Questions from 1.4 and 1.9

 A. 

1. My goal is to obtain the highest overall score for Bestbooks using their negotiation scoring system.  This means lower royalties,  low contract signing bonus, and zero to no advance while pushing for high numbers of print runs for the book, more number of weeks Paige has to promote the book, higher number of books, more countries where the book will be distributed, and more book clubs that would adopt the book.

2. The issues are mentioned above. We earn more points from low royalties, contract signing bonus, and advance. High number of prints, amount of weeks Paige promotes the book, number of countries book is distributed, and number of bookclubs adopting Paige's book are favorable to Bestbooks.


3. Most important issues are getting a high number of bookclubs to adopt the book, negotiating whether advance is necessary, and paying a lower percentage for royalties. 

4. Our scoring list provides all the BATNAs. If we aren't able to reach an agreement on issues that would give Bestbooks the highest score, then we would have to settle for one of the alternatives listed on the score sheet with a lower score value. 

5. My resistance points are the middle score of the five alternatives listed on the success table. This means 10% royalties, 15,000 dollar contract signing bonus, 3 print runs, 25 weeks of book promotion, 4 books, $5,000 advance, 10 countries, and 3 bookclubs.


B.

1. The issues that are most important to Paige Turner are the same issues that are most important to Bestbooks, however their goal is opposite. She wants a high advance, high royalties, and a high contract signing bonus.

2. Paige's BATNA is finding another publisher to sign with. It is not in our best interest to lose her to another publisher.

3. I would hope that Paige's RP would be similar to ours, and that she would be happy with negotiating a deal that falls within the middle scores of our success table. Sinve she is the nation's best-selling author, I feel that this won't be the case. She would probably demand more for her popularity.

4. My target is to achieve the second best options in 5 out of 8 of the issues.


C. 

1. We will have 60 minutes to negotiate, and we must come to an agreement within that time or I could potentially lose my job like the last person in my position. Bestbooks is more impatient since Paige has a variety of publishers she could decide to sign with.

2. It would be considered an insult to not offer Paige Turner a contract signing bonus. Given her success, it would be fair to offer her a bonus slightly higher than the middle score within the success table. This may provide leverage in negotiating dropping the advance.

3. I would prefer to not discuss the advance. If it comes up, I would question why Paige feels like an advance is appropriate.  Then, I would explain to her agent that if we are offering her a generous signing bonus then an advance doesn't make sense.


D.

1. This is a one time negotiation, so consequences of using a negotiation tactic would MOST LIKELY not backfire, since we will not negotiate this issue after then 60 minutes.

2. Paige Turner is acting in their best interest and Bestbooks is acting in theirs. We know she is a national best-selling author who abhors the business aspect of the literary world. Many authors have been acting like professional athletes by treating publishers like sports teams who play for the highest bidder.  While trust in a negotiation typically yields the best results, it would be difficult to trust Paige.  I would like to think that Bestbooks is trustworthy towards Paige, but we also have our own agenda and she dislikes dealing with publishers. Trust will be low between parties for this negotiation. 

3. She is already requesting an advance which Bestbooks doesn't understand the meaning of. She may be entitled or a hard-ball negotiator.

4. The author can only abide by the rules laid out in our contract or we the agreement would be broken and we could drop her from our publishing firm. 



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