by Mary Freeman Rosenblum

The day comes. You open that business size envelope with the publisher’s return address on it, holding your breath, fingers crossed…. Yes! You just sold your first story! Breathlessly you unfold that precious contract. First print rights…electronic world anthology rights… Oh my gosh, what does all this mean? But hey, it’s a sale. So you sign on the dotted line and send it back.

These early sales launch our career as a professional. You don’t any previous publishing credits, and some editor is willing to put your work in front of the public, even though only your mother will buy an issue because your name is in it! So we’re not too picky about what we sell at first. But it pays to know exactly what you are selling. What if, three years from now, when you’re a famous pro, a publisher asks to use one of your stories in a prestigious anthology. Can he do it?

Well…that depends. What did you sell to the magazine that first published it? Maybe he can’t use it. Maybe you no longer even own that story!

It pays to understand what you are selling. Ideally, we are not selling our words outright. Instead, we sell a magazine or book publisher the right to publish our words under very specific circumstances. Once that publisher has done so, it has no more legal right to use those words. We can publish them elsewhere. But this is only true if you sell limited rights.

If you sign a contract that grants ‘all rights’ to the publisher, you are selling your words. That means that if the story becomes a blockbuster movie, you the author get…not one cent! The publisher owns those words, not just the right to use them. So if you see those words ‘all rights’ in your contract, ask yourself if you really want to say goodbye to that story or article! You might be willing to give it up, if you wrote it for this particular magazine, and have no other use in mind for it. Then sign it. But realize what you are doing when you pen that signature! So what rights can we sell without giving up our words?

First rights are the ones that make you the most money. They may be First North American Serial Rights: the right to publish your piece in a print magazine for the first time in the US, Canada, and Mexico, First Print Rights: the right to publish this piece for the first time in a print magazine, or First Anthology Rights: the right to publish your story or essay for the first time in a collection of short work (an anthology). Or they may be First Electronic World Rights, the right to publish your work online for the first time on the planet! In every case you are assuring the publisher, when you sign that contract, that your story or article has not been published somewhere else first. If it has been published somewhere, perhaps on your website, the editor may still purchase the piece, although most will not. But that editor will now pay you for Second Rights. That means the piece has been published before…it’s a reprint. Because of that, the pay is much much less. And many editors simply will not publish something that has been published, even for a limited readership. Think about that before you post your unsold story onto your website, or include your essay in the collection published privately by your writers group. You may very well be compromising your ‘First Rights’.

In the past few years, a whole new category of rights have been born: electronic rights. Nearly all contracts now include some statement about electronic rights. Most publishers buy some electronic rights, since most magazines have a website, if not an electronic version. Read that clause carefully. Are they asking for world electronic rights? That means you can’t even put it up on your website. And for how long? Forever? For six months after the print publication? For a year? Many contracts specify a term of use. The contract may purchase Exclusive World Electronic Rights for one year, after which the right to publish online reverts to you.

Exclusive means ‘here and nowhere else’. If you sell exclusive electronic rights, it can only be published on the purchaser’s website. Occasionally, a small press publisher will purchase ‘non exclusive rights’ for a print or electronic piece. This means that while they are purchasing the right to publish your words in their magazine or on their website, you may still publish those words elsewhere at the same time. Generally, the payment for this type of right is very low.

You may run into a contract that specifies ‘one time rights’. That means you are granting the publisher the right to publish your work once. However…if this is a website, how long is that article or story going to be on the site? A monthly print magazine is gone and forgotten in a few weeks, recycled with the old newspapers, but a website is different. Give that some thought before you assign one time publishing rights to the publisher of that ezine. When will that story come down from the website? Ask, and ask for a specific date in the contract!

Many contracts are very vague and very poorly written. They may simply specify First Rights. Well…is that first print rights? Do they mean print and electronic first rights? How long will your story be up on their website? Never be afraid to ask questions. The editor is a professional and deals daily with authors who know enough to alter contracts and demand clarification. A polite request for clarification or a change in the language of the contract is not going to infuriate the editor. Well, if it does, this is not a professional and he or she won’t be in this business long! If you have no contract at all, you have no legal agreement to what this publisher can and cannot do with your words. Yes, verbal agreements are legal and binding, but be sure that you and the publisher are both very clear about what is and is not included in your handshake!

This is your story, your essay, your article. If you have questions about what you are selling to an editor, ask that person. Send him or her an email if the contract seems vague to you. If you want to post the piece on your website, and you’re not sure if it will compromise the contract, send the editor an email. That’s professional behavior and the editor will respect it. And if the publisher wants all rights, and you think you might want to publish this piece somewhere else one day, then offer to sell them First rights of some sort. And if they refuse to change the contract, think about saying ‘no thanks’. If you’ve sold once, you’re going to sell again. Stand up for your rights and your words! Know what you are signing!

Check out the ‘Contracts Watch’ newsletter, put out the American Society of Journalists and Authors. You can find it on the website at:

Remember…they’re you’re words!