Being a self-published or indie author is akin to running a small business; the problem is that some do not truly appreciate this fact. It’s easy to get embroiled in the creative process and then once this is finished to consider it ‘job done’. But this is only the start. And, as we will focus on in this two part blog, an often misunderstood but vital component within this small business to help maximise revenue streams and reach a wider audience is rights and licensing.
The reality is that monetising works can be difficult. Immediate obstacles appear to be marketing, PR and distribution - with all too many ignoring rights and licensing. And I don’t say this lightly. Our team have had all too many conversations with authors who:
- a) Have no idea what rights and licensing actually means
- b) Don’t know what rights they actually hold
- c) Don’t realise how valuable they are
- d) Fail to protect them, never mind monetise them
Not that it’s necessarily their fault. Historically, the licensing of book rights has not been an area in which writers have been required to have any great understanding of.
Generally speaking, any rights-related activity was handled directly by the publisher and/or agency without a huge degree of author involvement. It was those authors with a traditional publishing deal who were able to take advantage of rights deals, both domestically and internationally, depending upon the aptitude of the publisher in question.
Essentially, these were managed by in-house rights people with contacts all over the world who handled all negotiations and the placement of work in different territories across different mediums.
However, as the publishing world has evolved it has also become increasingly common for the more savvy self-published and indie authors to promote/showcase themselves and their work in targeted territories, languages and formats to a variety of rights professionals.
Such numbers are growing by the day but all too many writers still don’t possess sufficient understanding over the rights they hold to their works, and importantly, how they could benefit from them.
So, let’s just clarify exactly what I mean when I say book rights and licensing.
What are rights and licensing and how important are they?
Publishing Rights
How important? Crucial.
Why? The rights to your work are worth money. If you don’t know enough about them, or how to maximise them, you could be missing out on money that's rightfully yours.
What is it? The 'right' someone has to publish your work (fiction, poetry, non-fiction etc) in print and digital format. Sometimes the print and digital editions are sold separately but, in the case of traditional publishing, this is becoming less common. Publishers traditionally buy the rights from an author to publish their work. An agreement would be made on what formats and which territories and languages the publisher was buying the rights for.
Of course, generally speaking, self-published and indie authors will remain in control of their rights and therefore can generate additional revenue through various sales avenues.
Ease of sale? Depends on the rights in question. We will look at some individual rights in part 2 of this series.
What can you do? Know your rights. There are no excuses not to fully understand which rights you own – again we will break down some of the more common individual rights in the next installment on this subject. See www.iprlicense.com for further rights-related information.
This is especially important for authors considering signing with a self-publishing company rather than going independent. For example, if using a self-publishing company to print a book in English in England (or English in the US), make sure you don’t let them have world rights, including all languages, as this will allow them to profit from your work internationally where you could have sold the rights directly and retained 100% of the revenue.
Licensing
How important? Hugely.
Why? Similar to publishing rights. Licensing = money and control.
What is it? Licensing is granting permission to a publisher to publish your book in the formats and territories agreed during your negotiation. Again it’s worth repeating that self-published and indie authors will remain in control of their rights and therefore can generate additional revenue through various sales avenues.
Ease of sale? As per publishing rights.
What can you do? Again, it may sound dull, but you really need to understand your intellectual property (IP). A paperback book, for example, is one product out of the vast universe of IP that you can license. You can happily keep on selling the book you have published while still having an ocean of IP left to license and monetise.
Hopefully this offers a brief outline of the importance attached to rights and licensing.
In part two, we will look at individual rights and how to utilise them. In the meantime, if you do need any more information, please contact us at info@iprlicense.com and one of our team would be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Tom Chalmers is Managing Director at IPR License. IPR License was launched in 2012 and is the global, digital marketplace for authors, agents and publishers to list and license book rights.
Excellent blog.