Selling Rights

by Lynette Owen

Overview

Now in its ninth edition, Selling Rights has firmly established itself as the leading guide to all aspects of rights sales and co-publications throughout the world.

Covering the full range of potential rights, from English-language territorial rights through to serial rights, permissions, rights for the reading-impaired, translation rights, dramatization and documentary rights, electronic and multimedia rights, this book constitutes a comprehensive introduction and companion to the topic. Besides individual types of rights, topics covered also include book fairs, Open Access, the ongoing impact of new electronic hardware, and the rights implications of acquisitions, mergers and, disposals.

This fully updated edition includes:

• New IP legislation and proposed legislation in the UK and the USA, including changes regarding TDM and the post-Brexit implications of EU directives and exhaustion of rights.

The implications of artificial intelligence (AI) for author contracts and licensing contracts.

• The impact of the pandemic and its aftermath on the promotion and sale of rights.

• Coverage of censorship in countries around the world, especially in relation to LGBTQI+ content, as well as political situations which have impacted on rights trading.

• The impact of streaming services on opportunities for licensing television and film rights.

• Major revisions to the chapters on audio and video recording rights, the internet and publishing, and electronic publishing and digital licensing.

Selling Rights is an essential reference tool and an accessible and illuminating guide to current and future issues for rights professionals and students of publishing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032495927
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	07/08/2024
Edition description:	9th ed.
Pages:	544
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Lynette Owen OBE is a freelance specialist in copyright, rights and licensing issues and a consultant on the promotion and sale of rights in print and digital environments. She is the general editor of, and a contributor to, Clark’s Publishing Agreements: A Book of Precedents (11th edition, 2022). She was previously Copyright Director of Pearson Education and has also worked for Cambridge University Press, Pitman Publishing and Marshall Cavendish. She has chaired the Publishers Association Rights Group and is also a member of a number of industry committees.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements and further reading vii

Preface ix

1 Rights: the historical and legal background 1

2 The publishing contract: who should control the rights? 53

3 An expanding range of possibilities 68

4 The rationale behind rights sales 76

5 Selling rights: who and how? 83

6 Tackling the task: essentials 89

7 Rights selling: a range of methods 109

8 Book fairs and sales trips: preparation, survival and follow-up 119

9 English-language territorial rights: co-editions and licences 144

10 Book club rights 176

11 Paperback rights 182

12 Low-price reprint rights 191

13 Other reprint rights 203

14 Serial rights and one-shot periodical rights 212

15 Digest and condensation rights 226

16 Translation rights: co-editions and licences 229

17 Anthology and quotation rights 281

18 Rights for the reading-impaired 296

19 Non-dramatized reading rights 305

20 Audio-recording and video-recording rights 309

21 Dramatization and documentary rights: stage, radio, television and film rights 320

22 Merchandising rights 352

23 Collective licensing 364

24 The internet and publishing 381

25 Electronic publishing and digital licensing 423

26 Supply of duplicate production material to licensees 458

Appendix 1 Glossary of common terms used in rights 466

Appendix 2 Member states of the international copyright conventions 471

Appendix 3 Countries currently outside membership of any international copyright convention 478

Appendix 4 Territories often sought as exclusive by British publishers 479

Appendix 5 Useful names and addresses 484

Index 489

Editorial Reviews

Praise for the eighth edition:

‘Selling Rights really is the go-to resource for everything you need to know about rights licensing.’

-        Ruth Tellis, BookBrunch

‘Owen's meticulous book has served as a steady guide to rights licensing professionals inside publishing companies and literary agencies-especially in the UK where the book is written and published. As an American reader, and longtime user of various editions of this guide, I can say I have also found much that is completely relevant and useful for rights licensors and licensees on this side of the pond.’

-        Kristin Klimann, Publishing Research Quarterly

‘Selling Rights… remains as important for rights professionals today as it was when the first edition was published back in 1991. In those 28 years, it is a work that has provided great service to the publishing industry, offering highly practical advice to those engaged in negotiating sub-licences… Armed with a copy of the 8th edition of Selling Rights and its eminently clear and practical advice on all aspects of rights trading, we can be sure that rights professionals will be well set to tackle the uncertainties that lie ahead.

-        Clare Hodder, Learned Publishing

‘Selling Rights by Lynette Owen… is the ultimate guide to licensing subsidiary rights in the publishing sector and has been relied upon by industry professionals for over 30 years now… To describe the book as invaluable would understate the role that its practical information and advice played.’

-        Amy Joyner, Logos

‘Selling Rights is a convenient and accessible handbook that answers just about every conceivable question about the subject. This bible of information is now in its eighth edition from Routledge, and whether you work in trade, academic or specialist publishing, it is the next best thing to having Lynette on hand to help you. The book includes all the practical advice needed to sell rights, whether you are just starting out in the field or are a seasoned professional with many book fairs under your belt.’

-        Caroline de la Bedoyere, Independent Publishers Guild

From the Publisher

Herself a rights director in a large British educational publishing house, Owen writes primarily for colleagues at other companies, but also for others in the book industry, such as agents and legal professionals. She has made each chapter as self-contained as possible so readers can bone up for a particular situation without having to refer elsewhere. The 1991 and 1994 editions were published by Blueprint; Routledge picked up the 1997 third edition. The fourth accounts for rapid and radical changes the Internet hath wrought. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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