Thread by @AtlaTheWriter

Since some requested it, and after briefly seeking counsel from other creators, here's a basic checklist of what your creator-owned contracts should have:

-Firstly, unless you're getting some serious money, you should be keeping the copyright to your work.

-Your average publisher wants the right to distribute your work. Many may request that it be exclusive, some (Digital selling platforms like Comixology) do not.

Regardless, this distribution right should be temporary, usually though a given time period. (5 years, for example)

If distribution rights are exlusive and not temporary, and you include no way for you to get that right back, it can create extreme situations where a company can sit on your work with no interest to do anything with it.

And there goes all of your hard work.

- On a similar note, this distribution right should not include "all forms of media, including those yet to be invented" If you signed a contract with that in it, in the 90's?

Then that print-focused company now owns the distro rights to the e-book versions of your story.

- Royalties (A portion of the money made from sales) are tricky, but the rule of thumbs is: The less of a reach your publisher has, the more royalties they give you so you can actually turn a profit.

Most tiny publishers give you 50%, but at top ones you'll be lucky to hit 10%

- Most larger publishers also include an advance, or some form of regular page rate while you're actually creating the book.

In comics, this rate is extremely flexible, but generally, any companies worth your time pay over $100/page.

-If your work is creator-owned, you usually won't need crediting rights, but if you work as a freelancer for a company, try to get your right to be credited into your contract beforehand.

Otherwise, all you have is their good will, which a corporation has none of.