So... Has All the Upheavel Been Due to Behind the Scenes?
- Thread starter Frontier
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That's not correct. I wrote three Alias novels and my name is on the front cover of all of them.
Really? Did you write the adult ones or the young adult ones? And is it on the spine, the front cover, or both?
I'm going by memory here, because I didn't buy them. (I didn't watch Alias, once I realized that Syndey Bristow was too fucking stupid to live. But that's a different story.) But I remember seeing them in the bookstore, and it struck me as strange at the time that the authors weren't credited.
^ I wrote three of the adult ones. And my name is on the front cover but not the spine. (I was told that they put "J. J. Abrams" on the spine of all the books so that they would all be shelved together--and not scattered throughout the General Fiction section. Not a bad idea.)
The authors were also credited on the YA books. I know because a friend of mine wrote one and I've got it on my shelf.
The authors were also credited on the YA books. I know because a friend of mine wrote one and I've got it on my shelf.
Fair enough. I was going by what I remembered seeing in the bookstore, as I didn't buy them.
I actually didn't know, Greg, that you had written Alias novels. My apologies.
I actually didn't know, Greg, that you had written Alias novels. My apologies.
No problem. You probably just noted that they were all shelved under "A" for "Abrams."
Or at least that was the plan. Alas, from what I saw, some bookstores couldn't tell the YA and adult books apart and shelved them all in YA. Too bad. I enjoyed writing those Alias books. It was a fun gig.
Anyway, I'm positive the nuTrek books weren't scuttled because our names were going to be on the covers . . . .
It's worth adding here that while the timing issues are product of turbulence behind the scenes (so it seems), you're confusing things a bit by making plot details you don't like--Captain Exri Dax, say--product of a failed editorial process.
^Actually, very few of the issues Frontier brought up were consequences of the editorial layoffs/departures, but took place earlier for a variety of different reasons, as I specified in my reply.
They are, but it's in teeny tiny font.
I speculated a few weeks ago - and the new ST YA titles do seem to be getting shelved under "S" for "Star Trek", due to no prominent author, if they make it to a YA shelf of a bookshop, that is. Quite a few large Aussie bookshops have started designating YAs to their own substantial section in recent years, and most seem to be mixed SF/Fantasy/Vampire/Romance/Zombie themes.
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Feel free to tell me it's none of my flarging business, but if you guys already wrote the Abramsverse novels and the publisher decided to shelve them...do you still get paid for the work? Or was it all for naught?
Yes, we got paid, well before the books were cancelled. We fulfilled our end of the contract by delivering the manuscripts, and they fulfilled theirs by paying us for our work. But once we deliver the work to them, it's their property to do with as they will, and if they decide not to publish it, that's their choice. They couldn't very well ask us to give the money back, because we'd done everything that we were contracted to do.
If they're put back on the schedule after the second movie comes out and the authors are asked to amend the manuscripts to fit between the two movies, will you be paid for that or would it still come under the original contractual obligation?
I don't see an author name anywhere on this version of the front cover.
If that were to happen, it would count as part of the revision process as covered in the contract.
Keep in mind that what we're getting isn't a salary, it's an advance on royalties. In theory, it's income from sales of the actual book. Of course, if the book doesn't sell enough to pay off the advance, or doesn't go on the market at all, then we still get to keep the full advance. But it's a payment for the complete work, not for X amount of labor. In exchange for delivering something they can publish -- which may require an unpredictable amout of revision to fit their requirements -- we get an up-front share of the profits from said publication.
I understand what an advance is, Christopher, I was just curious about this particular situation since it doesn't come up often, if at all.
I'm still looking forward to them being put back on the schedule in 2012-3 if possible.
I wasn't assuming you didn't know what an advance was. I was merely discussing how the nature of an advance applied to this particular situation.
So that means you get your royalties regardless of how prominently or not prominently your name is displayed on the book? I darned well hope so.
Royalties and author credits have nothing to do with each other. The former is a financial matter; the latter is a marketing decision.
Authors with short names (like, say, "Greg Cox") can get larger type than authors with long names, simply for design reasons. That doesn't mean I get more money!
Seriously, the prominence of an author's name usually isn't a contractual issue at all. This isn't Hollywood. Credits are not something people negotiate--or worry about all that much.
The one exception is movie novelizations, where, generally, the author's name is not allowed to be larger or more prominent than the author of the original screenplay. But, again, that's a Hollywood thing, not a publishing issue. And perfectly reasonable, as far as I'm concerned.
Authors with short names (like, say, "Greg Cox") can get larger type than authors with long names, simply for design reasons. That doesn't mean I get more money!
Seriously, the prominence of an author's name usually isn't a contractual issue at all. This isn't Hollywood. Credits are not something people negotiate--or worry about all that much.
The one exception is movie novelizations, where, generally, the author's name is not allowed to be larger or more prominent than the author of the original screenplay. But, again, that's a Hollywood thing, not a publishing issue. And perfectly reasonable, as far as I'm concerned.
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