Chipmunka offers an extremely nonstandard contract - so NO big payday for Bob Fiddaman

Chipmunka offers an extremely nonstandard contract, including:


http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92347

- requiring authors to waive moral rights (Chipmunka is a UK-based publisher; the USA doesn't recognize moral rights, but they're an important part of copyright law in the UK and Europe)



- paying royalties on the publisher's net profit (actual cash receipts less production costs); this reduces royalties to a pittance



- taking rights for the life of copyright without adequate provisions for rights reversion



- paying royalties only once a year



- claiming a range of subsidiary rights there's no evidence they are able to exploit or license, and providing a nonstandard income split (just 20% of subrights income to the author).



There's more, but those are the highlights.



Chipmunka is a pretty narrowly focused niche publisher, so I would imagine it might have more success marketing its books outside the bookstore system than a publisher with a general publishing program. Nevertheless, bookstores are still an important outlet, and I don't see anything at Chipmunka's website to suggest it makes an effort to get its books into stores (it's also telling that the several royalty payment examples given in the contract don't include bookstore sales).