How Do International Rights Deals Work With John Wiley Sons?

Back when I first negotiated with a big academic/technical publisher I quickly learned that there’s no single, fixed royalty structure — it’s a patchwork based on book type, rights granted, and how much leverage you bring. For mainstream trade or professional books with Wiley, expect tiered print royalties somewhere in the neighborhood of 7.5%–12.5% of the list price or of net receipts for hardcover and slightly lower for paperback. Textbooks and technical manuals often use a net-receipts model: 10%–15% of the net proceeds is a reasonable ballpark, though initial rates can be lower for first-time or niche authors. E-book royalties are different; many publishers pay a percentage of net e‑book revenue (commonly 25%–35% of net), but sometimes it’s a flat split of the publisher’s receipts, so check the language carefully. On top of basic rates, most Wiley-style contracts have escalators — higher percentages once sales hit certain thresholds — and special clauses for subsidiary rights. For subrights (translations, foreign editions, anthologies), the publisher often takes a cut and passes a portion to the author; 50% of net income to the author on foreign or reprint income is common practice in the industry, though numbers vary. Audiobooks, coursepacks, and library licenses may follow their own formulas. Also watch for work-for-hire scenarios: some technical handbooks or corporate-commissioned pieces are paid as a flat fee with little or no ongoing royalty, so you lose resale upside. Practical tips from the trenches: always read the definitions (what is 'net receipts'? what deductions are allowed?), ask for clear accounting and audit rights, negotiate escalators that reward higher sales, and try to reserve reversion terms if sales fall below a threshold. If you care about translations or audio, negotiate those rights separately or secure a better split. If you don’t have an agent, use resources from the Authors Guild or Society of Authors for template clauses and comparable rates. Personally, having someone look over the contract saved me from accepting a net definition that gutted my ebook payments — small changes there can matter for the long tail of sales.

I got my first submission to John Wiley & Sons after a lot of trial-and-error, so I’ll walk you through the practical route that worked for me and a few extra tips I picked up along the way. First, figure out whether you’re trying to submit a book proposal or a journal manuscript — Wiley handles both, but the paths are different. For books you’ll usually start with a proposal: a concise overview, table of contents, sample chapter or two, a clear statement of target audience and market comparison (what other books are similar and why yours is different), and an author bio highlighting your expertise. For journals, you submit the complete manuscript directly to the specific journal’s submission system — most Wiley journals use ScholarOne Manuscripts or Editorial Manager — and you must follow that journal’s formatting and ethics guidelines carefully. When I prepared my book proposal, I emailed an editorial contact listed on the Wiley site and also used the online proposal form where available. Many Wiley imprints have a dedicated submissions page where you can upload a proposal or query an acquisitions editor. Include permissions or note if you need images or third-party material cleared. For journal papers, pick the exact Wiley journal that fits your study, register in the submission system, fill in all metadata (title, abstract, keywords, author affiliations), upload figures and supplementary files, and provide a cover letter — name a few suggested reviewers if the journal allows it, and disclose conflicts of interest. Both routes often require signing online forms for copyright transfer or publishing agreements during acceptance and production. Expect timelines to vary: an acquisitions editor might respond to a book proposal in weeks to months; journal peer review commonly takes a few months but can be faster or slower. Be ready for revision requests — I revised my sample chapter twice before a final go-ahead — and keep all your permissions, CV, and marketing points handy to speed up contract talks. If you’re unsure where to send a book proposal, Wiley’s Author Services and the publisher’s imprint pages list editorial contacts; for journal submissions, go straight to the journal landing page on Wiley Online Library to find the submission link. One last practical tip: tailor every submission to the specific journal or imprint — generic mass emails rarely get traction, but a targeted, well-researched proposal shows you’ve done your homework and helps your manuscript stand out.

When I needed to reuse a chart from a journal article a few years back, I had to wrestle with Wiley’s permissions process and learned the ropes the hard way — in a good way. Wiley centralizes most reuse requests through a permissions portal (often via RightsLink or a similar service), and for open access pieces the reuse terms are usually governed by the Creative Commons license chosen at publication. Practically, that means you should first check the item’s DOI or ISBN and the article or book page on Wiley Online Library to see whether the work is open access and which CC license it uses. If it’s CC BY, you can reuse with attribution; if it’s CC BY-NC or CC BY-NC-ND, commercial uses or adaptations are restricted unless you get extra permission. If the work is not open access, the standard path is to submit a permissions request through Wiley’s online permissions system. When I did this, I had to supply the exact bibliographic details (title, author, DOI/ISBN), the specific excerpt or figure numbers, and a clear description of how I planned to use the material: print or digital, number of copies, language, territory, and whether it was for commercial distribution. Expect them to ask whether the material contains third-party images — Wiley sometimes only has a license to publish something and the original rights might still belong to a photographer or another publisher. That complexity is why I made sure to be very explicit: page numbers, figure captions, and the context of reuse. Response times vary — sometimes a few days, sometimes a couple of weeks — and occasionally there’s a fee depending on the extent and commercial nature of the reuse. A couple of practical tips from my own experience: always keep a copy of the permission confirmation and follow the exact credit line they require (they often give precise wording). If you’re the author of the Wiley-published piece, check your publishing agreement before requesting permission, because the rights you retained (or didn’t) will change what you’re allowed to do. For book chapters, translations, dramatic or film/TV adaptations, or large-scale reproductions you’ll probably need to talk to Wiley’s rights team directly; these deals are often negotiated rather than automated, and terms like exclusive vs. non-exclusive rights, territory, and duration matter. Bottom line — be precise in your request, check for any Creative Commons labels first, and don’t be shy about asking Wiley for clarification; I found their staff helpful once I provided clear details, and it saved me a last-minute scramble before publication.

