"Barbara was our guardian angel through our book signing process. Legal contracts can be very scary, but Barbara made it easy for us to understand and explained our book contract line by line. She clarified all the legal jargon and gave us valuable advice during the negotiation phase. If you have a contract and are afraid to sign on the dotted line, you need to call Barbara for your free introductory consultation. Our decision to use her services was well worth every penny. She is helpful, genuine, sincere, down to earth, and most of all, experienced. We benefited greatly from her experience and highly recommend her services."

- Yvette Marquez-Sharpnack, Veronica Gonzalez-Smith, and Vangie Soza, authors of Muy Bueno— Three-Generations of Authentic Mexican Flavor, (to be published by Hippocrene Books in October 2012)
 

"Praise is all we have for Barbara and her work. Finding her services online was a godsend for us as we were trying to figure out the book contract we had from a publisher in Spain. As soon as I got in touch with her, I knew we had made the right decision to go with her expertise. What we liked the most about her is that she is a writer herself with extensive knowledge of book contracts.

"She explained everything we didn't understand, and her suggestions for changes in plain English that anyone could understand made the already nerve-racking situation less painful. Thanks to Barbara, we felt completely confident during the renegotiation process and actually got the publisher to agree to all the changes she suggested!"

 - Roxana Soto and Ana Flores, authors of Spanglish Baby—Raising Bilingual Kids, (to be published by Bilingual Readers, Madrid)

"Barbara: I want you to know how very valuable your services were to me in negotiating a contract with New Harbinger. This was my first experience dealing with a publisher's contract and I was totally overwhelmed by the complexity of the document, and especially the 'legaleze' that it contained. You saved the day with your specific instructions on what to ask for and how to ask for it.

"I followed your advice about how to negotiate without being aggressive or alienating the publisher, even using the exact words that you gave me to say to them, which I am sure helped to establish a very positive tone with them. To my delight, and largely because of my approach and tone, the publisher was very willing to make changes that I would not have even thought to ask for had it not been for you.

"Your advice made all the difference in my getting an advance when none had been initially offered, and in getting higher royalties and a larger discount on purchasing books for resale. Thanks to you I also requested and received many more free books than originally offered, as well as a change in a clause that now gives me negotiating rights on revisions.

"Thanks, too, for all the other info, including the books and websites that you referred me to for the current project as well as for future reference. Your expertise was matched by your warm and friendly manner, by the time you took to carefully review the contract and discuss it with me, and by your enthusiasm and support. You were a Godsend and I will never forget how working with you made the whole process of getting my book published so much easier and more profitable for me than I could have imagined."

Sherrie Vavrichek, author of Compassionate Assertiveness (to be published by New Harbinger), and The Hair Pulling "Habit" (Writers Coop. of Greater Wash.)

"As new authors just picked up by a publisher in the UK, we were a bit daunted by their contract. We were in need of someone knowledgeable in the legal, literary world that would also be reasonable in cost. Only asking for a small miracle, we went searching on the Internet. The search can be frustrating as one finds a potpourri of people and hidden sales ploys, but in Barbara's free ten-minute phone call, she put our minds at ease. It was refreshing.

"She had no agenda, other than to be helpful. Her response time was very quick. Her review of our contract was detailed and most informative. She also took the initiative to explain why we might want to self-publish our book and sent us more information and links to further our education.

"After studying and reviewing, we had our follow-up telephone call that was almost an hour in length. At no time were we rushed, and Barbara truly had our best interests in mind. We were able to continue with our negotiations, getting more that we expected. Thanks to her knowledge and guidance, we were paid for our cover art, obtained higher discounts on case lots for resale, and were able to include several other clauses in the contract that will be to our benefit. Barbara's fee was just as advertised, with no hidden costs. It was the best money spent. We have already recommended her to a friend and think that any new author would benefit from her services."

Suzette Hodnett, co-author of Home Massage, Transforming Family Life Through the Healing Power of Touch with Jackie Sloan, co-founder of Touch Communications Home Massage and contributor to the book (to be published by Findhorn Press in Scotland).

"After writing my first 'real' book on public speaking, and being offered a contract from a 'real' publisher, I took advantage of Barbara’s Author-Publisher Contract Consulting Service. She gave me great advice on the contract Wiley offered me and helped me talk with them from a position of strength and knowledge. Based on her feedback and the subsequent response I gave them, they offered me an advance which wasn’t in the original contract, and increased the royalties for the electronic versions to be the same as the royalties for the hardback copies. They also removed a clause that gave them right of first refusal on my next book, as I didn’t want to be tied down to them if things didn’t work out well.

"I highly recommend Barbara’s services to writers, not only because of her experience in writing and working with publishers, but the fact that she centered her advice around my personal goals with respect to my book, rather than giving me a boilerplate response."

– John Davis, author of Statistics for Compensation: A Practical Guide to Compensation Analysis (John Wiley & Sons, 2011)

"In using Barbara’s Author-Publisher Book Contract Consulting Service, I found her advice to be extremely helpful. As a first-time author unfamiliar with customary terms, conditions, and practices in the publishing industry, I benefitted greatly from her experience and wise counsel."

- Roger Dooley, author of Brainfluence—100 Fast, Easy, and Inexpensive Ways to Persuade and Convince (John Wiley & Sons, 2011).