Every business relationship is built around a written contract. For the beginner, this can be a difficult concept to grasp. After all, most people view contracts with distrust — we remind ourselves to “read the fine print,” for example, when signing up for a credit card. Often, we tell ourselves, companies hide things in contracts that they use to their advantage later. So it's difficult to be on the other side of the table — the one asking someone else to sign on the dotted line.

Difficult as it may be, it is completely necessary — and expected. Once you start doing business with a client or publisher, they will not be offended when you offer to deliver a contract. It's not a sign of mistrust. A contract is simply a way that two entities in a business relationship explain their expectations.

Drafting the Contract

Your contract does not necessarily have to be a multipage document written in incomprehensible legal jargon. In many cases, you can draft your own contract or use one from the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook. However, if you have any doubt as to the quality of the contract, don't hesitate to hire a lawyer. The expense is worth it — not only in terms of the protection, but for peace of mind as well.

First-Time Rights and One-Time Rights

It is vital for you to identify the rights a publisher or client has in reproducing your work. If the contract leaves this area undefined, the publisher may have the freedom to reproduce your cartoons many more times and in many more ways. For example, if your contract doesn't limit a publisher's reproduction rights, the publisher may print your cartoon in subsequent editions of the publication as well as on coffee mugs, Web sites, and any other medium — making money licensing your work.

Therefore, your contract should always stipulate that the publisher has either one-time rights or first-time rights in reproducing your work. A publisher with one-time rights is limited to reproducing your work one time. For a magazine publisher, that “one time” could actually represent a million copies, but the cartoon would be protected from appearing in future issues of the magazine.

A publisher signing a contract specifying first-time rights is paying for a cartoon that has not been published anywhere before. You can negotiate a higher price for first-time rights. However, if you're sending the same samples to different prospective publishers, be sure to keep accurate records so you don't mistakenly offer the same first-time rights to two different publishers.

In some cases, the publisher will have a standard contract that will guide the business relationship. Read the contract very carefully before signing it and pay attention to phrases such as “all electronic rights” or “all rights in the media now in existence or invented in the future in perpetuity.” It is poor practice to sign away all your rights to an original cartoon. If the publisher insists on buying rights that extend beyond a one-time use, you are entitled to negotiate a higher price.

Royalty Agreement

A royalty is a percentage of the price of the item that is paid to the artist, based on how many units were sold. If your cartoons are used as a central selling point of an item, you're entitled to request royalties. A book that collects several months of your daily single-panel comic, for example, would be merchandise on which you could negotiate royalties.

Reprint Rights and Original Art

Keep in mind that in offering reproduction rights to a publisher, you retain the original art to do with as you wish. Future reproductions will be dictated by the contract you signed. If it was a one-time or first-time contract, you can offer reprint rights to another publisher (at a lower price, of course). Regardless of the contract, you can reproduce the image in any self-promotional material. Finally, you retain the right to sell the original art.