I’ve negotiated with a handful of big publishers and smaller houses, so when someone asks how to approach John Wiley & Sons I treat it like a professional meeting: do your homework, know your value, and be ready to trade specifics. First, research the exact Wiley imprint you’re talking to — Wiley has lots of specialized lists (textbooks, professional reference, trade, and technical titles), and their expectations and typical contract terms vary a lot. Put together a one-page proposal: hook, target audience, comparable titles, your platform (sales history, social proof, or industry connections), a clear outline, and two sample chapters. That document will be your leverage; it shows you’re serious and makes the acquisitions editor’s job easier. When the contract comes, focus on the mechanics most likely to cost you control or future income: rights, royalties, advances, reversion, subsidiary rights splits, and warranties/indemnities. Ask for specific reversion triggers — not just ‘out of print’ but clear thresholds like sales below X units in Y months or failure to keep the book available in print and ebook for Z months. Try to negotiate better ebook terms and escalators (higher royalty rates after certain sales milestones). For subsidiary rights (translations, audio, film), push for either a more favorable split or the right to approve deals and get accounting detail. Don’t forget audit rights — insist on annual or biennial statements and a reasonable window to conduct an audit at your expense if necessary. Tone and tactics matter: be collaborative, not confrontational. Lead with data — comparable contracts, recent sales figures for similar titles, or firm pre-orders — and explain why certain clauses are important for you (e.g., reversion so you can reissue or self-publish later). If you can, bring a short legal note or have a publishing-savvy lawyer or agent look at the contract: a specialist can spot indemnity language, perpetual rights grabs, or unfair termination clauses faster than most of us. If you aren’t ready for a full traditional deal, consider negotiating a limited-term license (territory or format-limited) or hybrid arrangements (e.g., Wiley takes print and institutional rights, you keep consumer ebook rights). From personal experience, a calm, well-documented negotiation wins more than aggressive haggling — editors respect authors who understand the business and have clear, fair asks. If you want, I can sketch a checklist of clauses to request and sample language that’s usually acceptable to both sides.

Wiley’s approach to open access for books is basically a menu of options rather than a single fixed policy, and I like that flexibility — it fits different kinds of projects and funding situations. For monographs and edited volumes, Wiley offers a true open access route (often called gold open access) where the entire book is published freely on Wiley Online Library under a Creative Commons license. That usually means the author or the author’s funder/institution pays a book processing charge (BPC), though the exact price depends on the title and the list price, so you have to check Wiley’s current fee schedule or ask your editor. In many cases publishers will allow different CC flavors (CC-BY is common for funder compliance, but other CC variants may be possible depending on requirements and negotiations). If you’re an author who can’t or won’t pay a BPC, there are other routes. Wiley allows authors to put preprints on personal or institutional repositories in most cases (posting the accepted manuscript may be subject to an embargo for some book types), and they sometimes permit individual chapters to be made open within an otherwise subscription book. Those chapter-level OA options are handy for edited volumes: a funder can pay for a single chapter, which is then published OA while the rest of the volume remains behind paywall. Institutional transformative agreements — those “read-and-publish” deals many universities make with Wiley — can also cover book OA fees, so check with your library; if your institution has a Wiley deal, it might reduce or eliminate the upfront cost to you. From a reader’s perspective the good part is discoverability and permanence: Wiley puts OA books on Wiley Online Library with DOIs, good metadata, and indexing so they show up in discovery services. For librarians there are COUNTER usage stats and perpetual access terms to consider. Practical tips I’ve learned: read Wiley’s author guidelines early, confirm allowable licenses with your funder, ask your institution about transformative agreements, and always email the Wiley contact listed for your book to negotiate specifics like embargoes or chapter-level OA. I’ve seen projects transformed when a single institutional agreement covered the BPC — it’s worth checking, especially if you’re nursing a grant schedule or trying to meet a funder’s open access mandate.

