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If The Price Is Right Writers are often advised never to sign "all
rights" or work-for-hire contracts. I
say "never" is too strong a word. Of course, we should avoid these contracts as much as
possible. After all, when we sign
away our rights, we lose the ability to sell reprints, which can be a
freelancer's lifeblood. However, my policy is "if the price is right, I'll
sign." A few months ago, a
writer's organization proudly proclaimed that one of their members had turned
down a $2/word contract because of the publication's rights-grabbing contract.
I say that member was a fool. How many places were going to reprint that article of his?
I believe it was for Skiing magazine; a specialized market to say the
least. He couldn't have sold to another national magazine
afterwards, since almost no nationals will buy reprints of articles that have
already appeared in other nationals. So,
fine, he might have sold it to a few local or regional publications at
drastically lower rates... but was it really worth it to turn down this
assignment? Let's say he lucks out like crazy and manages to sell it to
another national publication instead. This
publication will buy first North American serial rights, but they'll only pay
$1/word (half of what he would have been paid before).
Now he has the right to sell reprints, so he does—he researches
markets, sends out cover letters and copies of his article, and he manages to
resell it to a newspaper (for $100), a regional magazine (for $.10/word), an
overseas publication (for $.25/word), and a website (for $.15/word).
He still hasn't made as much money as he would have if he'd signed the
original contract, and now he's put in much more work in researching markets,
sending out his article, corresponding with editors, invoicing, etc. I think these unions and writers' organizations have missed
the point when they insist that writers should never sign these kinds of
contracts. The whole point of
retaining rights is so writers can earn a decent wage from their articles.
It's presumed that a writer can't earn a living wage merely selling each
article once, so they need the right to resell each article.
However, if every publication paid $2/word, would we really need to worry
about reprints at all? The price must be right, and it must be appropriate for the
work involved. I'm less hesitant to
sign all rights contracts for timely news articles that I likely won't be able
to sell again next week; I'm also less hesitant to sign when the article is so
specialized that it only fits a few magazines (for example, an article for a
trade magazine for window washers). If
I won't be able to sell the reprint anyway, why bother fighting to keep that
right? When I think I could sell the reprint, I add up what I
think I could reasonably expect to earn from the piece if I sold only
non-exclusive rights. For most
articles, I would only sell about 2-3 reprints.
There have only been a handful of articles that I continue to sell time
after time; for articles with that kind of potential, it would never be
financially feasible for one publication to pay me enough to make it worth it
for me to sell all rights. But for most articles, I've made about $.50/word for first
rights, and between $.10/word and $.25/word for reprints in small-to-mid-sized
magazines and e-zines. So, when I'm
done, I've made between $.70 and $1.25/word altogether.
Now, if a magazine comes along and wants to pay me $1.25/word for all
rights, I'll likely sign. Why?
Because that's the maximum of what I think I can earn for that article
otherwise, and because they've just saved me the time and effort of having to
sell reprints. All I ask is the opportunity to earn a decent living; I
would almost feel greedy trying to resell that $2/word article.
I don't need to make more than that; if I got paid $2/word, I'd only have
to sell about two feature articles a month to earn a very comfortable living. Who could ask for anything more? Jenna Glatzer is the editor-in-chief of Absolute Write (www.absolutewrite.com), where writers can get a free list of more than 180 agents who are open to new writers! She is also the author of OUTWITTING WRITER'S BLOCK AND OTHER PROBLEMS OF THE PEN and other books for writers, which you can read about at http://www.absolutewrite.com/jenna/books.htm if you want to make her day. |
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