Subsidiary Considerations: Reprint Rights - podcast

Judy Klein, an agent and rights consultant, discusses reprint rights for books, including what they are, how they have changed over time, and how they relate to other subsidiary rights. Up until a few years ago, reprint rights were a big deal. Your publisher would acquire the rights to your book and produce it in hard cover. That arrangement still exists, but publishing companies have acquired other publishing companies and become conglomerates, so they often have the ability to publish paperbacks within their own organizations. As a result, the author will rarely see more money from reprint rights. In the old days, rights directors paid their mortgages by having auctions for books. Two or three companies would compete for the rights to a book, and they would end up paying six or even seven figures. That has changed, but you can still make money from reprint rights and reach a different audience.