Hi... I went with a small publisher and had my book come out this year. I felt I did the marketing required of me, but they don't feel like I lived up to it... Can they sue me for the book returns they are getting from the stores?? I have the TYPICAL STANDARD FIRST TIME BOOK CONTRACT that is presented in most publishing books that people buy... I never said I would market the book forever, nor did I ever say I would spend $1000 per month to market the book... I lived up to what I DID SAY that I would do... This is all in writing (making phone calls to sell the book, attending some conferences, etc etc etc)... So as to HOW MUCH and HOW OFTEN I SHOULD BE MARKETING none of this was in any specific terms... QUESTION can they sue me for book returns and for what they term 'lack of not marketing as much as they would have liked??

Can they sue you? They can try.

Will they win? That is a different story.

It depends on the specific wording of your contract and what marketing you have actually done.

If they do file a law suit against you, you should get an attorney. However, most attorney's give free consultations, so you should use said consultation to get free advice on this issue from a lawyer's point of view.

You know, the problem with publishing, especially POD, self-published and smaller presses- they expect that you will be willing to do a *lot* (read almost all) the marketing. That means joining webforums like myspace.com, visiting dozens and dozens of bookstores, call-in radio shows, mailing bookmarks and post cards to even more book stores, going to speak to any and every interested group who needs a speaker, setting up a table for signing autographs, doing readings, etc. It's a lot of work.

Can they sue? Possibly.

Will they publish another book of yours? Probably Not.

Yes they can sue, depends on how much "work" and "marketing" you did compared to what they believe or what they can show in court is normal or average effort for a new author.

How many book stores did you visit, how many book signings did you do, how many web sites did you set up. How many posts did you make on all sorts of free sites to advertise you book. Did you as mentioned get on any of the local cable channels talking about your book, how about internet or local radio stations.

For example on my wife's last CD release, we have put it on about 40 web areas, and sent out about 200 or so emails to varoius groups, she has attended at least one engagement each weekend for the past six months and at least two others each month during the week. We have had local news articles set up and had her music on a couple of internet radio stations and three or four local market stations around the county.
And this is considered about normal, not above normal.

So can they sue, yes, will they, depends on how much you have shown them you did. Some books just don't market no matter how much work you do.

Now they may have an attorney on staff, so they can sue you with little cost besides court filings. And of course if they sue you, you will have to hire an attorney to represent you. You may hire an attorney to review this and represent you in a settlement with the publishing company.

Can they sue? Of course. Anybody can sue for anything. (Hence the term "frivolous lawsuit.") Will they sue? Well, how much in assets do they think you have? I highly doubt they will sue you to cover the cost of returned books; for one thing, returns are standard practice in the publishing industry, and unless your contract states otherwise, they're going to have a tough time selling the idea that you're responsible for them, given standard practices. It's more likely that they'd just withhold any money they owe you and CLAIM it's because of the returns, which would force YOU to sue THEM if you wanted to get the money you think you are owed. As Chuck and others said, a lot depends on your contract. For the record and for future reference, though, let me tell you that, in my 15 years of working in senior management for a major book publishing firm, the only time I ever saw a contract that called for any marketing efforts from an author was a contract for a book that carried a million-dollar-plus advance, and the marketing requirements of the author were spelled out to the nth degree in the contract ("You will do X number of book signings at the stores or other locations of our choice between X date and X date," etc.).

Yes, in today's society, there are a lot of publishers that are not major labels, and many just print up a mim number of books and the fine print of the contract makes you responsible to pay if they are not sold.

Basically a form of self publishing but they don't require you to pay prior to printing. They advertise it in fluff and hide the facts in a lot of legal words in a contract that they convince new authors to sign..

Not saying this is the case, but I would highly advise that you have a legal expert review the contract