A Question of Rights

[Jens22]

I recently sold a short story to a kids' magazine. They bought all rights. Let's say the story was about a character named Anthropomorphic Alligator.

Do I have the right to use Anthropomorphic Alligator in another story, or did I sign that away?

[James D. Macdonald]

I assume you sold publishing rights, not the copyright.

If you just sold all publishing rights -- they have translation, compilation, serial, dramatic, etc. etc. for that story. If you kept copyright you still can use your own characters in other stories.

I'm not a lawyer. For a real answer, talk to a real lawyer.

[Stephanie]

Right, James. It also depends on whether the character creation was commissioned as part of the work-for-hire. Great article on this here:

http://www.ivanhoffman.com/childrenspublishing.html

[Jens22]

Gah! Looks like I "irrevocably sold, transferred, and assigned" the story and "all rights, title, and interest in and to this material including, but not limited to, the copyright and all renewals and extensions thereof, throughout the world" to the magazine.

Not that I really WANT to write another story about Anthropomorphic Alligator, but my mother really digs the character and keeps hassling me to do more (but I suppose that's a topic for another thread altogether) :)

[Zolah]

Call the switchboard of the magazine, ask for the contracts department, introduce yourself and then ask them. Contracts people hardly ever get to talk to authors themselves, only cranky agents and cranky editors, so, providing you're polite, they can be surprisingly helpful and informative.