I know I am not currently published, but I plan to be. So it’s quite worrying to read all of the news articles talking about how some publishers and magazines are demanding all rights when writers submit work to them. As much as I want to be published if I was to see something like this in an agreement or contract, whoever the publisher is they can kiss my ass! I would rather remain unpublished than let a greedy company “own” my intellectual property. I had a friend who was recently in a situation like this although for him the company was lazy and didn’t get the contract to him until after the work was published and available to purchase. He, of course, refused to sign it and they should have removed his work from the book. A blow to him but good on him for refusing to bow to the greedy unscrupulous publisher, it’s just not worth it to let go of all rights to a piece of work he has worked hard on.
How do you avoid this kind of situation? Always read the contract! I can’t say this enough. In this day and age of the internet and the many devices and different ways to make money from your creative work, you need to ensure you are protected. Writers are paid little enough these days so there is the need to ensure you can get the most from each piece of work.
This is a situation where I really hope the creative industry get behind each other and stop submitting to any magazine or publisher that tries to do this. That is the only way they will learn enough to revert back to the older and much better system.
