June 5, 2014
Dear XXX:
On behalf of my partner Steven and our
long-serving WCP Senior Staff, Jan Janssen, Marsha Briscoe, Melanie Billings,
and Angela Archer, I am announcing that Start Publishing, LLC, a quickly
growing NYC-based company, has offered to acquire Whiskey Creek Press, and we
have agreed to sell the company, with the exception of the Wee Creek Imprint.
In speaking with the executives of Start Publishing, we have grown increasingly
impressed with and confident in their plans to grow WCP author book sales to an
exciting new level, well beyond our current limited capacities. Start
Publishing is a particularly exciting company to be a part of for several
reasons. They are highly skilled in e-book marketing, as evidenced by their
swiftly accelerating e-book sales over the last year. They are also a fully integrated part of Start Media, a company which does feature film
production and financing, and has other interests in the entertainment
industry. Thus, in addition to being a thriving publishing company in its own
right, Start Publishing serves as a development pool for content that might be
translated into other media beyond books. We believe this is an unusual
opportunity for our author body to join a reputable and growing company with
exceptional resources to help grow your sales well beyond historical levels.
Steven and I plan to stay on staff as
consultants during the transition period to ensure a smooth process in the
changing ownership. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or
concerns regarding this process. We can be reached at: publisher@whiskeycreekpress.com
or whiskycreekpress@bresnan.net
with any questions. All of our Senior Staff, including Jan, Marsha, Melanie and
Angela will be staying on under the new management. Thanks to all of you for
ten-plus wonderful years of publishing, during which time we published nearly
2,000 total books, by 700 different authors, representing more than two dozen
different countries!
Now it’s time for me to pass the publishing baton to Start Publishing. As part of the acquisition process, Start is asking all current WCP authors to agree to and sign an offer of new terms as follows on page two below. We are offering you the non-refundable sum of $1.00 and other good and valuable consideration, payable to you if and when the sale of the company to Start is completed (expected to be by the end of June 2014). Upon closing you will also receive from WCP a payment for current royalties and/or advances or any other sums owed to you by WCP for sales up through and including April 30, 2014. In sum, upon closing you will receive the following payments:
$5.53 Royalties and other monies owed for
sales through April 30, 2014
+ $1.00 Non-refundable sum
$6.53 Total amount
+ $1.00 Non-refundable sum
$6.53 Total amount
Please review the terms below, sign your
name to represent your consent in the space indicated below and return via email
to me at publisher@whiskeycreekpress.com
PLEASE SIGN AND RETURN THIS AGREEMENT NO LATER THAN MONDAY, JUNE 23, 2014.
Thanks again to all of you, stay safe, and
keep writing!
Debi
LETTER OF AGREEMENT:
By signing this letter, you agree that your agreement(s) with Whiskey Creek Press shall be assigned to Start Publishing, LLC (“Start Publishing” and/or “Publisher”), or any of its affiliates or subsidiaries, for the term of copyright, and shall be modified to the extent set forth below:
By signing this letter, you agree that your agreement(s) with Whiskey Creek Press shall be assigned to Start Publishing, LLC (“Start Publishing” and/or “Publisher”), or any of its affiliates or subsidiaries, for the term of copyright, and shall be modified to the extent set forth below:
• With respect to all of your agreement(s)
with Whiskey Creek Press, you agree to assign to Start Publishing for the term
of the copyright any and all rights currently held by Whiskey Creek Press. You
further agree that you will be paid by Start Publishing upon the same terms and
conditions as currently exist in your agreement, except that you agree to
accept from Start Publishing an e-book royalty rate of twenty five percent
(25%). This new e-book royalty rate will apply to all monies actually received
by Start Publishing on your behalf on or after July 1, 2014. Print royalty
rates will stay the same as in your current Whiskey Creek Press agreement(s).
• Revision of rights: If the Work shall be
declared out-of-print, or sell fewer than twenty five (25) copies in all
formats in any calendar year, or the Publisher shall have stopped selling the
Work in all formats, including reprints or editions licensed to other
publishers in the United States and if, within six (6) months of a request by
the Author the Publisher fails to inform the Author in writing of a plan to
reprint, repackage, do a new edition, or license an edition to another
publisher in the United States, then this Agreement can be terminated by the
Author in writing. After receipt of the termination letter, Publisher shall
have an additional two (2) weeks to reconsider its options (a total of 6 months
and two weeks) and notify the Author of its decision. If the Publisher still
fails to inform the Author of an intention to keep the Work in print in the
United States, all rights shall revert to the Author, subject to any grant of
rights made by the Publisher prior to the termination date, and any third party
licenses will remain in effect for the duration of its contract and Publisher
shall be entitled to collect its royalties.
• You agree that Start Publishing may
assign its respective rights to any third party without your consent on the
same terms and conditions as agreed to herein, but only if such assignment is part
of a sale of all or substantially all of the assets of Start Publishing.
However, notwithstanding the foregoing, Start Publishing can assign this
agreement to any of its subsidiaries or affiliates without your permission.
• You agree and understand that your
agreements as set forth herein are contingent upon your receipt of the signing
bonus and other payments as set forth above, which amounts you agree to accept
as consideration for the modification of your currently existing agreement with
Whiskey Creek Press and in full and final satisfaction of any and all claims to
past due/current royalties and/or advances or any other sums owed to you for
sales up through and including April 30, 2014. Start Publishing agrees that
commencing three months after the full execution and delivery of this agreement
it will commence payment of royalties to you in the same manner, and at the
same times, in which you are currently paid.
• You agree that as of the date
of closing
of the sale and thereafter, any disputes that you may have with Start
Publishing shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the
laws
of the State of New York without regard to the conflicts of law rules
thereof.
You further agree that any disputes of whatever kind shall be litigated
in a
court of appropriate jurisdiction located within the City, County and
State of
New York.
Optional Services Which May Be Provided By
Publisher
A. By initialing here, you agree that
notwithstanding anything else to the contrary contained in your current agreement(s),
you hereby grant Start Publishing audio rights to your work(s), and you warrant
and represent that such rights have not heretofore been granted to any third
parties. Start Publishing agrees to pay you a royalty rate of fifty percent
(50%) of all monies actually received by Start Publishing from the commercial
exploitation, if any, of such rights. _________________________
B. By initialing here, you agree that
notwithstanding anything else to the contrary contained in your current
agreement(s), you hereby grant Start Publishing foreign rights for the sale of
your work(s) in the formats already granted to Whiskey Creek Press, and you
warrant and represent that such rights have not heretofore been granted to any
third parties. Start Publishing agrees to pay you a royalty rate of fifty
percent (50%) of all monies actually received by Start Publishing from the
commercial exploitation, if any, of such rights.
_________________________
AGREED:
____________________________
_________________________
AGREED:
____________________________
Author
____________________________
Date
____________________________
Whiskey Creek Press LLC
____________________________
Date
____________________________
Start Publishing LLC
____________________________
Date
____________________________
Whiskey Creek Press LLC
____________________________
Date
____________________________
Start Publishing LLC
____________________________
Date
