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Signing a contract is both exciting and terrifying for first-time authors. For those who don’t work in the publishing industry, it’s incredibly difficult to know whether or not a contract is fair for the author. José Pablo Iriarte, author and educator, shares his experience in negotiating publishing contracts. First, he recommends that authors ensure that their agent works for a reputable agency, as it’s often your agent who is negotiating your contracts for you. Trustworthy agents tend to be incredibly fair because the agency has a reputation to maintain. Second, hiring a lawyer to look over a contract is sometimes helpful, but not always necessary. Finally, authors need to be sure that they’re hiring lawyers that know the publishing industry. Publishing contracts are unique in the legal world and the terms don’t always make sense to people who haven’t previously negotiated with a publisher. To hear Iriarte explain each of these ideas in detail, listen to the clip below!