Meso Mystery 

Marjorie Corman Aaron 

This is a two-party, multi-issue negotiation between an author and the acquisitions editor for a publisher. Neither party has a great BATNA; they very much want to reach an agreement. Both parties anticipate the negotiations will involve royalty rates (likely separate rates for print books and e-books) and a possible cash advance to the author, facilitating the earlier completion of the manuscript. For each issue, the parties’ confidential information as to acceptable ranges creates a ZOPA. The distinctive aspect of this simulation is that it’s designed to explore whether multi-issue negotiations are better undertaken with a strategy to offer alternative equivalent packages, to begin with, an initial package that includes favorable anchor points on each issue, or to negotiate each issue separately.

Mesopotamian Mystery: Teaching Note (PDF)

Mesopotamian Mystery: Confidential Information for Acquisitions Editor, People’s Publishing (PDF)

Mesopotamian Mystery: Confidential Information for Author, Professor Daniels (PDF)