I still get a little flutter when I hit the submit button — that wait is part of the ritual for me. Broadly speaking, the peer review workflow at John Wiley & Sons journals follows the same backbone you see at most major publishers, but there are some nice details worth knowing. First, your manuscript goes through an initial editorial triage: an editor (sometimes a handling editor or associate editor) checks scope, basic quality, and ethical compliance. Many Wiley journals run plagiarism checks like iThenticate and verify things like conflict-of-interest statements and data availability before sending anything out. If it passes that gate, the manuscript is assigned to reviewers via systems like ScholarOne or Editorial Manager. Typically two or three reviewers are invited; some journals use single-blind review by default (reviewers know the authors, authors don’t know reviewers), but others offer double-blind or even open peer review where identities or reports are published. Reviewers evaluate originality, rigor, clarity, and significance and recommend accept, minor/major revision, or reject. The editor synthesizes those reports and issues a decision. Usually you’ll see revision rounds — authors respond point-by-point, revise, and resubmit — until the editor is satisfied. Once accepted, the paper moves into production: copyediting, proofs, and finally publication. Along the way Wiley supports integrations like ORCID and Publons for reviewer recognition, and many journals abide by COPE guidelines for ethics, so the whole process emphasizes transparency and responsible conduct. For timing, expect anything from a few weeks to several months depending on reviewer availability and revision needs — I’ve been through both quick turnarounds and looong waits, so patience (and a good tea stash) helps.

I get a little thrill every time I see a new Wiley title that would fit a course or a review column—there’s something satisfying about turning a publisher’s product page into a classroom reading list or a thoughtful critique. If you want a review copy from John Wiley & Sons, start by treating it like a polite, professional request: find the exact book page on Wiley’s site (or the distributor page), note the ISBN and publication date, and look for any ‘Request a review copy’ or publicity contact listed. If the book is a textbook, also check for an ‘exam/inspection copy’ link; many academic textbooks have separate processes for instructors versus reviewers. Next, prepare a clear outreach message. Say who you are, where you publish or teach, and be explicit about what you need (PDF, EPUB, printed galley) and when you need it. Publishers want to know the outlet (journal, blog, syllabus, social media channel) and an estimated publication date for your review or course adoption. Include links to recent pieces you’ve written or courses you’ve taught so they can quickly verify your reach. If international shipping is involved, mention your country and whether a digital copy would suffice. I always include the book’s title and ISBN in the subject line—makes it easy for the publicity team to match requests quickly. If you can’t find a direct contact on the book page, use Wiley’s main website contact form and pick ‘marketing/publicity’ or ‘permissions’ as the topic, or call their general office and ask for the publicity department. Be gracious about embargoes or review policies; some titles only allow e-galleys before publication, others send print copies to selected reviewers. Follow up once if you don’t hear back after a week or two, but don’t pester. A short, polite follow-up with an updated link to your outlet usually does the trick. And lastly, keep records: save correspondence, note tracking numbers, and if you promised a review by a date, make good on it—publishers remember reliable reviewers and are more likely to help next time.

I get a little giddy when talking about textbook formats because I’ve spent too many late nights toggling between a Kindle, a browser, and whatever my university’s LMS decided to support that semester. John Wiley & Sons (usually just called Wiley) publishes textbooks in a bunch of digital shapes depending on the title and the sales channel. At the basic level you’ll see standard e-book files — EPUB (reflowable for phones/tablets) and PDF (fixed-layout, great for complex equations and figures). Many Wiley titles are also sold through Amazon as Kindle-friendly formats (AZW/MOBI style delivery), and through major e-textbook retailers like VitalSource or RedShelf which use their own reader apps for offline reading and note syncing. Beyond those file types, Wiley does a lot with web-based readers: the Wiley Online Library hosts HTML5 or web-reader versions of books that support searching, linking, and sometimes embedded multimedia. For course-adopted texts there’s typically WileyPLUS (their integrated learning platform) or a Wiley eText with interactive features — think embedded videos, auto-graded quizzes, adaptive practice, and occasionally interactive figures. Those enhanced eText experiences are usually delivered through a platform rather than as a simple download, and they often come with access codes or institutional licensing when your school adopts the textbook. If you’re looking at library or institutional access, Wiley distributes to aggregators and academic platforms (ProQuest Ebook Central, EBSCO, institutional subscriptions via Wiley Online Library), so the way you access the file may be DRM-protected and tied to your library account. There are also custom options like Wiley Custom Select and coursepacks where chapters are bundled digitally. As a practical tip from someone who’s owned both physical and digital copies: if you need heavy annotation for problem-solving, check whether the e-format supports persistent highlights/notes (Kindle, VitalSource, and Wiley’s platforms usually do). For visual-heavy STEM books, PDFs or the publisher’s web reader often feel the most faithful to the print layout, while EPUB/Kindle is nicer on a commute. If you want something specific — a platform or a title like 'Organic Chemistry' — I can say where I found it and how the formats compared on my phone versus my laptop.