Thanks to IAF’s members we have now arrived at Ten Principles for Fair Contracts
A work in progress for the past year, this document reflects – in ten points – what IAF’s membership feels most strongly should and should not be contained in the contracts in which authors agree to the exploitation of their work through publication or production in any form, be that as a book, an ebook or other medium. The aim is that such agreements enable authors to be fairly recognised and rewarded for the success of that work.
A contract is what governs the relationship between authors and their business partners, such as publishers or producers, and as such is vital in determining the working conditions of both parties. Too often it is imbalanced, favouring the preferences of the publisher. However, IAF wants to change this, and considers it vital that contracts enable authors to make a living from their work and ultimately, of course, to continue to create.
The principles have been designed by and for IAF members and authors all over the world to use as a tool to enable them to better manage their own contract negotiations and, in the case of authors’ organisations, to educate their members and raise awareness of the issues involved. They are also intended to be useful for publishers and producers of authors’ work to better understand the author’s perspective, so that the agreements ultimately concluded can satisfy the needs of both parties and promote respectable, responsible, diverse and prolific authorship worldwide.