The first book I ever published was my best seller and only book to go out of print (twice). I decided to see if I could republish it and found it quite easy. Because I had the rights. It helped that the illustrator was 100% behind me. Funny thing, it's again selling well. I have two other books that have just been 'sitting there' for years and just last week checked into what it would take to get my rights back. Haven't heard a word.
Great post. When you license do you have to pay a fee? I’ve got just that kind of situation with a book that is out of print and hardcover but they still have it as an e-book. I don’t know what their e-book sales are but it allows them to keep it alive on the back list. However, I would like to Have hardcovers available for my own purposes and so I just wrote them asking about licensing a small print run. But who actually printed and pays for it?
My friend has just done this and the thing is when you sign the original contract, you give the publisher the rights to the book for the lifetime of the contract (usually for the life of the copyright, which is your lifetime plus 70 years). That means you must pay them for the right to reprint. She negotiated a deal for $X.xx per copy printed, AND they sent her the Indesign files to print from. The files were a big deal, because then it’s ready to print. However, she’s having to reformat from 10” x 10” to 8.5” x 8.5”. It’s an easy reformatting for anyone experienced in Indesign.
Hi Darcy, regarding this "Sales tax. Will you pay sales tax?" Can I ask if you have to keep up with sales tax stuff when you have a shopify store and are selling direct to the public on your website and having the order fulfilled by Lulu. Does Shopify take care of all the sales tax reporting to the state or do you? Thank you!
On Shopify, I have to pay sales tax. They have apps to help me calculate it, but I pay it.
If you want a platform where you don’t have to pay, I’ve heard of a couple recently. Bookfunnel, for example, now integrates with Lemon Squeezy to deliver your eboooks, and Lemon Squeezy pays the taxes.
WOW, what a ton of incredibly useful information in this post.
The first book I ever published was my best seller and only book to go out of print (twice). I decided to see if I could republish it and found it quite easy. Because I had the rights. It helped that the illustrator was 100% behind me. Funny thing, it's again selling well. I have two other books that have just been 'sitting there' for years and just last week checked into what it would take to get my rights back. Haven't heard a word.
Great example of how important it is to get your rights back. Hope the other books are reverted soon!
Darcy
Great post. When you license do you have to pay a fee? I’ve got just that kind of situation with a book that is out of print and hardcover but they still have it as an e-book. I don’t know what their e-book sales are but it allows them to keep it alive on the back list. However, I would like to Have hardcovers available for my own purposes and so I just wrote them asking about licensing a small print run. But who actually printed and pays for it?
My friend has just done this and the thing is when you sign the original contract, you give the publisher the rights to the book for the lifetime of the contract (usually for the life of the copyright, which is your lifetime plus 70 years). That means you must pay them for the right to reprint. She negotiated a deal for $X.xx per copy printed, AND they sent her the Indesign files to print from. The files were a big deal, because then it’s ready to print. However, she’s having to reformat from 10” x 10” to 8.5” x 8.5”. It’s an easy reformatting for anyone experienced in Indesign.
Did she have to guarantee buying a certain amount? I would guess so ie that’s an outlay so you must be confident you can sell.
Hi Darcy, regarding this "Sales tax. Will you pay sales tax?" Can I ask if you have to keep up with sales tax stuff when you have a shopify store and are selling direct to the public on your website and having the order fulfilled by Lulu. Does Shopify take care of all the sales tax reporting to the state or do you? Thank you!
On Shopify, I have to pay sales tax. They have apps to help me calculate it, but I pay it.
If you want a platform where you don’t have to pay, I’ve heard of a couple recently. Bookfunnel, for example, now integrates with Lemon Squeezy to deliver your eboooks, and Lemon Squeezy pays the taxes.
Thank you, Darcy! This is so helpful!