The offer arrives and every instinct says accept it before they change their mind. Do not. A publishing contract governs your book for years, sometimes decades, and the terms you agree now are the terms you live with.
First: say thank you, and ask for time
"Thank you — I'm delighted. May I have a week to read the contract properly?" No legitimate publisher will object. One that pressures you to sign immediately has told you something important about how they will behave later.
If an agent is involved
If an agent offered representation, you now tell every other agent holding your material that you have an offer and give them a deadline — two weeks is standard. This is not rude; it is the accepted convention, and it frequently produces further offers. Choose on communication style and editorial vision as much as on the size of the agency.
What to read for
Rights granted
Which rights, in which territories, in which languages, for how long. Granting world rights in all languages to a publisher with no foreign-rights arm gives away something they cannot use. Push to keep what they will not actively exploit.
Term and reversion
The most important clause in the contract. How do you get your rights back? "For the full term of copyright" with no reversion trigger means never. You want a defined out — sales falling below a threshold over a period, or the book going out of print — with a clear written process. Digital publishing broke the old "out of print" definition, so the modern equivalent is a minimum sales figure over two consecutive royalty periods.
Royalties
The percentage, and critically whether it is on list price (cover price) or net receipts (what the publisher actually receives). A rate on net is worth substantially less than the same rate on list. Check the escalators too — does the rate rise after a certain number of copies?
The advance and its schedule
Usually paid in instalments — on signature, on delivery, on publication, sometimes on paperback release. It is an advance against royalties: you earn nothing further until it has been recouped. Advances are almost never repayable if the book underperforms, but confirm that.
The option clause
Standard, and frequently too broad. You want it narrowed to your next work in the same genre or series, with a defined response window — thirty days from delivery, say. An unbounded option on "your next work" can tie up an entire career.
Non-compete
Read this carefully if you write in more than one genre or publish elsewhere. A broad non-compete can prevent you publishing anything at all during the term. Narrow it to genuinely competing work.
Approvals
Cover, title, jacket copy, edits. In most contracts you get consultation rather than approval. Ask at least for meaningful consultation on cover and title in writing, and find out who has final say.
Get advice from someone whose job it is
An agent negotiates the contract as part of their commission. Without one, a publishing-law specialist or a writers' organisation offering contract review is worth the fee many times over. A friend who is a solicitor but has never seen a publishing contract is not a substitute — the conventions in this industry are specific, and knowing what is standard is most of the value.
What is usually negotiable
More than new authors assume: the option clause, the reversion trigger, foreign and audio rights, the royalty escalators, the delivery date, and free author copies. The headline advance on a debut is often the least flexible number in the document — which is precisely why the other terms deserve your attention.
Then celebrate properly
Once it is signed, mark it. The gap between signature and publication is long and oddly quiet, and it is easy to reach publication day having never actually acknowledged that you did the hard part.