Short-story agreement ended over pricing and audit terms

Agreement ended — core terms could not be aligned

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Author · What happened
Agreement ended — core terms could not be aligned

How it began

An author brought us a short-story collection that we liked. Over several weeks, we helped with the cover, biography, format, and publication plan. The written terms allowed him to keep copyright and non-exclusive print rights, proposed a roughly one-year digital trial, and set an 80/20 split on book sales plus 50/50 on sponsorship we arranged. He accepted those terms.

The revised proposal

Near publication, he proposed different prices for Sri Lankan and overseas readers, monthly statements, a fixed payment schedule, wire-fee rules, audit rights, and a separate signed agreement. We regarded this as a materially different deal rather than a minor adjustment.

Our decision

AngryPages uses one global price for the same digital product. We also concluded that the requested reporting and audit structure was not commercially workable for one title. The author ended the negotiation, revoked permission to use the manuscript, and asked us to delete his files and account within 48 hours. We confirmed deletion the same day. Core pricing and commercial terms must align before publication.

Timeline

25 June 2026 — initial application. 28 June 2026 — sample reviewed positively. 5 July 2026 — pricing disagreement surfaced. 14 July 2026 — original terms confirmed in writing. 3 August 2026 — revised terms received. 4 August 2026 — files and account deleted at the author's request.

Decided 4 Aug 2026