http://therumpus.net/2009/12/ebook-rights/ Books, Music, Movies, Art, Politics, Sex, Other Sun, 27 May 2012 19:55:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 http://therumpus.net/2009/12/ebook-rights/comment-page-1/#comment-13385 Torie Thu, 17 Dec 2009 05:15:17 +0000 http://therumpus.net/?p=41048#comment-13385 Great post! It reminded me about some amendment letters I've seen recently. I think the next thing we'll see from the Author's Guild will be commentary on Publisher changes to "out of print" language. The verdict in the Random House v. RosettaBooks case demonstrated that rights must be specifically granted according to format. I suspect new contracts will include "out of stock" language as a catch-all to include electronic books as well as any future formats not yet developed. My concern is that authors could potentially be forced into an ineffectual & agonizing limbo in which they make no real money off their work, but cannot request a reversion of rights because the books are still "in stock." The debate (as so many do) will likely come down to an accounting issue. E-books are very cheap to store, so just how much will they have to net for them to be kept "in stock?" Great post! It reminded me about some amendment letters I’ve seen recently. I think the next thing we’ll see from the Author’s Guild will be commentary on Publisher changes to “out of print” language. The verdict in the Random House v. RosettaBooks case demonstrated that rights must be specifically granted according to format. I suspect new contracts will include “out of stock” language as a catch-all to include electronic books as well as any future formats not yet developed. My concern is that authors could potentially be forced into an ineffectual & agonizing limbo in which they make no real money off their work, but cannot request a reversion of rights because the books are still “in stock.” The debate (as so many do) will likely come down to an accounting issue. E-books are very cheap to store, so just how much will they have to net for them to be kept “in stock?”

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