Exclusive rights???

Penge said:

Okay, tried this elsewhere on the forum and no luck. So hoping someone here can help.

Exclusivity.

When you get a contract from a publisher who wants exclusive rights to a piece of fiction and for a limited time (let's say two months) what exactly does that mean?

Does it mean:

1) that you can't publish the story anywhere else until it's printed by the publisher with whom you signed the contract, and once the exclusive period is up the rights revert back to you so that you can do what you like with it?

Yes and no. Once you sign the contract, that piece of fiction is off the market for whatever length of time you signed up for IF the time is very specific and there is a reversion-of-rights clause.

2) that you can do what you like with the story, except for that period of exclusivity - meaning you could publish it somewhere else first but it must be free during the period you signed for in the contract so that it is exclusive in that sense?

Once you sign the contract, you cannot do anything else with that piece of work. You agreed to exclusively license the use of the work to the publisher for the time and use specified.

3) that you can't publish the story anywhere else except with the publisher even after the period of exclusivity is up?

If a specific time frame is specified and/or there is a reversion-of-rights clause, once the license is up and rights have reverted back to you, you may resell the piece or do whatever else you wish with it as its creator.

That said, many publishing contracts are not as specific as they should be, using "in print" as a benchmark and not always defining just what "in print" actually means. So you either need a finite length of time for the license, or a clear definition of exactly when you are entitled (usually upon written request; it's seldom automatic) to have rights revert to you.


Also, does exclusivity mean you've signed away first rights?

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