So, I left off the last post at the point of the wonderful folks at
Green Ronin wanting to publish Love 2 Hate.
I don't think they would mind me saying that Green Ronin are
predominantly an RPG publisher, so card games were new enough territory for
them and, of course completely new territory for me! They asked me what I expected form the
contract and I must confess that I blinked at the email blankly for some time. Wow... I had no idea.
After a lot of time flicking through Google, I found a few useful sites
about board game contracts, offered here without any associated recommendation
or judgement, but solely as the ones I looked at:
Not an exhaustive list, but they all seemed to have the same
basics. In addition, I approached people
in the industry I had gone to know over the years (see previous post) and asked
them the basics of board game contracts – obviously, I would never ask how much
in terms of money, but such conversations were very useful indeed.
1.
Designer's Rights: In
short, you are selling the rights to the company to publish and distribute the
game and related derivatives in return for payment.
2.
Advance: Typically, you should be offered a small payment up front, between a
few hundred to a couple of thousand depending on the product and the company. This may be offset against future royalties,
but it's a sure sign of commitment and you get it even if the game flops.
3.
Kill Fee: The above advance also acts as a kill fee – that is, once money is
down you cannot offer the game to any other company to publish. On that note, most contracts contain a clause
to say that, before you sign, you are not in agreement with anyone else to
consider publication.
4.
Payments: Typically, you'll be offered royalties. If the company distributes directly, you might
be offered a % wholesale, as opposed to retail.
Wholesale percentages are, from what I am given to understand, typically
between 5% and 10%, maybe more depending on the company and product. Retail percentages tend to be significantly
lower (as they are a percentage of retail prices, as opposed to wholesale!). The contarct will advise how often and by what methid these
payments are made.
5.
Foreign Language and onward sale: The contract should contain a clause that the
designer gets a percentage of revenue if the game is translated into foreign
languages or sold outright to another company, and this can be fairly generous –
up to 50%.
6.
Due Dates: A good contract will have a date by which the game is to be submitted
to the publisher. The company will tend to
contract in complete approval of the final draft – after all, it is their
reputation on the line as much as yours!
7.
Copies: You should get a few copies of the final product for your very own!
8.
Reversion: You should make sure there is a clause that, should the company not
publish your game within a time frame (usually 2years), the rights revert completely
back to you
They are the essential things from my experience, but I am not a lawyer and feel free to have legal people look over the contract before you sign. Also, be sure to get a copy signed by all parties!
Remember, this is the point at which the company can still walk away and say
thanks, but no thanks!
The next instalment will look at the decision to go with Kickstarter and
the journey to achieving funding!