Publishing rights

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ishtar'sgate

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My novel has had a nice run with my small publisher but with the information I have at hand, it's run its course and publishing rights should now revert back to me. However, I'm having difficulty in getting them to confirm this. As I cannot personally walk into the publishing office (much too far away) how on earth can I find out if I have the right to go ahead and do what I like with it? I considered giving them a written time limit in which to reply and then tell them that failing a response I will assume my rights are returned to me. Can I do that?
 

WeaselFire

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Read your contract. If not specified, the rights are theirs until they relinquish them.

Jeff
 

ishtar'sgate

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Yes, I know. The contract specifies that after a certain number of years of inactivity that they relinquish those rights. The problem is I can't get them to confirm whether or not we've reached that stage.
 

Stacia Kane

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Email them telling them that as the contract term has now expired you want written confirmation that rights have returned to you (I know you've done this. Keep reading). If there's a physical address, send a registered letter.

Keep emailing.

Email every day.

Be polite, be nice--there's no need, and it's counterproductive, to sound angry or upset or make legal threats or whatever--but make it clear that you want that written confirmation and will continue making your request until you have it.

Give that a couple of weeks and see where you are then, and if you've gotten nowhere then you may need to seek the advice of an attorney.
 

ishtar'sgate

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Thank you Stacia. I'll take your advice. I'm not angry, just a little exasperated. I have no definite plans for the novel right now as I'm pretty much fully immersed in my WIP. I simply want to know where I stand so that if and when I decide I might want to do something with it I can.
Thanks again.
 

CAWriter

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All is well. They got back to me. Guess the old thing is still selling so I can forget about it for the time being.

Do you have any evidence of this? Have you received any kind of accounting from them showing it's selling? Does your contract specify a certain number of sales below which it's considered "out of print?" You might want to get more information from them so you know when you can pester them about rights again.

My first book was with a significant publisher who is/was notoriously bad about reverting rights even when it had been unavailable for years (before the advent of e-books). Even my agent couldn't get them to take care of it. It was suggested to send them a certified letter explaining that since the book was declared 'out of print' and more than a year had passed since the book was available through them (no one could successfully order), that we considered the rights reverted, per our contract, unless we had evidence of sales activity within 30 days from receipt of letter. This publisher basically let rights languish until you took them back.

In my most recent contract there was initially a clause that said we'd get no royalty report unless we were due XX sum of money (because they won't send checks for less than $XX). We got that amended to read we'd get a royalty report regardless of whether funds were due or not. It's one way of continuing to track sales when they've slowed.
 

ishtar'sgate

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Do you have any evidence of this? Have you received any kind of accounting from them showing it's selling? Does your contract specify a certain number of sales below which it's considered "out of print?" You might want to get more information from them so you know when you can pester them about rights again.

Yes, I do. After our house burned down, (it's okay, I'm over it) we moved a few times before finally buying a place and they didn't have my current address. Hence, no statements. This afternoon they sent me a pdf of the last 2 years' royalty statements and although the sales are pretty meagre now after 8 years in print, it's still selling.
 

dangerousbill

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Email them telling them that as the contract term has now expired you want written confirmation that rights have returned to you (I know you've done this. Keep reading). If there's a physical address, send a registered letter.

Use the phone. Emails come in by the hundreds and are easily pushed to the back to get on with money-making work. Get the guy/gal on the phone and ask for an answer right then. If he doesn't have the information at hand, tell him you'll phone back the next day.

Have they responded to you at all? If not, keep in mind, some small publishers consist of a room in someone's basement, and people go on vacation or just lose interest in the business. Check with the publisher's state's department of commerce website to make sure the publisher is still in business and the site declares them 'in good standing', meaning they're still delivering annual reports to the state.

For instance, a publisher in my state (Arizona) would be found at:
http://starpas.azcc.gov/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=wsbroker1/connect.p?app=names-report.p
 
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