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Re: Contract dilemma/We need to know more

Yes, I suppose you're right. I'm used to magazine contracts.
Nancy Stedman

You understand, Nan, that I wasn't taking any shots at you. And I had to really think about responding. Seems like anytime we start discussing rights things heat up. Last time there was almost a flame war.

It took me a long time to understand why most people find the concept of rights confusing, and the specifics really difficult. To me it all seems very simple. But here's a good example: you applied familiarity in one field to another field, and made an error in the process.

Wouldn't matter much, except here at GWL you're recognized as an established writer, who knows these things. Less experienced members then read that, and develop a false notion about what rights are, and what control they do or do not have.

The thing is, with just a passing familiarity with the terms used, rights are very logical. Each statement of rights tells you what it is. For the sake of simplicity, let's confine this conversation to the written word. Photographic and art rights actually are similarly simple. But for the written word, rights group readily into:

-Newspaper rights.
-Serial rights.
-Book rights.
-Other rights.

As noted, "serial" refers to regularly published publications other than newspapers. That's the only confusing word in the group.

So, OK. Let's pick an example: First North American Serial Rights. Within that phrase is everything you have to know. It means that the magazine has bought the right to be the first publication anywhere in North America, to publish the work. That's the only right you have given them. You have retained all other rights.

For those _not_ familiar with them, magazine contracts sometimes modify that further. For instance, a magazine might buy First North American, but in the contract have a clause something like, "author agrees not to republish the work, or to publish a work on the same subject, for a period of six months after it appears in XYZ magazine."

This is another area of confusion when the talk turns to literary rights; that is, the difference between literary rights and contractual terms and conditions. If you agree to that clause, you have contractually obligated yourself. But it is not part of the literary rights issue. There is no literary right, per se, that includes the concept of you limiting usage other than as defined by the rights you have transferred.

In practical terms, buyers want to get as many rights as they can, merely to protect themselves legally. And sellers, naturally, want to limit the rights they transfer, so as to not give up control of the work.

Also in practical terms, you have to, as Bill Shear pointed out,  balance what you will be paid for the work versus the realistic expectation of other uses. If you will never have another use for the work, then it matters not if you give them all rights, or even agree to it being a work for hire. Take the money and run.

On the other hand, if you realistically might have other uses for it, then you either limit the rights you give up, or make sure the payment is big enough to make up the loss of revenue from those other uses.

It's not a right or wrong situation. It's a personal decision about how you want to dispose of your property.


Brook



 
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