Magazine question, Highlights, etc.

That means "no" and is one of the reasons I don't submit to Highlights. When they say "all" it really means "all." They own your story forever and ever.

I've always wondered about that. (I know what all-rights means but if you change it a bit but keep the same general story - is that a no no?)

I've heard that you can also ask Highlights about submitting to book publishers , and trying to get your story sold that way as well. But of course they have the final say.

I've been trying to get a credit from Highlights for the past year. All rights or not, it's a good publishing credit to have.

It is a wonderful credit to have. I'm just not willing to give up all rights. But for anyone who is willing, they do pay top dollar and it is a credit sure to get the attention of potential PB publishers.

Good luck, tesspup!

Here is a link to an article by a former Highlights editor:

http://www.kidmagwriters.com/old_reports/highlights.htm

Scroll down and toward the end is her take on the rights issue.

At the last con I attended, the agent I interviewed with said she regularly reads Highlights and other kids mags to look for new authors.

Here is another link. It explains the differences between PB and magazine stories.

http://www.verlakay.com/Pages/index40.html

Thanks for the links, Spike. I had been led to believe that when they purchased all rights it gave them the right to resell your work without further payment to you. That was one of my cheif objections to selling all rights. I don't necessarily intend to resell any of my stories, but I don't like the idea of them being published elsewhere without receiving royalty payments. In light of that article, I may have to rethink my position. Thank You!

ETA--Those were great links. Would you mind adding them to the Tool Kit sticky at the top of the forum?

I know a lady who won the Highlights Fiction Contest a long while back. Eventually Playhouse Disney became interested in her story and contacted Highlights about using it as the basis for one of their short cartoon features. Now, Highlights owned all the rights and could have simply done the deal and kept the money but they did not. The woman said she got a nice paycheck out of the sale to Disney. Ultimately, I don't think she had any choice about whether Disney could use the story -- but she did get paid.

Basically, a story that will sell to Highlights with their few illustrations is not likely to work as a picture book -- but if it should be the case that a pb publisher became interested in the story -- Highlights would negotiate the sale and you would get money for it. It's a long long long long long long shot though because picture books and magazine stories are such different sorts of things.

Folks, I come across this argument a few times each year. The usual indignant line is something like, "I refuse to submit to Highights for Children because they buy all rights."

Okay, principles are fine things. What, really, is the problem here? Is it principles you're protecting? Or is it fear you will never reap reprint fees and that Highlights will instead realize your gains?

I have published many stories in Highlights. Every year I receive something like 5-8 checks from them for various reprints. I just received one last week for $700 for a story they had published years ago. Not only do they share reprint fees, they are able to negotiate higher fees than I would be able to as a result of their publishing clout. Most of the reprint checks I receive are for the same amount as the original sale or more.

The people at Highights are some of the very nicest people I've ever had the pleasure of working with. They have a readership of 3 million. They send me proofs prior to publication to check for errors. They offer to write a press release before each story's publication and will send it to as many newspapers as I request. I've been interviewed on cable TV and had front page articles done on me in the local papers as a result of their press releases. They take me and other authors out to dinner whenever the book convention is in town. They invite me to publishing parties. They treat me with respect. I love writing for Highlights. I've written for othe big time children's publications and I will tell you that no one has treated me better. Not even close.

Their reasoning for maintaining all rights goes like this: we often get requests to reprint stories many many years after original publication. It's usually difficult or impossible to track down authors after such long time lapses. Instead of refusing to grant reprint rights, they buy all rights up front and will grant reprint rights with every intent of finding and paying the author. If they cannot locate the author they place the reprint money in their scholarship fund. My guess is they probably share half the reprint fee in most cases. (Half of what they can negotiate is typically more than all of what a single author can negotiate.) They have offered me a scholarship to attend the famous Chautauqua Workshop.

I don't really know how a book situation would be handled, but my guess is they would be delighted to see one of their authors hit the jackpot. I can't imagine they would hold an author back on such a deal. I once asked what would happen if their publishing arm (Boyds Mills Press) ever were to publish an anthology of my stories and they said they would be sure to involve me in the process.

So, don't write for Highlights if your goal is to take the high moral ground. Go ahead, shoot yourself in the foot.

It's silly.

Jimmer

Jimmer said:

So, don't write for Highlights if your goal is to take the high moral ground. Go ahead, shoot yourself in the foot.

It's silly.

Jimmer

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I'd say that selling all rights is a horrible, foolish idea about 98% of the time. Many magazines do take full advantage of all rights, and teh writer never sees a penny from that story again.

But some magazines are exceptions, and Highlights is one of them. . .but only to a degree.

On the other hand, there's no sane reason for Highlights to buy all rights if they're going to let the writer benefit.

Moral ground has nothing to do with it. Sound busines practices, and not letting any publisher get away with more rights, or a larger share of teh profits than they should have, has everything to do with it.

I'd turn your argument around. If you want to sell all rights, go ahead. But if you want to shoot every other writer out there in a place far more sensitive than the foot, and if you want to encourage the rpactice of magazines buying all rights, go ahead.

True silliness is allowing this practice to continue for the sake of a few measly dollars.

Jamesaritchie said:

and if you want to encourage the rpactice of magazines buying all rights, go ahead.

True silliness is allowing this practice to continue for the sake of a few measly dollars.

Click to expand...

I want to encourage the practice of selling my work, getting my stories in front of millions of readers, and making darn good money for it (at least in children's writing) along the way.

If they were stealing from me I wouldn't do it. Or recommend it. There aren't many decent paying markets in children's writing. There are even fewer who treat their authors with respect. To exclude one of the best for fear of encouraging other magazines to behave badly is bad business.

Your crosshairs are better focused on the magazines who steal, not the ones who share. Perhaps selling all rights to Highlights will encourage other magazines to follow the Highlights formula and share reprint fees with writers, treat them with respect, take them out to dinner, help them with publicity, and welcome submissions from first time writers.

I can understand where both Jimmer and James are coming from.

Maybe it is not simply a fear of being foolish that prevents us from accepting an 'all rights' contract, but also vanity. Don't most of us hope, somewhere along the line, that our stories will become a big best seller?

Personally, the jury is still out for me as far as Highlights is concerned. Although I do think that Jimmer puts forward a sensible argument regarding submitting to them. Taking into consideration that he also has quite extensive experience with this and other mags (yes, I did peek in at your blog) then I find myself moving towards the pro rather than con argument.

I'm basing this on the fact that we all need clips, and good ones (particularly in childrens stories) are not that easy to come by - in fact it is very, very difficult.

Thanks for your input gents!