Well, Well, Well.
It appears that Random House has blinked.
The contracts for Hydra, Alibi, Loveswept, and Flirt will now come in the writer’s choice of versions, one of them the previous “profit-sharing” arrangement, and the other a traditional advance-plus-royalties deal.
Which means that there’s even less excuse, now, for a writer to sign the unconscionable version.
This is great. I wonder what made them change it – whether no one was signing it or they were under so much pressure for offering unfair terms?
I think that having SFWA, MWA, and RWA all weighing in on the “this is a bad contract” side, and having a couple of major news outlets (like the Guardian) pick it up, may have had something to do with it.