Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-08-05
The Evening Star 5 Weekly Review Of Books
A Novel Of Spice and Shocks by Morley Roberts The
Black Cross Glove Authors Rights.

, there r at least two instalments or
| the serial yet forthcoming. Why ID
this? 1t has always been so. IL IT be-
cause the eager reader. anxious 20 know
how the story Is coming out, will rush
in a book store ard buy the books No
one knows. However. the book comes
out. The author probably has sold 20
| his publisher only the American rights.
| He sells nothing to the magazine but
| the serial rights. The magazine copy
rights the story in its or his name out
1t owns only the first serial r1ghts-and
possibly only those in America. Eng
land is still open to him. So It 10 with
the book. The author sells to his pub
Usher on royalty only the right 70 use
the story In book form. All otner
rights he reserves. The publisher very
likely will want the Australian rights
In common with the American rights,
as Australia and America are largely
alike in taste.
By no means has the author ex-
hausted his rights. He has sold the
serial and the book r~ights-and only
the first, rights In each case.
He still retains what are known an
the second serial rights. The sec
ond serial rights are only available
after a book has been published.
These may be otherwise designated as
the newspaper rights. After the book
Is published some one OF the syndf-
Gates, If 1t has been a successful book.
will buy these rights outright ana VIII
run the story In twenty or thirty news
papers in the United States at once.
Most of you see, night after night, Sc
rial stories running in the New York
World, journal, Sun, etc. In most
cases these stories nave appeared in
book form.
After this what has the author left?
One would imagine that he had had
his reward. But he is not yet through.
There are the second book rights, or
the cheap edition rights. The cheap
edition has already been referred to in
these columns as a powerful factor In
modern literature.
Here is a profitable field for the sue
cessful man. Usually the original pub
Usher is interested in this, because he
has manufactured the plates and owns
them and the illustrations, and the
cheap edition publisher needs them in
his business. The original publisher
and the author, therefore, make some
equitable arrangement between them
selves, and then, when approached by
the cheap edition man, they sell to him
outright the right to publish, say $4,000
copies, at so much a copy. Usually the
price which the author gets does not
depend on the sale. If he gives the
right to the cheap edition publisher to
put out $4,000 copies he is paid at the
rate of $1,000 copies, whether the cheap
edition mar sells so many Or not. If
the cheap edition mar wants more he
makes a new deal.
60
Is the author through? Not yet.
Not quite yet. There are left to him
has some pretensions to drama he may
interest a manager, and get an advance
of $500 for these rights. Probably it
will go no further. If he is fortunate
his play will be put on-somewhere. If
he is very fortunate 1t will appear on
Broadway, even though it fails. If it
is a success-but let us get back to
solid earth.
-CS<e
He still has the foreign rights 1t is
a rare thing that these rights are
valuable. England is possible, but
while many English books are pub
lished here the converse Is not true,
and what do you think France or
Germany would give for the rights of
a highly successful American novel?
About $50 or SIS in a lump sum-no
more. They buy them outright. An
American author might make a small
fortune out of his novel here and
might not realize 800 for all the for
eign rights. The foreigners probably
think he's had enough.