Alex Kane's picture
Alex Kane from west-central Illinois is reading Dark Orbit February 13, 2012 - 7:07pm

So, I'm thinking about taking a handful of my published horror works, and a few unpublished ones that were accepted but never printed, and putting together a little eBook collection.

Can anyone confirm that the following contract agreement means there's no exclusivity period? It seems like the rights revert to me immediately, with an unexclusive right to print the story remaining with the publisher for five years:

The Author grants and assigns to the Publisher, One time exclusive rights to publish the story included in the above mentioned book and the Publisher shall retain rights of printing the story five years from the date of publication.  The same rights are given for a Kindle edition. Podcasting rights are also given for the five year period. If after the five year contract the Publisher and Author agree, printing of the story in the Anthology will continue.

Thanks for the help, guys. This contract's from November of 2010, and the book came out in June '11.

Bradley Sands's picture
Bradley Sands from Boston is reading Greil Marcus's The History of Rock 'N' Roll in Ten Songs February 13, 2012 - 11:40pm

Seems like the exclusivity is for 5 years. You should ask the publisher. Even if it is for five years, they may be fine with you reprinting it. It would be unusual for them not to allow you to publish it in a collection of your writing.

Alex Kane's picture
Alex Kane from west-central Illinois is reading Dark Orbit February 15, 2012 - 11:19pm

Thanks, Bradley. I'll email the publisher.