Rights. It’s a hot topic at the moment and something i’ve been asked about incessantly. Nobody wants to get rights wrong. Would that make them wrongs then? I digress.
I’ve been wracking my brains for the last few months trying to get my head around how I take on the thorny subject. On the one hand I am a big believer in rights, as it rewards the early adopters and gives some comfort to publishers when it comes to sales (as well as a healthy dose of loyalty).
On the other hand, some rights systems can almost be too restrictive and alienate other readers and collectors, something I would not want to do. So where is the balance? Unsurprisingly I have had this conversation with Rich at Lyra’s as he has recently set his stall out for rights and I am largely impressed with his approach.
My intention with Curious King is to produce fine press editions of well-regarded Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Contemporary fiction, largely to a very high quality and printed letterpress. There are however some titles I would like to publish that don’t necessarily have the fanbase to justify several very expensive and high quality versions, but yet still deserve the small press treatment.
So there will be a couple of editions in the distant future that do not have standard editions, and may not be letterpress printed. However, the projects I am currently working on and most of the titles I have my sights on, can justify the full fine press treatment.
I want to try and keep it as simple as possible and have come up with the following:
- Lettered Editions
- These come with rights for all lettered editions going forward.
- Rights can only be transferred with the sale of the latest book, and the latest book cannot be sold without rights.
- Lettered Editions are restricted to 26 copies, A – Z.
- Any lettered editions that become available will be sold via lottery.
- Numbered Editions
- There will be rights for 150 numbered editions going forward.
- Rights can only be transferred with the sale of the latest book, and the latest book cannot be sold without rights.
- Any numbered editions over and above the figure of 150 will be available to the general public. We plan on increasing the numbered releases for certain books, but any number over 150 will not come with any rights.
- Standard Editions
- Standard Editions only come with rights to the rest of a series, otherwise they have no rights attached. E.G – If you purchase a standard edition of The Blade Itself, you will have rights to books 2 and 3 in that series.
- You will have the chance to pre-order the next title before the public pre-order if you have rights.
- Rights to the rest of the series can only be transferred with the sale of the latest book.
- You will not have rights to the next title we announce.
I hope that covers everything. I’m almost certain someone will come up with a scenario I haven’t thought of – so I’m all ears pedants.
