Many thanks to the co-hosts for the July 6 posting of the IWSG: J Lenni Dorner, Janet Alcorn, PJ Colando, Jenni Enzor, and Diane Burton!
Whoops, I almost forgot about IWSG again! Too many summer days at the swimming pool. Ahhhhh.
Instead of answering this month’s question, I have a question for you. Have you ever asked for your rights back from your publisher in order to self-publish past novels? I’m considering doing so (now that the contracts have elapsed), taking time to update, and I’m looking for tips and pros/cons.
See you at the pool!
Jennifer Lane Books 
Hi,
No, I haven’t gotten that far yet. I hope you get some good information from some of the writers here.
All the best.
Shalom aleichem,
Pat G @ EverythingMustChange
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Indeed I have, Pat! ❤
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I haven’t been published yet, so I don’t have an answer for you, but I’ll be interested to see what others have to say.
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Thank you for stopping by, Janet! ❤
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I’ve sent a letter requesting return of rights to my publisher and got them back. Unfortunately the first 3 books in the series didn’t have a reversion clause in the contract so they wouldn’t release them. There are sample of reversion letters on line. Pick the one best suited and make sure your specify a time line for receiving their reply!! I put two months and heard back within that time period from my NY publisher.
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Thank you for the info, Nancy! I don’t believe there has been a reversion issue with other authors requesting their rights back from our publisher, but there are often surprises in this publishing biz! 🙂
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I don’t know how to do it, but I’m glad Nancy commented on how she did it.
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Hi, Natalie! *waves*
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Not thought of it, but I know several writers who have done it.
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Yep. Not sure I have the energy for it, but maybe in the future!
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I don’t have an answer for you. When I was published, it was with a small publisher, and the contracts included time limits on the publishing rights. After those contracts had expired, the rights reverted to me by default.
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Interesting, Olga. I believe other authors with my small publisher had to request the rights back, even though the contracts had expired. Thanks for the info!
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I have not. I know my pal Misha did, but she was living in South Africa at the time and contract law probably varies by country. MishaGerrick on Twitter. She has some good fantasy books.
For the IWSG July prompt asking which book world I would live in, I narrowed it down to three choices.
One is a short-story I published. One is from a popular series. And one is better known from television, but there are books. It’s all on my blog.
“Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” – Warren Buffett
Over at Operation Awesome, our Pass or Pages query contest is open this week with July’s family saga genre. Know any writers who might want to enter?
J Lenni Dorner (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) ~ Co-host of the #AtoZchallenge, OperationAwesome6 Debut Author Interviewer, Reference& Speculative Fiction Author
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Thank you for the reference, J! 🙂
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