Expert: Cathy Clamp - 5/16/2008

Question
What exactly does it mean when publishers say they buy first world rights?

Answer
Hi, Jim!

Good question! Many aspiring authors get confused about the difference between "rights" and "copyrights." They're two entirely different things, dealing with two different areas of law, so let's go through them briefly.

A "copyright" is part of intellectual property law (copyright, trademark, and patent) and is an author's (artist/songwriter, etc.) ownership of what s/he wrote. Copyright protection in the United States is given to an author the moment s/he puts words to paper or screen (basically, in a tangible form that can be read). This does NOT include "ideas" for books/stories, plot devices, character names, or book titles---plus a whole bunch of other things that can be found on the Copyright office's really good FAQ page, at:

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq

Now, a "first right" or a "first world right" has nothing to do with ownership of the words. It's part of CONTRACT law, and has to do with you granting someone the right to PUBLISH your words. Authors sign contracts with publishers which give them the right to make the book/story available to the public to buy, for which both you and the publisher will earn money. "First" rights means that you, the author, haven't ever made those words available to the public before---whether to another publisher, or (in the opinion of some magazines/publishers) for free through a blog or website. They are the FIRST to publish it, and they are the EXCLUSIVE first publisher. As you can guess, you can only sell first rights once.

There is usually a timeline associated with a first right, because the publisher/magazine is acknowledging that you will be granting someone else a SECOND right (known as a "reprint" or "second serial" right) at some future point. "World" is just the geographic boundary. Another common term is "First North American Rights" which means that the publisher/magazine will only offer the book/story for sale in the United States or Canada. World rights means it can be released anywhere. If you have the option, you might want to limit it down to First World ENGLISH Rights, which would narrow it down to only English-speaking countries. This means you could later sell the exact same story's first FOREIGN rights to the book/story to a German publisher/magazine, or a Japanese, or an Italian one without tromping on the toes of the first ENGLISH rights holder and getting in trouble.

Does that make sense?  Let me know if you have any more questions, and good luck on the deal! :)

Cathy