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Understand The Rights You're Giving Up
Author: Alyice Edrich
Understanding the rights you give away to publishers—whether magazines, websites, or prints—can be tricky. Not only is it important to have a basic understanding of what each term means, it’s vital that you read each contract to make sure the terms are to your benefit because terms can be twisted to benefit the publisher and not the writer.
It’s always beneficial to speak with an agent or publication lawyer to make sure you truly understand what you’re reading, before signing any contract. Keep in mind that words prior to the terms listed below can also determine who gets what rights so read your contracts carefully.
That being said, let’s define some of the basic copyright terms:
All Rights
All Rights means the copyright to your material, as it currently appears, belongs to the person or company that paid for the material you wrote. The buyer can do anything he/she pleases with the material without further compensation to you. You cannot resell the material unless you completely rewrite the material so that the modified version appears completely different from the original.Work For Hire
Work For Hire means the copyright to your material belongs to the person or company that paid for the material you wrote and you cannot write even a modified version of that material. And depending on your contract terms, the research done to write the original material may or may not be used in other works written by you.First Rights
First Rights means the publication has the right to be the first to publish your original material. First rights means that you still own the copyright, but you have temporarily leased your copyright to the publication and cannot sell reprints until your contract terms have been met—which usually means until that publication has published the material. Keep in mind that some publications will request, in writing, that you not sell reprint rights until XX days after the material has appeared in print.
There are also various forms of First Rights:- First North American rights means the publication is the first to publish the material in North America.
- First European rights means the publication is the first to publish the material e in Europe.
- First Electronic rights means the publication is the first to publish the material in electronic form, such as the Internet.
- First Print rights means the publication is the first to publish the material in print.
- First Anthology rights means the publication is the first to publish your work in an anthology.
- First Audio rights means the publication is the first to publish your work via audio format.
- And so on.
One-Time Rights
One-Time Rights means the publication has purchased the right to print your material one time, but you have not given up your right to sell the same material to another publication at the same time. Most publications do not buy one-time rights because they want to be the first to publish your material, unless they are buying one-time reprint rights.Second Rights
Second Rights means the publication is purchasing the rights to publish your material in another publication. Sometimes a publication owns more than publishing house or more than one magazine. The publication may purchase first rights for the main publication, then second rights for a subsidiary publication.Excerpt Rights
Excerpt Rights means the publication has purchased the right to print excerpts of your material in other publications.Exclusive Rights
Exclusive Rights means the publication has purchased the rights to be the only publication to print your material. The only time you should sell exclusivity rights is when there is a limited time period in place: one week, one month, 6 months, or a year, because you cannot sell reprints to this piece until the exclusivity period has ended. And if you leave the exclusivity period open, you’ll never be able to sell reprints.Non-exclusive Rights
Non-exclusive Rights means the publication has purchased the rights to print your material, but you have the right to seek publication elsewhere and unless given a time period in which you cannot sell reprints, you should be able to begin selling reprints immediately.Electronic Rights
Electronic Rights means the publication has purchased the rights to distribute your material in electronic form. It’s important that you spell out what “electronic form” means. If you don’t, you could be giving away all electronic rights; meaning the publication could print and distribute your material through all electronic means: CD-Roms, databases, downloads, DVDs, emails, e-zines, websites, and so forth.Promotional Rights
Promotional Rights means the publication has purchased the rights to use your material in any promotional material: advertisements, media announcements, back cover testimonies, etc.Reprint Rights
Reprint Rights means the publication has purchased the right to publish your material after it has already appeared in another publication. Some publications call reprint rights, “second rights”.Rights Beware!
Every term can be twisted to benefit the publisher and not the writer. For instance:Second Rights
Some publications, may interpret second rights to mean that the publication has bought the rights to sell reprints of your material to other publications without further compensation to you.Exclusive Rights
Some publications have been know to word this phrase in such a way as to imply that the publisher has the non-exclusive right to sell reprints of your material, in any medium deemed appropriate, without further compensation to you.
The key is to not be in such a hurry to sign a contract. Take your time to understand what you’re signing, because “Ignorance is NOT bliss” and it can bit you in the butt! And should you make a mistake and sign a contract giving away rights you thought you were actually keeping, don’t beat yourself up. Once the contract is signed, it’s hard to break it. Take out your Word® document “Contract Checklist” and add your current blooper to the list of things you must double check before signing your next contract.
For reprint rights, comments, and/or questions about this article, please contact the author directly. It cannot be re-printed, or used elsewhere, without permission.
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