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AUTHORS
Stokes Law Group · Authors & Publishing · Legacy · Wealth · Protection
You wrote it. Make sure you still own it.

A book contract is not a book deal. It is a rights transaction that determines who owns your work, who profits from it, and for how long. We review, negotiate, and draft the agreements that keep your copyright working for you across every format, every territory, and every generation.

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The Cost of Signing Without Counsel

Four contract traps that quietly cost authors their careers.

Publishing agreements are among the most complex commercial contracts most authors will ever sign. Every clause is a rights transaction. Every rights transaction is a decision about ownership, revenue, and creative control. Here is what we see on the other side of the table.

Risk 01
Rights Grabs Beyond the Deal
Small presses and indie publishers routinely take world rights, all languages, all formats, and all subsidiary rights when they only intend to publish print in one market. Rights they never exploit become rights the author cannot license or reclaim.
Risk 02
Perpetual Terms and No Reversion
Traditional publishing contracts once had clear reversion when a book went out of print. Modern contracts often make reversion functionally impossible, defining "in print" to include a single available ebook file. The publisher keeps your rights forever.
Risk 03
Non-Compete Traps
Many publishing contracts prohibit you from writing anything "competitive" with your current book. Definitions are often vague enough to lock authors out of their own subject matter, their own genre, or in some cases entire adjacent categories for the duration of the contract.
Risk 04
AI Training Data Exposure
Contract language now often includes silent grants for AI training, machine learning use, and derivative synthetic content. Authors are unwittingly consenting to have their work used to train models, sometimes with no ability to opt out later.

Wondering if any of these risks are in a contract you have already signed, or one you are about to? A Strategy Session is where we find out.

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Where You Are In Your Career

Five stages, five sets of legal needs.

Author careers arc across decades, and legal priorities evolve with each stage. The needs of a debut author are different from a working author, which are different from an established author, which are different from an author managing a backlist and thinking about literary legacy.

01
Emerging
First book contract, first agency agreement, first serious offer on the table. Priority: understanding what you are agreeing to before your career signature commits you to terms you cannot undo.
02
Working
Multiple published titles, active agency relationship, ongoing negotiations. Priority: consistent legal counsel across a growing backlist and evolving deal complexity.
03
Established
Recognizable name, film/TV options in play, foreign rights deals, major imprint relationships. Priority: negotiating from strength on advance, royalty, and subsidiary rights structures.
04
Career Author
Long publishing history, valuable backlist, revenue across multiple formats and territories. Priority: retainer counsel that manages your rights portfolio and moves quickly on incoming deals.
05
Estate & Legacy
Backlist as a legacy asset, biographical and documentary rights, literary trust planning, control over adaptation and posthumous decisions. Priority: preserving copyright value for the next generation.

Not sure which stage you are in or what your priorities should be? That is exactly what a Strategy Session is for.

Start a Conversation →
LEGACY
The Counsel Relationship

The Author Counsel Retainer.

This is not a bulk-discount package. It is a counsel relationship. Your books are copyright assets that generate revenue for decades, and every contract touching them shapes what you own, what you earn, and what your estate will one day inherit. You need an attorney who already knows your catalog when the next offer arrives.

What comes with the relationship

The Author Counsel Retainer is annual counsel for working authors and career professionals. It combines contract review capacity with the kind of ongoing legal relationship most authors never have access to at a boutique price point.

What the retainer includes:

  • Priority scheduling for all incoming contracts, offers, and negotiations
  • Quarterly career and portfolio review sessions
  • Direct attorney email access, no gatekeeping
  • Unlimited brief questions under 15 minutes each
  • Right of first review on any deal within 24 business hours
  • Five (5) full contract reviews per calendar year
  • Retainer-client rates on all additional reviews beyond the included five
  • Coordination with your literary agent, editor, and business manager as needed
  • Annual backlist rights audit including reversion status, subsidiary rights, and AI exposure
Annual Retainer
Author Counsel Retainer
$18,000
Per Year · Payable Annually or Quarterly
Discuss the Retainer
What is not on this list is the part that matters most. An attorney who already knows your catalog when the next contract lands.
Project-Based Services

Author packages for specific deals.

