Ugh, Internet was down for two whole days. A suburn-wide blackout where I live – thanks to the NBN installation, there’s been a lot of hiccups in the Internet connection lately. I thought I’d better post this up while the connection is still here.

 

• This is part of an on-going blog series called “Being a Professional Manga Artist in the West“. The Table of Contents is here.
• My comics-prose stories “Short Ghost Stories: The Man with the Axe in his Back” is available on Smashwords and Amazon. Read more at this link.

 

 

Part 4c: What is Copyright?

Disclaimer: I talk about publishing contracts, but this is not a definitive guide. I try and keep my information accurate, but if there are any corrections, please let me know. This is not legal advice – I have no authority to give out legal advice. If you’re offered a publishing contract and you’re unsure of the terms, please find a legal professional who can help you.

To understand how a copyright license works, you must first understand what a copyright is.

A copyright is a creator’s exclusive right to make copies of their own work, and then distribute and profit off it. Hence it’s called a “copy right” – it refers to the right to make copies (and to do various things with those copies). This legal concept of “copyright” is protected by law, and protection is automatic, the moment you commit pen to paper and start creating the work. However, this protection extends only to countries who are part of the Berne Convention, and when it comes to court of law, it varies from country to country.

 

 

To give you an example, here’s a photo of all the books I’ve had published over the years. You can buy most of these as a print book from a bookstore, or from Amazon, or as ebooks from various places. The copyright on these vary, because some of these are where I worked only as an illustrator, while others I own partial copyright. That’s the thing about publishing – you don’t always own everything you do, and if you sell off a license, you no longer own the right to sell or distribute your own work.

An easier way to talk about copyright would be through the books I’ve self-published.

 

 

Here’s a pic of three books I’ve self published – “Queenie Chan: Short Stories 2000-2010”, and two versions of “Short Ghost Stories: The Man with the Axe in his Back”.

All of these books are copyrighted to me. Regardless of when I wrote and drew the short stories in “Short Ghost Stories”, I had copyright protection on all of those stories from the moment they were created. I own the exclusive right to make copies of “Short Ghost Stories”, to distribute and then sell it. By “exclusive”, I mean only me, and no one else, has that right.

If you bought a print copy of “Short Ghost Stories” off Lulu, and then scanned the book into your computer and then distributed it, then you’ve just committed “copyright infringement”. Scanning or reprinting the book in small numbers don’t really count as “infringement”, but distributing it en masse certainly will. You can own the physical copy of “Short Ghost Stories” (which would include all the paper, ink, and binding) and the right to do whatever you want with that particular copy. This includes the right to give it to someone else, resell to a used book store, to cut, to glue, to scan and reprint, and you can even translate and use it as a study. You can also scan it, link it to a page and talk about it (to criticize, to compliment or to hate) – all that is under fair use agreement. However, the right to distribute en masse (ie. distribute to file sharing sites and release the links) the contents of “Short Ghost Stories” is a right you don’t have. Profiting off it is also a right that only the copyright holder has.

You can purchase individual copies of my print book or e-book. However, no matter how many copies you purchase of “Short Ghost Stories”, the right to make money off the contents of the book via mass distribution doesn’t belong to you. Only the original creator (me) has that right. Or, if I licensed that right to a publisher, then they have that right. If I licensed that right to you (for a sum of money), then you have that right.

Now that you understand a bit about copyright and what you’re selling to a publisher, let’s talk about the length of a publishing contract.

 

Part 4d: If I Sell an Exclusive License to a Publisher, How Long does that License Last For?

If you have a good agent/intellectual property attorney, then hopefully the exclusive license to publish your book in hardcover/paperback and e-book only. Hopefully, that term of the contract will be 5-10 years, rather than the full-term of copyright. If it’s not a specified time frame, then it’ll be for the full-term of the copyright, unless there is something else in the contract that mentions a particular situation for a full rights-reversion.

A full-term of copyright lasts until the death of the creator, plus 70 years – and this is constantly getting extended. If you sell the exclusive right to publish your story to a publisher without specifying a time frame or an ‘out of print’ clause, then they’ll keep those rights until 70+ years after your death… so not only you, but your children and your children’s children will be affected.

