POD And Reversion Clauses

If a writer's contract contains a decent reversion clause, chances are that their rights will revert to them once their books are out of print or otherwise unavailable for six months or more.

This was fine when offset printing was the only reasonable method of printing available: but the advent of POD printing means that books can continue to be made available even when the publisher is no longer in possession of any physical stock.

Consequently, what used to be standard reversion clauses can now be impossible to invoke, and contracts which don't differentiate between printing technologies can allow publishers to hang on to books they are making no attempt to promote.

In the United States, Simon & Schuster tried to take advantage of this potential difficulty with little success. Now Random House in the United Kingdom is flexing its muscles in the same way.

While relatively few books enjoy a second sale after their rights have been returned, I find it disconcerting to see this potential source of income denied to writers.

If you want to read more on the subject this is an excellent place to start, and Googling "Simon & Schuster" and "rights grab" should find you everything else you need to know.

Why Are Reversion Clauses Important?

While having the rights to a book returned might seem a sign of failure to a writer, or the end of their dreams, it's important to make sure that it's done.

Suppose a writer publishes six moderately-successful books which all go out of print before her seventh becomes an international best-seller. If she's made sure to get the rights to those first six books reverted to her, she can then sell them again—and she's in a position of strength when it comes to negotiating the new deal, so is likely to do well out of it.

At the other end of the scale, consider the new writer who signs with a fledgling independent press. Suppose that independent press can't fund itself adequately and ends up in Administration, as so many do. Without a good reversion clause, all rights that the publisher controls are likely to be considered assets of the company, to be disposed of as the Administrator thinks fit. What chance is there that an Administrator knows his publishing stuff, and will secure the best deal possible for the authors concerned? The same chance that a writer in this situation has of getting her rights back: slim to none. Which means that a book in this situation is, effectively, gone for good.

Contracts And Reversion Clauses

I would always advise writers to ensure that their contracts contain good reversion clauses.

Reversion clauses specify the circumstances under which the rights to publish a book will revert from the publisher to the author: they usually kick in once a book has been out of print, or is otherwise unavailable, for six months or so.

For a reversion clause to be invoked, it's common for the writer (or their agent) to have to request a reversion of rights, so writers must not rely on it happening automatically.

Even when there is no reversion clause in place, it is worth writers requesting the return of their rights once their books show no sales over a period of several months. Most publishers are quite happy to arrange this, so long as they are no longer making any sales on the title.