If a retainer relationship is not the right fit yet, we offer project-based reviews and negotiation services at flat-fee pricing. Every engagement begins with a Strategy Session to confirm scope.

Representation Agreements
Literary Agency, Management, and Coauthor
Literary Agency Agreement Review
Full review of your literary agency contract including commission structure (typically 15%), exclusivity, term length, sunset commission on already-negotiated deals, and termination rights.
$2,500Flat Fee
Ghostwriting Agreement (Either Side)
Review or drafting of a ghostwriting agreement including credit and attribution terms, copyright assignment, non-disclosure, and payment structure.
$3,500Flat Fee
Collaboration or Co-Author Agreement
Drafting or reviewing an agreement between co-authors including copyright ownership split, revenue division, credit, and decision-making authority.
$3,500Flat Fee
Loan-Out Corporation Setup
Formation of your loan-out entity (typically LLC or S-corp) for tax planning, liability protection, and cleaner contract structuring. Includes formation documents and operating agreement.
$3,500Flat Fee + State Filing
Publishing Agreements
Trade, Small Press, Hybrid, and Self-Publishing
Standard Publishing Agreement
Review of a publishing agreement up to 20 pages including advance, royalty structure, rights grant, out-of-print definition, reversion, and option clause.
$2,500Up to 20 pages
Major Publisher Deal
Comprehensive review of a longer or more complex publishing agreement, multi-book deal, or major imprint contract with expanded analysis.
$4,00021+ pages
Small Press or Hybrid Publisher
Review of small press or hybrid publishing agreement including cost-sharing terms, rights grants, marketing obligations, and unwind provisions.
$2,500Flat Fee
Self-Publishing Distribution
Review of distribution agreements with Amazon KDP, IngramSpark, Draft2Digital, or other self-publishing platforms including territory, exclusivity, and termination.
$2,500Flat Fee
Rights & Subsidiary Deals
Audio, Foreign, Film/TV, and Merchandising
Audio Rights Agreement
Review of an audiobook licensing or production agreement including production terms, royalty structure, term length, and reversion rights.
$2,500Flat Fee
Film or TV Option Agreement
Review of a film or television option including option fee, extension terms, purchase price at exercise, backend participation, and reversion if production does not commence.
$3,500Flat Fee
Foreign Rights Agreement
Review of a foreign or translation rights sale including territory, language, term, advance, royalty, and subsidiary rights within the licensed region.
$2,500Flat Fee
Merchandising or Adaptation Rights
Review of merchandising, adaptation, or ancillary rights agreements including approval rights, quality control, term, and royalty structure.
$3,500Flat Fee
Rights Management & Recovery
Reversion, Audits, and AI Protection
Rights Reversion Analysis or Recovery
Analysis of whether your existing publishing contract permits reversion, formal reversion demand if warranted, and recovery of rights from unresponsive or non-performing publishers.
$4,500Flat Fee
Backlist Rights Audit
Audit of your entire published catalog to identify what rights you have granted, to whom, for how long, and which titles have unexploited subsidiary rights you could still license.
$4,500Flat Fee
AI Training Opt-Out Language
Drafting of custom AI training opt-out and machine learning restriction language for insertion into new publishing agreements, or amendment negotiation for existing contracts where possible.
$2,000Flat Fee
Add-On Services
Available with Any Package
Negotiation Representation
We engage directly with the other party's counsel and negotiate the deal on your behalf, including counterproposals, redline exchanges, and closing.
$3,500-$5,000Scope Set in Strategy Session
Pre-Litigation Demand (Unpaid Royalties)
Formal demand letter for unpaid royalties, subrights revenue, or breach of publishing agreement terms, positioned to resolve without litigation.
$2,000Flat Fee
Pre-Litigation Resolution
Full pre-litigation resolution work including demand, negotiation, and settlement drafting, aimed at recovery without filing suit.
Starting $4,500Scope Set in Strategy Session
ROYALTIES
Where Authors Actually Make Money

Advances, royalties, escalators, and the deal behind the deal.

