Rights reversion

by Suzanne Wylde
20th November 2020

Hi everyone,

I recently bought the rights for my book back from my publisher and I bought my book files as part of the deal. Even though they are explicitly included in the contract, he is refusing to give them to me until next year (the contract is dated early November) but he did not mention this before I paid and he'd sent me the contract.

Does anyone know if the only way to make my publisher honour the contract is to take him to court? I am tempted if this is the case as in addition to the stress of the pandemic he's been sending me emails putting me down and being generally unpredictable and unkind. To have the chance of a third party as a witness is tempting because sometimes I feel that people with a little power feel like it's OK to treat people working by themselves quite badly.

Any advice or info on similar experiences would be greatly appreciated! Thank you

Replies

aLLi (Alliance of Independent Authors) do legal advice, I believe. They may be well worth joining .

Profile picture for user oldchesn_4270
Jonathan
Hopkins
6735 points
Practical publishing
Fiction
Historical
Adventure
The writing process
The publishing process
Self-Publishing
Jonathan Hopkins
23/11/2020

Thank you Victoria, I think I will do that this week. Hope you're well.

Profile picture for user suzanne._65319
Suzanne
Wylde
1430 points
Developing your craft
Suzanne Wylde
23/11/2020

I think you should seek legal advice from those who specialise in this kind of contract law.

Profile picture for user dividedheart
Victoria
Whithear
5200 points
Ready to publish
Fiction
Comic
Contemporary
Romance
Young Adult (YA)
Speculative Fiction
Short stories
Writing and Editing
Victoria Whithear
20/11/2020