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ART2
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1995-01-08
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Your Right, They are Your Rights!
Your manuscript will NEVER be published if you keep it in the drawer
of your desk. This is probably the one main reason writer's never get
published. It is therefore in your BEST interest as a writer, to
submit it, and keep submitting it until it is sold. Then you can turn
to the next most important thing. That is to get it sold again. If the
manuscript is worth publishing in the first place it is worth
republishing. Most writers forget their material can be sold again
and loose the opportunity to make additional money.
One thing you must remember before you can resell any manuscript is,
you must own the rights to it. If you have previously sold all rights
to a manuscript, it can be republished without your your permission
and without further reimbursement. So when you sell the rights to
your manuscript, be very careful of what rights you are selling to a
publisher.
The following rights are what most publishers and editors are seeking.
FIRST RIGHTS. This is where you sell the right to use the manuscript
for the very first time. You cannot allow any other use of the
manuscript until the purchaser has used it. This may be as long as a
year from the purchase. If it is not published within this year, the
rights revert back to you. Once the buyer has used the manuscript,
you may resell it. First rights, imply that you have sold the material
for one time only, it is best you state this in writing when selling
your manuscript.
SERIAL RIGHTS. This is where you sell the right to publish the
manuscript in a periodical. This is extremely important when dealing
with electronic publishers, you may need to ensure that the serial
rights are included. If you sell first serial rights, you still own,
first book rights. Another right is 'first North American serial
rights'. This is where you sell the right to use the manuscript for
the first time in any periodical located in North America.
ONE-TIME RIGHTS. This is where you sell the right to use the
manuscript one time. This is different from frist rights, in that
selling one-time rights gives the purchaser no guarantee of being the
first to publish the manuscript. One-time rights often applies to
photo or graphical material, but can be applied to manuscripts.
ALL-RIGHTS. This is where the buyer may use the manuscript however and
as many times as they please, without further reimbursement. When you
sell ALL RIGHTS, you are giving up ownership to the manuscript. If you
sell all rights you should read the copyright laws thoroughly.
REPRINT RIGHTS: This is where you sell the right to publish a
previously published manuscript. This is sometimes referred to as
second rights or first reprint rights. It indicates to the buyer that
no one else may use it before he does.
SIMULTANEOUS RIGHTS. This is where you sell the manuscript to more
than one buyer. You might do this to a newpaper where they do not
overlap circulation. All parties should be aware of the simultaneous
submission and possible publishing.
Remember you should always give as much thought to the rights you do
not want to sell as those you do. Never take it for granted that a
particular right is not included in a sale. Clarify those rights you
are selling and protect those you are not.
Don't limit yourself to the terms explained here and if you are in
doubt as to what rights you have always contact the Copyright Office.
They will explain the latest changes and the way these changes affect
you and your writing.
One last thing, when selling to an electronic publication, you must
remember the say laws apply across the platform. So those rights that
are yours to sell should be carefully sold to any publisher no matter
what platform is used for publishing your manuscript.
-----[ Electronic Publisher's, Editor's and Writer's Group ]-----