These days, specifying a ‘time frame’ in your contract is a great idea. It’s because with the advent of e-books, ‘out of print’ clausesare now losing their original intent. ‘Out of print’ clauses used to be the last chance for a writer to get their rights back from a publisher, but since e-books are in print forever, these clauses have lost all meaning (and thus, their teeth).

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Anyway, hopefully you got paid a decent amount. Next week, I’ll talk about getting paid an advance, and what that is. These posts are coming to a close, and there are only a few posts left, so I’ll make it quick.

Well, “Short Ghost Stories: The Man with the Axe in his Back” is out, and you can get it from the links below. I have also gotten a Cintiq drawing tablet, one where your draw only the screen. Colour art is now a lot easier, as evidenced by the Megaman fanart I pumped out in a few hours. WOOT! Expect some more colour art next year! 😀

 

• This is part of an on-going blog series called “Being a Professional Manga Artist in the West“. The Table of Contents is here.
• My comics-prose stories “Short Ghost Stories: The Man with the Axe in his Back” is available on Smashwords and Amazon. Read more at this link.

 

 

Part 4: You Got a Publishing Deal!

Assuming your agent is successful in selling your work, and you got a publishing deal! Likewise, I can also assume that you were successful in selling your own work to a publisher (with or without an agent), and the publishing house has offered you a publishing deal. This means that the publisher will now forward a copy of your publishing contract, plus your advance. So, what does this all mean?

Anyway, this section will tackle some of the issues that crop up in a publishing contract, and also what to expect. There will be much talk about copyright, licenses, advances, copies printed, shipped, sold and returned, and royalties (if any).

Disclaimer: I talk about the publishing contracts, but this is not a definitive guide. I try and keep my information accurate, but if there are any corrections, please let me know. This is also not in any way meant to be legal advice – I have no authority to give out legal advice. If you’re offered a publishing contract and you’re unsure of the terms, please find a legal professional who can help you.

 

Part 4a: Dealing with a Publishing Contract

Every single publishing agreement is different, but I shall try and take a more generalised approach. The other thing is that it’s impossible to talk about publishing contracts without also explaining the concept of copyright. Still, it’s important I lay some ground rules down, because without it, you may end up not understanding much in this section.

There’s also the incidence of unscrupulous publishing contracts increasing, so I feel the need to warn people. A few years ago, publishing contracts only covered limited publishing rights, but now, many of them make a rights-grab for everything you have. The other issue is with the way money is accounted for inside various publishing houses for various publishing deals. What were once egregious accounting practices has now become the new normal.

This means the next big topics are these two things:

LEGAL STUFF and MONEY.

These are things that need to be addressed, in order for people to understand exactly what it is they’re selling when they sign a publishing contract with a publisher.

 

Part 4b: Firstly, What are you Selling to a Publisher when you Enter into a Publishing Agreement?

Read the question I posed above, and give me your answer.

If you answered “a story” to my question, then you’re wrong.

If you answered “a book”, “a novel”, “a manga” or a “manga-style comic book”, you’re wrong too.

If you answered “my story”, you’re even more wrong. If you sold “your story” to a publisher, it may well mean that you sold the entirety of your copyright to your story, which means that your publisher now owns your story, not you. When your publisher owns your copyright, they can make TV, movies, comic books, novels, audio books, video games, picture books, etc from your story without paying you a cent, because you don’t own the copyright anymore.

So, what do you sell a publisher, when you sign a publishing agreement?

You sell a license. Typically, a license to publish your work in book form, and book form only. A license is a “right”. It’s not any of the copyright you own on your story.

Specifically, it’s a license that gives the publisher an exclusive right to copy, distribute and sell your work, in a particular language, a particular region, and a particular format.

