Why Publishing Still Treats Authors Like Vendors Instead of Partners
By Matt Lhoumeau, CEO of Concord
Fifteen years ago, I spent six miserable months digging through filing cabinets for contracts at a $6 billion telecom company. I was building an Excel spreadsheet with 52 columns and 500 rows, tracking all these vendor agreements that we needed to renegotiate. What struck me wasn’t just the inefficiency—it was the complete disconnect between these contracts and the actual business relationships they were supposed to govern.
Today, I see the exact same problem in publishing. Authors are creating the very intellectual property that drives the entire industry, yet most publishers still manage their author relationships with the same antiquated contract management software approaches they used decades ago. The result? A system that treats authors like vendors rather than the creative partners they actually are.
The publishing industry’s contract problem runs deeper than inefficiency—it’s fundamentally changing the author-publisher relationship in ways that hurt both sides. When contract compliance management software isn’t properly implemented, critical details get lost, rights revert without notice, and opportunities for both authors and publishers disappear into administrative black holes.
The Publishing Industry’s Contract Chaos
Walk into any publishing house, and you’ll find the same scenario I encountered in that telecom company: contracts scattered across filing cabinets, Excel spreadsheets tracking critical dates, and overworked staff manually managing hundreds of complex agreements. The only difference is that instead of telecommunications equipment, they’re managing the creative output of human beings—and the stakes are arguably much higher.
A single successful author might have dozens of separate agreements with a publisher: the main publishing contract, subsidiary rights for foreign translations, audiobook licensing deals, excerpt permissions for magazines, merchandising agreements, and option contracts for future works. Each contract has different terms, different royalty structures, different reversion clauses, and different renewal dates.
Yet most publishers are still managing these relationships the way I was managing vendor contracts in 2009: manually, with a prayer that nothing falls through the cracks.
The problem is compounded by the unique nature of publishing contracts. Unlike standard business agreements that follow predictable patterns, author contracts are highly individualized. Every deal reflects the author’s career stage, genre, and negotiating position. A debut novelist’s contract looks completely different from a bestselling author’s agreement, even from the same publisher.
When these contracts aren’t properly managed, the consequences ripple through the entire publishing ecosystem. Authors miss out on royalty payments because renewals weren’t tracked. Publishers lose valuable subsidiary rights because reversion dates weren’t monitored. Foreign publishers struggle to secure translation rights because the licensing terms are buried in inaccessible filing systems.
Why Authors Bear the Brunt of Contract Mismanagement
The current system places an unfair burden on authors to monitor their own contracts. As one publishing attorney notes, “The contract is written in the publisher’s favor, and if you’re not careful, it could lead to headaches down the road that can be avoided before signing.”
But the problem isn’t just unfavorable terms—it’s that authors are expected to track and enforce these complex agreements without the tools or systems that publishers should be providing. Authors find themselves maintaining their own spreadsheets of royalty payment schedules, manually calculating foreign rights percentages, and sending reminder emails about approaching reversion dates.
This puts authors in an impossible position. They want to focus on writing, but they’re forced to become amateur contract managers just to protect their interests. Meanwhile, publishers who should be managing these relationships professionally are often just as overwhelmed by their manual systems.
The Authors Guild has noted that “publishers have cleverly managed to craft ‘out of print’ clauses that make it almost impossible for authors to recapture their rights.” But it’s not just clever drafting—it’s also that the systems for tracking and enforcing these clauses are so antiquated that both sides lose track of what should happen when.
The Hidden Costs of Manual Contract Management
What I learned from my telecom experience—and what I see confirmed in publishing—is that poor contract management doesn’t just create administrative headaches. It fundamentally damages business relationships.
When a publisher misses a royalty payment because the due date wasn’t properly tracked, it’s not just a billing error—it’s a signal to the author that their work isn’t being properly managed. When an author’s rights revert without the publisher realizing it, it’s not just a legal technicality—it’s a lost opportunity for both parties to continue a successful partnership.
The financial impact is significant. Research shows that many hundreds of pounds in royalty money can end up disappearing due to poor contract tracking. But the relationship damage is often worse than the financial loss. In an industry built on long-term partnerships between authors and publishers, trust is everything.
I’ve seen this pattern in other industries: companies that treat their most important relationships like transactional vendor agreements inevitably struggle to build the partnerships that drive long-term success. Publishing is particularly vulnerable to this because the “vendor”—the author—is actually the source of the company’s primary asset: intellectual property.
Contracts as Creative Partnership Frameworks
What the publishing industry needs to understand is that author contracts aren’t just legal documents—they’re the framework for creative partnerships. When these frameworks are properly managed, they enable collaboration, transparency, and mutual success. When they’re poorly managed, they create adversarial relationships that benefit no one.
Modern contract management approaches can transform these relationships. Instead of authors manually tracking their own agreements, publishers could provide real-time visibility into contract status, payment schedules, and rights management. Instead of scrambling to locate subsidiary rights terms when opportunities arise, publishers could have instant access to licensing parameters and approval processes.
This isn’t just about efficiency—it’s about respect. When a publisher demonstrates that they’re managing an author’s contract professionally, it signals that they value the relationship. When authors can see their contract status and payment history in real-time, it builds trust and allows them to focus on what they do best: writing.
The Future of Author-Publisher Relationships
The publishing companies that will thrive in the coming years are those that recognize author contracts as what they really are: the foundation of creative partnerships. When you can manage those partnerships efficiently, track those obligations proactively, and provide visibility into the relationship status, you’re not just eliminating administrative problems—you’re building competitive advantages.
Authors want to work with publishers who treat them like partners, not vendors. They want transparency, professionalism, and systems that support their creative work rather than creating additional administrative burdens. Publishers who provide these things will attract and retain the best authors.
Meanwhile, publishers who continue treating author contracts like vendor agreements will find themselves at a significant disadvantage. In an industry where authors have more options than ever—from traditional publishing to self-publishing to hybrid models—the quality of the business relationship often determines which path authors choose.
I spent six months in those filing cabinets because we had no choice. Publishing companies today do have a choice. The question is whether they’ll make it before their competitors—and their authors—make it for them.
The transformation from vendor management to partnership management isn’t just about better software—it’s about recognizing that in the creative industries, the strength of your relationships is your competitive advantage. And relationships, like great books, require careful attention to thrive.
Matt Lhoumeau is the co-founder and CEO of Concord, a contract management platform used by over 1,500 companies worldwide. Before founding Concord, Matt worked with Nicholas Sarkozy during the 2007 French presidential campaign and later for a major telecom company, where his frustration with manual contract management inspired him to transform how businesses handle agreements.