Publishing rights are the separate permissions that come with your copyright: to print the book, sell it as an ebook, record it as an audiobook, translate it, adapt it for film, and more. A publishing contract decides which of those rights you hand over, for which territories, for how long and for what share of the money. Reading a contract well means checking each of those four things, plus the clauses that control how you get the rights back.

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This guide explains how copyright and publishing rights fit together, walks through the contract clauses that matter most, and shows what self-publishers own and how to manage it. It is general information, not legal advice. For any contract you are about to sign, have it reviewed by a publishing lawyer or an authors’ organisation that offers contract vetting.

At a glance

• Copyright is automatic in the countries that belong to the Berne Convention, which covers most of the world. You own it the moment the work is written down.
• A contract is a licence of rights, not a sale of the book. Every right, territory and format you do not grant stays with you.
• Four questions decide most contracts: which rights, which territories, for how long, and for what money.
• The clauses that cause lasting regret are usually reversion (getting rights back), option, non-compete and over-broad grants of subsidiary rights.
• Self-publishers keep every right, but platform terms such as exclusivity programmes still restrict what you can do, so keep a written record of what you have licensed.

How copyright and publishing rights fit together

Copyright is the legal ownership of your text. Publishing rights are the individual uses that ownership lets you control. Think of copyright as the whole and rights as slices you can license separately, to different people, in different countries, for different periods.

Copyright is automatic

Under the Berne Convention, copyright protection does not depend on registration. In most countries, the work is protected as soon as it exists in fixed form. Some countries offer optional registration that adds practical benefits. In the United States, for example, the US Copyright Office explains that registration is needed before you can sue for infringement of a US work, and timely registration makes statutory damages and legal costs available. The legal basics of registration, trademarks and permissions are covered in legal basics for self-publishers.

How long copyright lasts

In the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Australia and Canada, copyright in a work by an individual author generally lasts for the author’s life plus 70 years. In the US, works made for hire last 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever ends first. The Berne Convention minimum is life plus 50 years, and some countries still use that term. Rules for older works and special cases vary, so check your own country’s copyright office if the date matters.

Copyright in AI-assisted work

Copyright protects human authorship. The US Copyright Office’s 2025 report on copyrightability concluded that material generated entirely by AI is not protected, while human-authored text, and human selection and arrangement, can be. If you use AI tools in your writing, keep the creative work yours and keep notes on how you used them. Contracts increasingly ask authors to confirm this, and some now restrict the publisher’s use of your text to train AI systems; the Authors Guild publishes a model clause for that purpose.

The rights a contract can cover

Contracts usually divide rights into primary rights (the publisher’s core business) and subsidiary rights (licences the publisher may sell on to others, sharing the income with you).

Right	Type	What it covers	Questions to ask
Print (hardcover, paperback)	Primary	Publishing physical editions	Which formats? Will each actually be published?
Ebook	Primary	Digital editions	What royalty, and is it on list price or net receipts?
Audio	Primary or subsidiary	Audiobook recording and sale	Will the publisher produce it, or should you keep it?
Translation and foreign	Subsidiary	Editions in other languages and countries	Does the publisher have a rights team that sells abroad?
Film, TV and dramatic	Subsidiary	Screen, stage and adaptation options	Agents usually keep these for the author. Why grant them?
Serial and excerpt	Subsidiary	Extracts in magazines, newspapers or online	First serial (before publication) or second serial (after)?
Merchandise	Subsidiary	Products based on characters or artwork	Relevant mainly for children’s, fantasy and illustrated books.
Anthology and quotation	Subsidiary	Permission for others to reprint parts	Who approves and how is the fee split?

The guiding principle is simple: grant a right only if the publisher has the means and intention to use it. A right sitting unused with a publisher is income you cannot earn elsewhere.

