Before agreeing to publish:
Consider your goals for your work. If you sign away your rights, you may find you can't do the following without the publisher's permission.
Consider whether your rights as an author are supported in the agreement. If you don't like what you see, you can often negotiate more favorable terms. In fact, many publishers, including the largest commercial publishers, have already created other standard agreements allowing for more favorable terms than the initial default agreement. You just have to ask for them.
The Library can help! Contact us at askalibrarian@umkc.edu.
Sources:
"Understanding and Negotiating Book Publication Contracts" by Author's Alliance is licensed under CC BY 4.0
Evans-Walls, T. M. (2005). Literary law guide for authors : copyright, trademark, and contracts in plain language (2nd ed.). FYOS Entertainment.
The information provided throughout this guide does not constitute legal advice, and should not be interpreted as such. While your resident librarians would be happy to try and assist with any questions, we are unable to provide legal advice and may need to refer you to a lawyer or agent.