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 The ghost-writer waives moral rights as their name will not be
published as the person who wrote the book.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.
Our personal best,
KREST PUBLISHERS
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