Book contracts can feel like a lot of fine print at the exact moment you’re supposed to be celebrating that your book is (finally) getting published. 🎉
But those pages determine important things: How are royalties calculated? Which rights are you granting your publisher? What happens with translations or other editions? Who handles permissions? How might open access affect the agreement? What are you responsible for as the author? And what is negotiable in all of this?
On October 14, 2026, we’re demystifying the scholarly book contract as part of the Ideas on Fire Publishing Series.
Our goal? To help authors better understand what they’re signing, what questions to ask, what they can negotiate, and how contracts fit into the larger scholarly publishing process.
Understanding Book Contracts, Royalties, and Rights brings together acquisitions editors and publishing professionals to explain key contract terms and help authors better understand the agreements that shape the life of their books.
📅 October 14, 2026, 12–1 pm Eastern
💻 Zoom
🎟️ Free
♿ Captioned + recorded; the recording will be sent to registrants afterward
🔗 Register
Speakers
Tara Cyphers, Assistant Director and Acquisitions Editor, Ohio State University Press
Tara Cyphers is the assistant director of the Ohio State University Press and has been in the publishing industry for 20 years.
With current roles acquiring rhetoric/communications scholarship; overseeing the editorial/production departments; and advising on business/finance issues (and past stints as a journals manager and textbook editor), she enjoys learning, talking, and sharing about all-things publishing.
She just finished service on the Board of Directors for the Association of University Presses (2023–2026).
Caitlin Tyler-Richards, Acquisitions Editor, University of Washington Press
Caitlin Tyler-Richards is an acquisitions editor at the University of Washington Press, where she handles projects in anthropology; Asian studies; Native American and Indigenous studies; and women, gender, and sexuality studies.
She received graduate training in African history from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, which continues to inform her interest in methodologically capacious scholarship that takes seriously marginalized peoples’ experiences and worldviews.
Prior to joining UW Press, she was an editor at Michigan State University Press.
Cathy Hannabach, CEO, Ideas on Fire
Cathy Hannabach is the founder and CEO of Ideas on Fire, where she helps interdisciplinary academics transform vibrant ideas into powerful books and public projects that can spark meaningful social change.
Cathy’s vision for the future of publishing centers on creating pathways for interdisciplinary, community-grounded intellectual exchange that can drive real-world change.
Through her strategic approach to “editing as worldmaking,” Cathy helps scholars navigate the evolving landscape of scholarly communications, where traditional publishing models are being challenged and reimagined.
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