What does boilerplate mean?
The term “boilerplate” refers, in general, to text which remains unchanged from one application to the next. For example, the warranty statement for software products is often boilerplate–it doesn’t change from product to product. The term “boilerplate” is also used to refer to contracts. However, contracts are agreements negotiated between two parties. If a contract really was boilerplate, there would be no negotiation. In that case, you would take whatever contract was offered to you, and you would sign it, because nothing in it would change no matter what you said or did to persuade the publisher otherwise. The reality is that everything is negotiable–every term, every clause, every paragraph. The question isn’t really which paragraphs are boilerplate, but rather, which terms are negotiable and which terms are contract-breakers. Money, schedules, book titles, translation rights and some other subsidiary rights–those are generally negotiable. The terms that are not as negotiable–
