what are my rights to self re-publish my out of print book originally
published by Delacorte

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Request for Question Clarification by missy-ga on 02 Mar 2003 10:45 PST

Do you have a copy of your original contract with Delacorte?  It would
be helpful to know what the original terms were when trying to track
down an answer for you.

--Missy

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Clarification of Question by agent0000-ga on 04 Mar 2003 08:56 PST

Yes, I am looking for that contract.  The book was published in 1981
and today I'll know whether or not I have that contract.

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Clarification of Question by agent0000-ga on 04 Mar 2003 11:57 PST

I do have the contract here.  the portion for termination says as
follows:  In the event that Dell shall fail to keep the work in print
and for sale for a period of six months, and if, thereafter, after
written notification from the Author, Dell shall fail to place the
work in print and for sale within  a period of six months from the
date of receipt of such notification, all rights granted to Sell
hereunder shall thereupon revert to the Author, and the author shall
have the option within thirty days after such termination  , upon
request to Dell, to purchase the plates to the Work at one third the
original cost of composition and plating.  The work shall not be
deemed out of print so long as it is under option or contract for
publication or on sale in any edition, includinga reprint edition,
whether under the imprint of Dell or of a licensee.In the event set
forth in this agreement, in moneys thereafter received from any
license theretofore granted by it."  I wa given the option to buy the
plates but couldn't do it at the time...  Hope this helps in the
search....Agent0000

<As an experienced writer, I have had many contractual dealings with
publishers including reversion of rights.

You will have the right to re-publish your out of print book as soon
as all the conditions in the termination clause have been met as
follows:
1. Ask your publisher to confirm in writing that the book has gone out
of print.
2. 6 months after the date that the book went out of print send a
letter to your publisher, requesting that they re-publish the book.
3. If the book has not been re-published after this time, ask your
publisher for written confirmation that the rights have reverted to
you.
4. You may republish the book or alternatively sell the licence to
another publisher to republish after a wait of a further 30 days.

However since your publisher has already offered to sell you the
plates, it appears that they do not intend to republish your book. You
may therefore be able to get them to agree to forgo the waiting
periods and request an immediate reversion of rights. If they agree to
this ensure that you have it in writing.>

<Getting your rights back.>
<http://www.backinprint.com/rightsget.html>


<Search strategy:>

<Reversion of rights.>
<://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&as_qdr=all&q=%22reversion+of+rights%22+publishing+contract>


<Hope this helps.>

If you could post a copy of your contract with Delacorte, that would
be most helpful.

Here you will find an article that may be of some use:

http://www.talewins.com/bly2.htm

Your best bet is truly just to contact your publisher. One phone call
should give you an answer. In *most* cases, authors have the right to
reprint their books elsewhere, but only after X amount of time has
passed. But each contract is different.

kriswrite

Traditionally, authors have sold the rights to publish for a limited
period (say 10 years); and for limited territories (say UK) ...
depending on the astuteness of their agents.

However, authors have not sold the rights to publish their works as
ebooks because these are a recent phenomenon.

It will be set out in the contract.

All contracts I've seen require you to take some action for the rights
to revert. I sent in a request for rights reversion on an out-of-print
book of mine in October, still haven't heard back. Many publishers
will make the book available as POD to keep the contract in force, but
will do no marketing.