Most authors focus on the advance because it is the visible number. The advance is often the least important number in a publishing contract. The real economics live in royalty rates, escalator triggers, subsidiary splits, and payout timing. Understanding what your deal actually pays you is not optional. It is the difference between a career and a hobby.

Layer 01
Advance Structure
Advances are paid in installments (signing, delivery, publication, paperback release) and are recouped against future royalties. The size matters less than the structure. A smaller advance with faster payout can be worth more than a large one paid over three years, and unearned advances can affect your ability to sell future books.
Layer 02
Royalty Rates by Format
Hardcover royalties (typically 10 to 15% of retail), trade paperback (7.5 to 10%), mass market (6 to 8%), ebook (25% of net receipts is standard, though 50% is defensible in some contexts), and audio (10 to 25% depending on structure). Each format has separate math, and each is separately negotiable.
Layer 03
Escalator Triggers
Sales-based royalty increases (higher rate after 10,000 units, higher rate after 25,000, higher rate after list appearance) are negotiable and often overlooked. A modest escalator on a bestseller can be worth more than the advance. If your contract does not include them, you gave up money you did not need to give up.
Layer 04
Subsidiary Rights Splits
Foreign, audio, film/TV, merchandising, first serial, book club. Each has a standard split (50/50 is common, but 60/40 to 90/10 to author is negotiable depending on the right). Knowing which subsidiary rights the publisher will actively exploit versus warehouse determines whether you should grant them or hold them back.

If you are looking at a publishing offer right now, do not focus on the advance until you have modeled the whole deal.

Start with a Strategy Session →
The First Step

Start with a Strategy Session.

Before any engagement, every author starts here. One hour. One focused conversation. You leave with clarity on where you stand, what is at risk in any deal in front of you, and which engagement structure fits your career. This is the diagnostic that gets you to the right next step.

What we cover in your hour together

This is a diagnostic session, not a contract review. We assess your career position, identify risks in any deals you are considering, and recommend the right engagement structure for what you actually need. If you have a contract on the table, we will look at it together at a high level and flag concerns, but the line-by-line negotiation work happens under a separate engagement. The Strategy Session is how we figure out what that engagement should be.

  • Diagnostic of your career position and legal exposure
  • High-level look at any contract you are considering, with red-flag identification
  • Clear recommendation on which engagement tier or retainer fits your situation
  • Coordination with your existing literary agent, editor, or business manager if needed
  • A written summary of our conversation sent within 48 hours
  • Confidential and protected by attorney-client privilege
Strategy Session
One Hour. Full Clarity.
$500
60 Minutes · Via Zoom
Credit Toward Engagement
If you engage the Firm within fourteen (14) days, your $500 Strategy Session fee credits in full toward your first flat-fee deliverable or annual retainer.
Book Your Strategy Session

Sessions held Monday through Thursday. Limited to ten per week.

Common Questions

What authors actually ask.

