Is it difficult to sell a novel after you get your rights back?

Pisco Sour

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If your publishing contract is up for renewal for example, and you don't want to for x or y reason, is it hard to get other publishers to pick up the same book or series? Would they look at numbers (low sales) and automatically pass? Just wondering what happens after 3 or 4 years with the same publisher and a book that doesn't sell. Is it better to self-publish it and hope for the best?
Thanks.
 

aruna

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If sales were low it might be difficult to find a new publisher. However, if the original publisher was for print, you have a good chance of getting an e-publisher to take you on. I was in this situation, and I had a good reponse when trying to sell the e-rights for my rights reverted book. In fact, I had more than one offer, including one Big publisher. I finally went with a small independent publisher.
If you are up to it you might want to self-publish. I did not want to go that route.

(Full dislosure: the book ws originally published in 1999, print only. Right reverted to me in 2008. Rights sold again in 2013, e and print.)
 
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Pisco Sour

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If sales were low it might be difficult to find a new publisher. However, if the original publisher was for print, you have a good chance of getting an e-publisher to take you on. I was in this situation, and I had a good reponse when trying to sell the e-rights for my rights reverted book. In fact, I had more than one offer, including one Big publisher. I finally went with a small independent publisher.
If you are up to it you might want to self-publish. I did not want to go that route.

(Full dislosure: the book ws originally published in 1999, print only. Right reverted to me in 2008. Rights sold again in 2013, e and print.)

Thanks! I'm talking e-book with POD though, so it's not looking good. :cry:
 

WeaselFire

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It's amazingly easy. Or incredibly hard. It depends a lot on what you're trying to sell and how good, or persistent, a sales person you are.

Jeff
 

aruna

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Thanks! I'm talking e-book with POD though, so it's not looking good. :cry:

Well, my deal was ebook with POD, so it's not necessarily bad news! I even got a much better royalty rate than I would have had with an original. I had also queried an ebook publisher long before that, and they were immediately interested even before reading it. It does depend on the book, the genre, sales, and, most importantly, reviews. Lucky for me, mine were good.
 

BenPanced

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Check with the market you're submitting to. They may or may not specifically spell out if they accept work that's been previously published. If not, I'd try, anyway.
 

Pisco Sour

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Well, my deal was ebook with POD, so it's not necessarily bad news! I even got a much better royalty rate than I would have had with an original. I had also queried an ebook publisher long before that, and they were immediately interested even before reading it. It does depend on the book, the genre, sales, and, most importantly, reviews. Lucky for me, mine were good.

That's interesting, about the reviews! And everything else. I guess because this book is an e-book already, and not coming from print, I feel less confident about flogging it when the contract is up.
 

Pisco Sour

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It's amazingly easy. Or incredibly hard. It depends a lot on what you're trying to sell and how good, or persistent, a sales person you are.

Jeff

Lots of publishers state they won't take previously published books, so I guess the persistence and sales savvy would come in handy with those houses who do. What I've noticed is that houses who take previously published e-books only do so for their in-house authors or if you have a new book to flog as well. I'm not a very good sales person, but I am learning. Maybe the best way to go about it is to have something new to show, as well as the other book. Thanks for the input.
 

sheadakota

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I actually had a publisher contact me after she read one of my books. She wanted to know if I had anything she could look at. My original publisher had recently reverted my rights back, so she offered to take on four of my previously published works.
 

Pisco Sour

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It's the book I sold a few months ago. That contract is for 2 years, and when it comes up for renewal I'm pretty convinced I'm not going to! But I guess the same question goes for any of my books out there, though something pretty drastic would have to happen for me not to want to renew my other contracts.
 
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Sheryl Nantus

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It's the book I sold a few months ago. That contract is for 2 years, and when it comes up for renewal I'm pretty convinced I'm not going to! But I guess the same question goes for any of my books out there, though something pretty drastic would have to happen for me not to want to renew my other contracts.

So the book hasn't even come out yet?

You might want to wait and see if it does well before thinking about terminating your ties with a publisher you just signed with...
 

Pisco Sour

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The e-book has been released. But regardless, I am curious as to how easy it is to sell a book that's already been published if you do not want to renew that contract when the time comes. Having other books with them still under contract doesn't proscribe, as far as I know, selling on a book you do not want to renew. Or does it? There's no such wording in the contract, anyway.

EDITED TO SAY: (sorry cannot do bold so I will capitalise) What I mean is that I am curious as to how easy it is to sell a book that's already been published AFTER THE CONTRACT IS UP or AFTER REQUESTING AND OBTAINING MY RIGHTS BACK. Which is why I wrote "when the time comes" and "selling on a book you do not want to renew", assuming that renewal comes around when the contract has been fulfilled, no? And, there's no wording in the contract that says I cannot sell my book anywhere else ONCE MY RIGHTS ARE RETURNED. Hope that clarifies.
 
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BenPanced

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Yes, it does. Even if you've already planned to have the rights revert back within, say, the next six months, your book is still under contract for those next six months. Period. You have to wait until you've gotten notification that the rights have reverted back to you (generally, if you've previously published something, a new publisher may ask to see proof the rights have reverted). You cannot expect to sell it to another publisher without legal repercussions because you will be held liable for breach of contract.
 
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Many contracts state that the author has to request a reversion of rights, so it's not always the case that you have to wait for it to happen. But Ben is right that you can't try to sell a book to a new publisher until the rights have reverted to you.
 

Pisco Sour

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Many contracts state that the author has to request a reversion of rights, so it's not always the case that you have to wait for it to happen. But Ben is right that you can't try to sell a book to a new publisher until the rights have reverted to you.

Yes, I am aware of that. I meant after everything has reverted to me and assumed that my comment would be understood as such. That's why I wrote "when the time comes". I'll go back and edit to clarify further, bc I would never consider flogging a book until I had my reversion of rights letter.
 
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