My friend has written two books, hes a complete technophobe (although he managed to write the books - took ten years!) and we've come to an agreement that i will publish the books, take care of websites, marketing, press pictures and promo videos in return for a 50/50 split on cleared royalties.

I'm self employed, well just started out and looking to use my SE company name (well 'trading as' name) as the publisher - just need to create a publishing agreement that would also specify the 50/50 split.

How long would / could i make the agreement last for ? I guess incase of death, it would be handed down, incase of my death, the managing of the accounts (paypal/amazon) will also be handed over to a next of kin. ....

He used to have the books on nospine .com and said he was offered £50k for film rights, could i factor any film rights monies into the contract? Ie this will also be split 50/50.