Orbit made a preemptive bid to obtain the series in November 2011 (there were 7 or 8 publishers interested int the series at the time). As they were our publisher of choice (due to an impressive track record with both NYT bestselling titles and award winners)we agreed to terms to sell the series.
Orbit turned the six-book series into a trilogy by combining two books into one. The Orbit books are:
Theft of Swords (Nov 2011): The Crown Conspiracy & Avempartha Rise of Empire (Dec 2011): Nyphron Rising & The Emerald Storm Heir of Novron (Jan 2012): Wintertide & Percepliquis
While the production department worked on editing and cover design the legal department prepared contracts. Michael and I received the first contract in March 2012 and there were several clauses that were a potential problem. This was nothing specific to Orbit, just standard language that exists in nearly every publication contract that we, as newbies, were not aware existed.
In particular, it was indicated that the publisher could mandate the author to perform publicity functions at their sole discretion. Michael was concerned that this could seriously impact his future projects so we asked for a modification indicating the author had to approve any requests.
The other issue revolved around the publication of future works and a desire for them to not compete with the books the publisher was producing. The language was such that Michael could not write prequels, sequels, or even other medieval fantasies. This was of course a "deal breaker".
Over the next several months myself, Michael's agent and Orbit negotiated the language of the contracts until we finally got one that both parties were pleased with. In mid July they were finally signed.
Although getting "offiially signed" took quite some time both Orbit and Michael were hard at work behind the scenes editing the books and working on cover designs which meant that the production release was not effected by the delay.
As I write this, we've reviewed and signed off of the final "printer" proofs so the books are "ready for printing" and remain on schedule.
Orbit turned the six-book series into a trilogy by combining two books into one. The Orbit books are:
Theft of Swords (Nov 2011): The Crown Conspiracy & Avempartha
Rise of Empire (Dec 2011): Nyphron Rising & The Emerald Storm
Heir of Novron (Jan 2012): Wintertide & Percepliquis
While the production department worked on editing and cover design the legal department prepared contracts. Michael and I received the first contract in March 2012 and there were several clauses that were a potential problem. This was nothing specific to Orbit, just standard language that exists in nearly every publication contract that we, as newbies, were not aware existed.
In particular, it was indicated that the publisher could mandate the author to perform publicity functions at their sole discretion. Michael was concerned that this could seriously impact his future projects so we asked for a modification indicating the author had to approve any requests.
The other issue revolved around the publication of future works and a desire for them to not compete with the books the publisher was producing. The language was such that Michael could not write prequels, sequels, or even other medieval fantasies. This was of course a "deal breaker".
Over the next several months myself, Michael's agent and Orbit negotiated the language of the contracts until we finally got one that both parties were pleased with. In mid July they were finally signed.
Although getting "offiially signed" took quite some time both Orbit and Michael were hard at work behind the scenes editing the books and working on cover designs which meant that the production release was not effected by the delay.
As I write this, we've reviewed and signed off of the final "printer" proofs so the books are "ready for printing" and remain on schedule.