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That depends on the publishers and your standing with them. Many publishers want a copyright transfer agreement whereas others are fine with exclusive licensing
by jonathanstrange 1y ago
That depends on the publishers and your standing with them. Many publishers want a copyright transfer agreement whereas others are fine with exclusive licensing rights. You can't transfer copyright in some countries (e.g. Germany) but you can in the US.
- favorited 1y agoEven though the US allows copyright assignment, none of the Big Five publishing houses in the US require it as part of a standard book deal, even with first-time authors. If you open any book or ebook to the copyright page, unless it's something like a reference book (which are frequently work-for-hire), it will say some variant of "© Author's Name." Publishers get exclusive print publishing rights for a given market, typically get digital and audio publication rights for the same, and frequently get a handful of other rights like the ability to license it for publication in other markets. But ownership of the work is almost always retained by the author.
- pclmulqdq 1y agoI don't think you should work with a publisher who wants a copyright transfer. It is not part of standard book deals.
- vidarh 1y agoEven exclusive licensing rights very often have limitations to them such as a duration or requirements to keep the license, and people should be vary about working with a publisher who wants exclusive licensing without termination clauses that protects them as well.