• Region rights cover where the book can be published and sold. Usually the planet can be divided in whatever way you wish, but normally it’s by continents or countries. I can bag “US” rights, or “Canadian” rights, but typically people go for “North American” rights. I can bag “Japan” rights, or I can bag “Russian” rights. Alternatively, I can go “English-speaking region” rights, which would include the US, Canada, UK, Australian and New Zealand. (Oddly enough, it’ll leave out Singapore and India, which are considered different regions of the world)
• Language rights are usually intertwined with Region-rights. It doesn’t make sense for a Korean publisher to bag “Japan” rights, or for a French publisher to bag “German” rights. However, it does make sense for a Taiwanese publisher to try and bag “Hong Kong and Macau” rights, including “China” rights if they can profit off it.
• Format may be a hardcover book, a paperback book, an audio book, an e-book, or a book in braille format. (Once upon a time, the rights to these different formats were sold separately, though they’re now bundled into one publishing contract.)

The rights to make foreign-language translations, movies, plays, musicals, video games and novelizations off your story is a secondary right, known either as a “derivative right” or a “subsidiary right”. You can sell all the book publishing rights to your story (world-wide rights, all languages rights, all book formats) without selling a single derivative right to your story.

Now, a book publisher has no real business trying to get movie rights to your book, but they’ll certainly try to get it from you if they can get away with it. I call this sort of thing a ‘rights grab’, and creators need to be wary of this sort of thing cropping up in publishing contracts. Believe me, copyright is important, and understanding how to sell a license your copyright (or purchase a license for a copyright) is crucial to being a creator in this day and age.

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Next week, I’ll talk about copyrights., which is very important.

I got my book “Short Ghost Stories” back from copy-editing! Amazingly enough, there weren’t that many grammar mistakes! The joys of learning to proof-read. There are a few tweaks here and there, so I’m going to spend some time fixing these, and then putting the book out on the 1st August!

 

• This is part of an on-going blog series called “Being a Professional Manga Artist in the West“. The Table of Contents is here.
• Meanwhile, my comics-prose stories “Short Ghost Stories: The Man with the Axe in his Back” will be on Smashwords on the 1st August, 2014. Check it out if you like “The Dreaming” – this ebook is $4.99, but will be on discount for $2.99 until 31st August, 2014!

 



 

Part 3c: Where can a manga-style comic artist find an agent?

I suppose you’ll ask me where to find an agent for your manga-style comic. I’m afraid there are only a very small number of literary agents who represent graphic novels in the book world, and my own agent isn’t taking on any new clients. You don’t need an agent to get published though, and I would always point out that while it’s a convenience, it’s not a must.

(Besides, my agent told me a few years ago that due to the steep decline of the manga market in the US, publishers have openly stated ‘NO MANGA PLEASE.’ Unfortunately, this means that even if you do manage to find a literary agent, the fact that you’re a manga-style comic artist may mean there’s not much money to be made by taking you on. Sadly, you can’t blame them because it’s a business, and agents need to eat too.)

However, things can change at any time, so don’t take my word for it. The one constant in life is change. Same goes for publishing.

 

Part 3d: Warning – Unscrupulous Agents and Scammers Exist

Lastly, I want to mention that agents don’t represent all your work, and shouldn’t represent everything you do. Your contract with your agent should never state that they represent the entirety of your output, because as an author, you still have the right to negotiate particular contracts on your own. (I hope I don’t need to mention that it’s best to get a fully qualified legal professional to check out said contract before you sign it. It’s a bad idea to sign things you don’t fully understand.)

There are some unscrupulous agents who will try and represent all of your output, and you need to be careful of them. The majority of agents are well-meaning, ethical people, but as in all industries, there are unscrupulous individuals looking to rip-off naïve and ill-informed creators. This is especially important, because there are no laws governing literary agents – it’s a completely unregulated industry. If some spat happens between you and your agent due to an agency agreement that you wilfully signed, it can be very hard to gain any sort of legal recourse.

Either way, getting an agent to take you on can be tough. It should be tough, since the agent will now have to spend time selling your work, and that may or may not pay off. Beware the agent who (a) asks for money upfront, and (b) is eager to take you on without thoroughly checking out your work. I’ve already said that proper agents never ask for money upfront, but more importantly, publishers also measure the respectability of an agent by the quality of the writers/artists they represent. If an agent takes on every Tom, Dick and Harry they meet, then that agent’s respectability is suspect, isn’t it?

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Next Wednesday, I move onto actually getting a publishing deal! Yay!