>>Essentially, no book will ever be out of print again.<<
Wrong -- and totally unacceptable. Right now there are two kinds of
contracts. Those of us with a little clout can get a "term of lease"
contract that stipulates that the book reverts to us after a certain
amount of time (usually 10 years), even if it's on the bestseller
list at that moment. The more typical contract says that a book
reverts after a certain period (usually 5 years) if it's out of print,
and if the publisher does not go back to press within 6 months of
the author pointing out that the time is up and the book is out
of print.
If an author has had any success at all during the intervening 5 years
since the book was first published, he -wants- it to revert, because
he can re-sell it for a much higher price. (Every book of mine that's
reverted and has been resold got me a -minimum- of twice as much for
the resale as for the original sale.) Now, if a publisher has to pay
to print 5,000 copies, he may decide not to; if he has to pay to print
-1- copy, he'll do it every time, and that book will never revert.
(What, I hear you ask, can a reversion truly be worth? Well, the first
time Asimov sold the Foundation Trilogy, Gnome Press paid him $500
apiece for the 3 titles. The third time, Ballantine paid him $100,000
apiece for the 3 titles; the fourth time, Bantam paid him a million
for the trilogy. Where would he be if Gnome had printed one copy of
each every time he asked for a reversion so he could sell them elsewhere?)
-- Mike Resnick
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