Battle Brewing Out of Print Book Rights
According to Publisher’s Weekly last Tuesday the Authors Guild sent a warning to it’s members about a change publisher Simon and Schuster is making in its contracts with authors. The warning spelled out the fact that S and S would control books even after they were out of print because they would retain them in their electronic database.
This would mean that even when S and S stopped printing the book the author couldn’t self-publish or sell it to another house. The Author’s Guild suggested author’s might want to eliminate S and S as a possible publisher because of this.
On Wednesday, PW published another article indicating that literary agents were objecting to the change in rules. Today, PW pointed to a letter from S and S defending its position.
I’m with the Authors Guild and the agents on this one and I wouldn’t sign such a contract. If a publishing house isn’t actively marketing a book of mine, I want to get the rights back so I can market it – locking it up in a database and claiming to be promoting the book is just nuts.
What does this mean to you? If you’re thinking of selling a book to a publisher, or if you’re in active negotiations, make sure you understand what happens to your book when it goes out of print or fails to sell a specified number of copies. If you don’t like the provision, negotiate!
Publishers will often tell you they are giving you their “standard contract.” No such thing – every single thing in a book contract is negotiable –and it’s up to you to protect yourself. Sure, you might not get everything you want, but it’s fine to ask. And if you don’t like the answer, you don’t have sign.
Write well and often,
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