SOPP328: A certain publishing house has expressed an interest in publishing one of my compositions

This question was sent by Steve from http://www.organbench.com. And he wrote: Good morning Vidas, Hope all is well with you. Most of my compositions are listed now for sale with Sheet Music Plus Press and Noteflight Marketplace. Under the terms of this arrangement I retain ownership of my compositions and copyrights and can exercise control over listed retail prices and product descriptions. Royalties are at or near half of the retail price, for every copy sold, payable every month or quarterly, by PayPal or written cheque, my choice. Their online catalogs reach 110 countries world wide. A certain publishing house has also expressed an interest in publishing one of my compositions separately, namely, the E Major Op. 17 Communion song. The standard contract from this firm arrived today in duplicate, and, if I sign it, I will be assigning ownership of this piece to this firm. In return I'm to be paid through PayPal just once a year, the standard 10 per cent of the retail cost, which is set by them, for each copy sold. I'm informed that this music will be listed in a future catalog, but due to the large number of contracts they already have, it may be several catalogs before it is published. As you probably already know, they are a much smaller music publisher with a much narrower, focused market, their catalog does not provide the composer with the control to set the retail price for his work himself, and it has no playback feature to allow customers to hear the music they're thinking of buying. Revenues are about 60 per cent higher when online catalogs have this feature. This firm also provides no means to affiliate with my web site either, to provide it with links or search boxes to allow it to help generate sales for them and thereby generate commissions for me. This contract, as worded, is one page, a mere three sentences long, between me and the firm, with no stipulation about what happens to my music or any accrued royalties in the event of my death or the closing of the firm. I may yet change my mind, but as of this moment I don't feel that signing this contract is in the best interests of my music, myself, or my legal heirs. It seems that it leaves too much unanswered, and there are other better alternatives available. Just my feeling. I'd enjoy hearing back from you. Wishing you and Ausra the Very best, Steve