The following draft Bill of Rights was prepared for the second Writers Group Summit. It is not by any means a final version, and is posted here for comment. The Writers Group Summit is a series of informal roundtable discussions hosted by Romance Writers of America . Inc. Two summit meetings were held in 2000. The right to capable editing and the right to review copyedited manuscripts and page proofs in a timely manner, and the final say on all changes.
Authors have the right to full and complete information about the publication of their books.
Royalty statements should include publication date, number in print, number shipped, current sales, cumulative sales by units, cumulative sales by type of sale, amount in reserve, reserve released, and number of returns. Complete Reconciliation to Print should be provided upon request and upon termination of the contract. All subrights contracts shall be available to the author upon request. Works shall not be basket accounted. If a book does not earn out its advance, the author shall not be responsible for repaying the balance.