Re: Online and out of print

On 2/25/97, Albert Henderson <70244.1532[_at_]compuserve.com> wrote:
>
> If the author must do the promotion and marketing, then don't you agree
> that the publisher should lose all rights when stocks of printed copies
> are exhausted? It is bad enough that so many authors are asked for cash
> by learned publishers seeking subsidies. (Where will publishers get the
> money to put all these books online??!) Why shouldn't the author recover
> rights when there are no copies in print, and look for another publisher
> willing to invest hard cash and other resources in the author and his/her
> work?

I guess the problem I am having here is with the use of the words "should" and "shouldn't." Those words imply that there is some imperative. I have been making deals as an attorney for over 23 years and have found that often the only imperative is the power of the market. It is of course absolutely necessary to have an attorney or someone else who knows *what* to ask for, such as by way of reversionary rights or reserved rights etc. as in this thread. But without the client having the marketing clout to make the publisher want the author more than the author wants the publisher, all the knowledge about what to ask for is pretty much useless. Without that clout, the response is "we don't do that for anyone." With marketing clout however, the response often becomes "we've never done that for anyone before but we'll do it for you."

IVAN HOFFMAN, B.A., J.D.
Attorney At Law
Copyrights, Contracts, Internet Law, Electronic Rights, INTERNET LAW SIMPLIFIED http://home.earthlink.net/~ivanlove Received on Fri Feb 28 1997 - 13:26:54 GMT