Reprint Rights
Paperbacks are considered reprints, although in the strictest sense a reprint can be a new edition in the original hardcover format. When a trade publisher publishes a book with the potential of being issued at a later date in a cheaper paperback edition, it will either negotiate separately with one paperback publisher, or offer the property simultaneously to a number of publishers in an auction.
At auctions, millions of dollars may be bid for the paperback rights to best-selling hardcover works of fiction and nonfiction. Sometimes the original publisher of the hardcover edition and the paperback publisher will work together on a book project from its inception. In such a situation, they will share in paying the author's advance; share promotion and printing costs; and share the proceeds in proportion to their revenues.
In selling reprint rights, the hardcover publisher uses the original manuscript or advance proofs in its solicitation, rather than waiting for a completed book. For most trade publishers, selling reprint rights is the most significant area of subsidiary rights.
Foreign Rights
In a large city in central Germany, on the Main River, more than eight thousand publishers from ninety nations and sixty thousand professionals convene for the book industry's annual Frankfurt Book Fair. Their principal purpose is the buying and selling of book rights.
At that giant annual convocation, the world's publishers meet to buy and sell rights. In a recent high-powered deal, the American publishers of the author Tom Clancy sold the world Spanish rights to his next novel for $600,000 to the large German publisher Bertelsmann's Spanish division. But not all rights sales are in that league. The newly emerging Eastern European publishers buy rights for advances that are as little as $1,000.
A major American publisher, HarperCollins, may send as many as twenty-five of its executives from various divisions to Frankfurt each year to sell rights to its book properties. A hot book by a name author is often sold to a dozen or more different countries.
Publishers often sell foreign rights to a book before its original edition is published. There is a gamble, of course. If a book achieves best-seller status, and the publisher holds off on rights sales, it will be worth that much more in the after market. In either case, however, agreement is made at the time of the sale over when foreign editions will be published.
Large publishers do not wait a whole year till the Frankfurt Book Fair to negotiate foreign rights sales. Many foreign publishers employ scouts in the United States who report to them on what is currently being published, trends, and future hot properties. Also, the subsidiary rights department at a large publisher maintains constant contact with foreign publishers over rights sales.
Not only fiction and nonfiction trade book publishers sell foreign rights. Textbooks, children's books, and scientific and reference works also have an active foreign sales market.
At Frankfurt, an American publisher may also purchase the American or English-language rights to a book published in another language. At times, co-editions are arranged, whereby a joint printing in a number of languages is affected.
Typically, the originating publisher controls and shares in subsidiary rights with the author. However, some authors control their own rights. An author I know had a novel published in 1993 in the United States by a major publisher. His contract with that publisher gave him ownership of foreign rights. As a result, there was a U.K. and French edition published at the same time the U.S. edition was published. Of course, in such a situation, the author receives a smaller advance from the U.S. publisher. This author, incidentally, controlled his own movie and paperback reprint rights.
There are other book fairs where rights are exchanged. The London Book Fair is held each year in March for the sale and exchange of rights. The leading market for children's books is the annual Bologna Children's Book Fair, held in April. Both fairs are conducted primarily for the sale of rights.
Movie and Television Rights
When John Grisham's best-selling 1991 novel, The Firm, was made into a big-budget movie, millions of dollars changed hands. Publishers work very closely with movie and TV producers on the sale of rights to books they publish. The major movie studios see most promising manuscripts before they are published. Not only is a great deal of money involved, but also a book's sales are enhanced when the publisher can announce that the book is soon to be a major movie or TV miniseries.
Often, when a movie is made from a book, a special paperback tie- in book is published at the time of the movie's release. Also, when a movie from a book is a hit, the author's previous works enjoy renewed success. The leading Hollywood talent agencies, ICM, CAA, and William Morris, maintain active literary departments for the purpose of selling books they represent for motion picture and television production. Often, these sales are made in conjunction with other literary agents.
Book Clubs
The sale of a book club edition falls into the domain of subsidiary rights. There are more than two hundred book clubs. As a group, they account for about 5 percent of all publishers' net book sales. The largest club, the Book-of-the-Month Club, has more than two million members.
When a publisher makes a deal with a book club, it gives the club a set of the book's printing plates, and the club prints its own edition. At times, the book club prints along with the publisher to cut costs. Club members receive the book at a discount. The publisher receives approximately 10 percent of the club's price for each book printed. The author also receives a lower royalty on these sales. The prestige of being a book club selection can significantly help a book's sales in bookstores.
For major trade books, book club auctions are held. In 1992, the Literary Guild, another large book club, guaranteed an advance of $460,000 for the rights to Nelson DeMille's The General's Daughter, published by Warner Books. The publisher's subsidiary rights director conducted the auction.
Magazine and Newspaper Prepublication and Post-publication Rights
A publisher may sell the rights to a chapter or a portion of a book to a magazine or newspaper before or after a book's publication. Although this is not a major revenue source, there is promotional value for a book that is excerpted in a large-circulation publication. There have been situations where an entire book was serialized after its original publication.
