Tag: copyright

Business Musings: Long-Term Thinking: Rights Reversions (Contracts/Dealbreakers)

Kristine Kathryn Rusch6 Comments on Business Musings: Long-Term Thinking: Rights Reversions (Contracts/Dealbreakers)

Slowly, traditional publishers have realized that backlist titles are worth a lot of money. As I wrote recently, traditional publishers are slowly figuring out that they are no longer in the manufacturing business, they’re in the rights business.

So they’re buying—and holding—rights. Years ago, when I got angry at a publisher for their misbehavior, I offered to buy back the rights to one of my books. It caught that publisher flat-footed. No writer had ever done that, and the publisher had no idea how to estimate the books’ value to the company.

Now, I’m hearing from more and more writers that their publishers insist on the writers paying to get rights reverted.

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Business Musings: Prince, Estates, and The Future (Contracts/Dealbreakers/Estates)

Kristine Kathryn Rusch22 Comments on Business Musings: Prince, Estates, and The Future (Contracts/Dealbreakers/Estates)

Last week, the death of Prince hit me hard. I was in the middle of teaching the Romance Workshop, here on the Oregon Coast, and working my tail off. A satellite radio station that I always listen to had breaking news—something they never do (which is why I listen to them)—that I could barely hear. […]

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Business Musings: Know Your Rights (Contracts/Dealbreakers)

Kristine Kathryn Rusch11 Comments on Business Musings: Know Your Rights (Contracts/Dealbreakers)

I recently got an email that sent a chill through me. It was a newsletter from a traditional publishing organization. This organization is geared toward publishers and editors, not toward writers. The newsletter was essentially an ad for an upcoming seminar that will teach publishers to understand intellectual property and expand their rights business. Why […]

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Business Musings: Introductory Remarks (Dealbreakers/Contracts)

Kristine Kathryn Rusch25 Comments on Business Musings: Introductory Remarks (Dealbreakers/Contracts)

I have come to the point where I can’t ignore the contractual changes in the industry any longer. The topic has become so large that I will probably end up with two books out of it: The revised Dealbreakers, and a book on contracts. When I start discussing contracts, most indie writers tune out. But they shouldn’t. Indie writers sign contracts all the time. Some are for foreign editions. Some are for short fiction. Some are with their cover designer. Some disguise themselves as terms of service.

Not everything I write here will apply to the indie writer, but much of it will.

Remember: the more you understand about this business, the better off you will be. And the harder it will be to take you off-guard….

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Business Musings: Burning Bridges (The Freelance Scramble Part 5)

Kristine Kathryn Rusch12 Comments on Business Musings: Burning Bridges (The Freelance Scramble Part 5)

A freelance writer needs to be an artist and a businessperson. Sometimes those roles conflict. And sometimes we get put into truly uncomfortable situations. The most uncomfortable situations occur when we have to take drastic action on the business side, action that might have an impact on the creative side. In the old days, before […]

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The Business Rusch: We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know

Kristine Kathryn Rusch37 Comments on The Business Rusch: We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know

I had a lot of marvelous, thoughtful comments on last week’s blog. I didn’t respond, in part because I was extremely busy this past week, but mostly because I would have been expressing my opinion on the commenter’s life and career choices. I try not to do that, particularly in public. We’re all different, and […]

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