▲ | jonathanstrange 3 days 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 3 days ago | parent | next [-] | |||||||
Even 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 3 days ago | parent | prev [-] | |||||||
I don't think you should work with a publisher who wants a copyright transfer. It is not part of standard book deals. | ||||||||
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