BOOK RIGHTS IN SOUTH AFRICA

As artists ourselves we know the essence of creation. The fall of ideas from a source just beyond comprehension. The pilgrimage of words from pen to paper. A purity of process unsullied by thoughts of money or fame – just the joy that erupts from the act of making.

                     

Which is why we are happy to let you know your manuscript has rights!

Here’s a run-down of the different book rights in South Africa, and when they will be used:

1.            COPYRIGHT

Copyright is the right of the author to decide who gets to copy/publish/distribute the work and in which formats (paperback, eBook, audiobook etc.)

In South Africa you do not need to apply for copyright for written work. Your work is automatically copyrighted to you once you write it down (this does not apply to ideas.)

Signing a publishing contract does not necessarily mean you sign over your copyright on the manuscript – unless, of course, it says you are doing so. Your contract should specifically state which rights you are signing over, and publishers generally do not require full copyright to be signed over. What you are usually doing is granting the publisher part of the rights – such as the right to publish and distribute the manuscript in specified book formats (this is called exclusive publishing license, and is discussed further down.)

Copyright is only signed over to someone else in the event of copyright assignment. The author no longer has rights or claim on the manuscript at all, and cannot play any role in decision-making such as which publisher to use etc.

Copyright assignment happens if a publisher has paid you, as a writer, to pen a manuscript for them to own, and you are no longer the owner of the script.

Ghost-writing is also a good example of copyright assignment as the paying client owns the manuscript.

2.            MORAL RIGHTS

               

Simply put, this is the right of the author to have their name recognized as the author of the work, and have their name published on the book’s cover or in the copyright page.

Moral rights are not specifically mentioned in the publishing contract as it is assumed the author will have their name published. Moral rights are only mentioned in the publishing contract when the author agrees to waive them.

An example of this would be: paying a ghost-writer to write a novel for you. The ghost-writer waives moral rights as their name will not be published as the person who wrote the book.

3.            EXCLUSIVE PUBLISHING LICENSE

This refers to (a) the right to publish the manuscript in book format, and (b) that this is the only publisher allowed to do this.

Only the copyright holder gets to decide who to give the exclusive publishing license to i.e. which publisher to use. When they sign over the exclusive publishing license to a publisher they are allowing the publisher to make books out of the manuscript and are agreeing that this is the only publisher allowed to do that. Only the person with the exclusive publishing licence can publish and distribute. The author is also not allowed to infringe on this by deciding to additionally self-publish the book or put it on Amazon etc.

4.            SUBSIDIARY RIGHTS

Also called sub-rights or secondary rights, these are the rights to further adaptations and exploitations of your work.

Examples of subsidiary rights:

•             Translations of the book into other languages

•             Publishing in other formats e.g. audiobooks

•             Merchandise based on the book e.g. T-shirts and mugs

•             Publish excerpts from the book

•             Use quotations from the work

•             Publishing an abridgement

•             Produce sound recordings based on the book

•             Produce films and plays based on the book

•             Use the work in blogs

•             Use the work in an anthology

Royalties are also granted to the author in the case of sub-rights usage and are generally higher than book royalties if it is sublicensed to third parties. So if a film studio makes a movie based on the book, the sub-right to film adaptation is licensed to the studio. The royalty the author earns on the movie sales should be higher than book royalties as the publisher is not taking on any cost of making the movie. However, if the publisher is taking on expenses by using your book to publish abridgements etc. your royalties may not be higher.

Naturally, authors can choose to retain the sub-rights if they so wish. However, we have a little nugget of advice here. It sounds terribly tempting to keep all the movie rights for yourself. But if you don’t actually have the ability to facilitate a movie deal, these will go to sad waste. Keep for yourself the rights you have the means to further. Allow your publisher to help with the ones you can’t.

KREST PUBLISHERS aims to keep astride of all publishing matters, so that we do your book justice. Every week we give out free information on the publishing industry processes – if you want to know more about the nitty-gritty of it all, join our mailing list. You can also take a look at our website.

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KREST PUBLISHERS

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