author is being paid a flat fee and will not retain the copyright.
| Clause | Name | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| NOW THEREFORE | Grant of Rights | The Author grants the Publishers rights to print, publish, and sell the Work including translations and adaptations, while retaining the underlying copyright. |
| 2 | Royalties | The Publishers pay a percentage of the list price on each copy sold, with statements rendered semi-annually. |
| 3 | Author's Corrections | The Author pays for alterations in type or illustrations that exceed ten per cent of the original composition cost. |
| 4 | Delivery of Work | The Publishers may cancel the agreement if the Author fails to provide the typescript by the specified date after thirty days' notice. |
| 10 | Warranty and Indemnity | The Author warrants the work is original and non-libellous, indemnifying the Publishers against damages from breaches of these warranties. |
| 13 | Disputes | Any dispute is referred to two arbitrators and an umpire under the provisions of the Indian Arbitration Act. |
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A publishing agreement between an author and a publisher in India, under which the author grants the publisher the right to print, publish and sell a specified work — including translations, abridgments and adaptations — while otherwise retaining copyright. It covers delivery of the manuscript, the publisher's control of format and pricing, royalty rates and half-yearly accounting and settlement, author's corrections and proof-checking, indexing and supplements, author's copies, treatment of damaged copies, the author's warranty of originality and non-infringement (with indemnity), assignment, protection of copyright, and dispute resolution by arbitration.