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Selling The Copyright To A Book

When an author publishes a book, he has two choices: sign over (or assign) the copyright to the publisher (i.e., sell the copyright to the publisher), or maintain the copyright himself and sell the publisher only the right to publish the book.

The author can  sell the copyright to the book outright, which means that he, literally, does not own the book any longer and that he will never receive any additional monies beyond the initial purchase price.

The publisher owns the books and any monies derived from the sale of the book or from the sale of subsidiary rights, such as movie options, merchandising, sales to publishers in foreign countries, etc.

Many, many unpublished authors make the mistake of signing away their rights to their own books, including those who sign on with disreputable Print-On-Demand (POD) companies, whose contracts often state that the author, in signing the contract, is binding over all copyrights and subsidiary rights associated with the book and assigning them to the publisher. 

The author will most likely never get these rights back, even if he sues the company.

If you sell your copyright, the book no longer belongs to you, and any monies made from that book do not belong to you.

RockWay Press does not buy any of its authors' copyrights. RockWay does not own any of the books it publishes. Our contract only gives us the right to publish the book, world-wide, in English. All other publishing rights, as with the copyright, remain with the author.

The 1978 US Copyright Law provided all authors with an "unpublished copyright" as soon as their creative work was completed. (Previously, only published works had copyrights.) The author does not have to register his unpublished work with the Library of Congress Copyright Office. In fact, it is to the author's detriment to do so before a book is published since, if the author revises the work, changing even one word, the registered copyright is no longer valid. Copyrights are registered for a work exactly as it appears in a particular version. Any changes or revisions require additional copyright registration.

An author may put "© 200- by Author's Name" on his work when he sends it out, but most agents and publishers consider that a sign of inexperience since they know the author has the copyright as soon as the book is written. Also, unfortunately, listing your copyright does not prevent anyone from stealing your book of your ideas. (Just ask anyone who's had his work stolen by the film or publishing industry.)

And unless the thief quotes your work verbatim, it will be difficult for you to prove that the person stole your work. Ideas cannot be copyrighted, and the people in the film and publishing industries most experienced at theft know that as long as they don't quote your work exactly, it will be virtually impossible for you to stop them. Ideas (and titles) cannot be copyrighted: only the presentation of an idea can be copyrighted. Change the presentation, and the copyright (or its registration) does not apply.

RockWay Press copyrights the books it publishes in the name of the author, registers the copyright with the Library of Congress Copyright Office in the name of the author, and prints the copyright notice, in the name of the author, on the verso (back of the title page) of each book it publishes.

RockWay does not buy its authors' copyrights. RockWay does not own its authors' books. The authors do. RockWay's contract gives the company the right to publish the book, in English only, world-wide, but all other rights, including the copyright, remain with the book's author.

In fact, RockWay strongly encourages all authors to retain their copyrights, no matter who the publisher is. Once an author sells his copyright, he no longer owns his work, and RockWay believes that creative works should legally belong to the artists and authors who create them. That's why RockWay Press does not ever buy a copyright from an author.

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