Do I need an attorney if I already have a literary agent?+
Yes, and the roles are different. Your literary agent finds and structures deals, negotiates the business terms, and manages your career. An attorney reviews the contract for legal exposure, negotiates specific legal terms (indemnity, warranty, non-compete, reversion), and represents your interests exclusively. Agents earn commissions on your deals, which creates financial incentives that are usually aligned with yours but not always. Your attorney has no such conflict.
What is the difference between a book deal and a book contract?+
The deal is the offer: advance, royalties, and rights the publisher wants to acquire. The contract is the legal document that memorializes the deal along with dozens of other clauses that were never discussed. Indemnity provisions, warranties, option clauses, non-competes, and rights reversion all live in the contract but rarely in the offer letter. The deal is what your agent negotiated. The contract is what you sign.
How is the Author Counsel Retainer different from paying per review?+
The retainer is not a bulk-discount package. It is a relationship. It includes five full contract reviews per year plus priority scheduling, direct email access, quarterly career reviews, unlimited brief questions, and an annual backlist rights audit. Working authors with active deal flow typically hit the value of the retainer within the first two or three deals, but the real value is the relationship: an attorney who already knows your catalog when the next offer arrives.
My book is out of print. Can I get my rights back?+
Maybe. It depends on how your contract defines "in print" and whether the publisher is meeting that definition. Modern contracts often make reversion much harder than older contracts by defining "in print" as any format being technically available, including a single ebook file. We can review the contract, assess whether reversion is available, and issue a formal reversion demand if appropriate. This is a common Rights Reversion Analysis engagement.
What if I already signed a contract I should not have?+
Bring it to the Strategy Session. A post-signature review identifies your obligations, exposures, and potential amendment or renegotiation opportunities. Publishers do sometimes agree to amendments when authors raise legitimate concerns, especially for career authors they want to keep. And not every problematic clause is enforceable as written. We will assess your options.
Is AI training an actual risk in my publishing contract?+
Yes. Publishing contracts signed in the last several years increasingly include broad rights language that can be interpreted to permit use of your work as AI training data, both by the publisher and by third-party licensees. Class action litigation against major AI companies for unauthorized training use is ongoing. New contracts should include explicit opt-out language, and older contracts may benefit from amendment negotiation where feasible.
Do you represent authors outside Florida?+
Yes. Contract review, drafting, and negotiation for publishing matters is transactional legal work that does not require the author to be in Florida. Attorney Stokes is licensed in Florida, and matters governed by another state's law (New York is common because most major publishers are New York based) may be handled directly, may involve local co-counsel, or may be scoped to Florida-based aspects of the deal, depending on the specifics. We confirm this during the Strategy Session.
I want to self-publish. Do I still need an attorney?+
You still sign contracts, so yes. Amazon KDP, IngramSpark, Draft2Digital, Findaway Voices, and other self-publishing platforms all have terms of service that function as contracts. Cover artists, editors, and formatters sign work-for-hire agreements. Foreign rights sales, audio productions, and film/TV interest can arise at any career stage. Self-published authors often benefit from legal counsel at exactly the moments they need to move fastest.
The Author-Specific Estate

Your copyright outlives you.

Copyright in your published work lasts your entire life plus seventy years. That means your books are legacy assets that generate revenue, control adaptation decisions, and shape your literary reputation for generations after you are gone. Most estate plans miss this entirely.

Standard wills and trusts are built for real property and financial accounts. Author estates require literary trust structures, clear beneficiary decisions for adaptation and moral rights, and appointed literary executors who understand the industry.

This is one of the areas where working with a single firm across both publishing contracts and estate planning is materially better than working with separate attorneys who each cover only part of the picture. Your author attorney already knows what your catalog is, what rights you own, and what needs to be handled in your estate plan.

Sister Practice
Estate Planning for Authors
Literary trust and estate planning tailored for authors, incorporating copyright as an asset class. Covers literary executor appointment, adaptation and moral rights control, backlist licensing authority, and posthumous decision frameworks.
Note
SLG estate planning services are available for Florida residents. If you live outside Florida, we can coordinate with local estate counsel on the literary asset portions of your plan.
Estate Planning →
Build Across Pillars

Your career connects to everything.

Related Practice
Creators
For authors who build newsletter platforms, brand relationships, or creator revenue outside publishing.
Visit Creators →
Related Practice
Brand Protection
Trademark your author name, series name, or brand. Protect the marks that live alongside your copyright.
Visit Brand Protection →
Related Practice
Contract Review
For contracts outside publishing and literary representation, our general contract practice handles the rest.
Visit Contract Review →
Related Practice
Actors
For author-performers with audiobook narration, spoken word, or on-camera work as part of your career.
Visit Actors →
PROTECT IT
Ready When You Are

Your work. Your rights.

Book a Strategy Session and we will walk through your current situation, look at any contracts in front of you at a high level, and recommend the exact engagement that fits. One hour. Full clarity.

Book Your Strategy Session
Legacies are created, not inherited.