The four questions every grant of rights answers

1. Which rights? The grant clause lists them. Look for catch-all wording such as “all rights in all media now known or hereafter devised”, which hands over far more than most publishers will ever exploit.
2. Which territories? World, world English, or specific countries. A publisher without international sales should not need world rights in every language.
3. For how long? Many traditional trade contracts run for the full term of copyright, ending only through reversion. Others, especially for audio, small presses and some digital-first publishers, license rights for a fixed number of years. A fixed term is generally better for the author.
4. For what money? The advance, the royalty rates, the splits on subsidiary income and how often you are paid.

Royalties and advances: what to expect

Royalty rates

Rates vary by publisher, country and format. As a reference point, the Authors Guild’s model trade book contract describes these as common rates at larger US publishers:

Format	Common rate	Calculated on
Hardcover	10%, rising to 12.5% and then 15% at higher sales	List price
Trade paperback	7.5% (sometimes negotiable to 10%)	List price
Mass market paperback	8%, rising to 10%	List price
Ebook	25%	Net receipts
Digital audio	25%	Net receipts

Two details make a large difference. First, “list price” (the cover price) and “net receipts” (what the publisher actually receives after retailer discounts) produce very different figures from the same percentage. Second, smaller publishers often pay on net receipts for every format. Always work out what the royalty means in money per copy.

Advances

An advance is a payment against future royalties. You earn no further royalties until the book’s royalties exceed the advance (known as earning out). Under most trade contracts, an advance is not repayable if the book simply sells poorly, but it can be reclaimed if you fail to deliver an acceptable manuscript. Check how the advance is split (for example, on signing, on delivery and on publication), because later instalments can be delayed for years.

Accounting details that change what you receive

• Reserve against returns: publishers may hold back part of your print royalties in case bookshops return copies. Ask for a limit on the percentage and how long it can be held.
• Joint accounting (cross-collateralisation): if two contracts are accounted together, earnings from a successful book can be used to repay the advance on a weaker one. Ask for each book to be accounted separately.
• Statement frequency: royalty statements are commonly issued twice a year. Know when payment follows each statement.
• Audit rights: you should be able to have the publisher’s records examined, with the publisher paying the cost if a significant underpayment is found.

The clauses that matter most

Clause	What it does	Fairer version	Red flag
Reversion (out of print)	Returns rights to you when the book stops selling	A sales-based trigger, such as earnings below a set amount over two consecutive statements	“In print” if available in any format, including print on demand or ebook
Option	Gives the publisher first look at your next book	Limited to the next book in the same series, with a short decision deadline after submission	Covers all future work, or lets the publisher match any offer you receive
Non-compete	Stops you publishing books that compete with this one	Narrow subject, limited time (often around a year or two)	Bans any book in your genre for the life of the contract
Warranty and indemnity	You promise the work is original and not defamatory, and cover the publisher’s losses if not	Limited to proven breaches, with the publisher covering its own legal review	You pay for any claim, even unfounded ones
Approvals	Your say on title, cover and blurb	Meaningful consultation, or approval not to be unreasonably withheld	No input at all
Termination	How either side can end the contract	Clear rights to end it if the publisher fails to publish by a deadline or stops paying	Only the publisher can terminate

Reversion deserves special attention. With print on demand and ebooks, a book never has to go out of print in the traditional sense. If the contract says a book is “in print” while it is available in any edition, you may never get your rights back. A sales-based threshold fixes that.

A contract review checklist

• List every right granted and cross out any the publisher cannot show it will use.
• Confirm the territory and language, and whether it matches the publisher’s actual reach.
• Note the term: life of copyright or a fixed number of years.
• Convert each royalty rate into money per copy, using a realistic price and discount.
• Check the split on every subsidiary right.
• Read the reversion clause and make sure it includes a sales-based trigger.
• Narrow the option and non-compete clauses to specific books and time limits.
• Check reserves, joint accounting, statement dates and audit rights.
• Look for any clause on AI use of your text, and decide whether to request one.
• Check what happens if the publisher is sold, goes bankrupt or fails to publish by a stated date.
• Ask for any spoken promise (marketing plans, formats, dates) to be written into the contract.
• Have the contract reviewed by a publishing lawyer or an authors’ organisation before you sign.

Several professional bodies, including the Society of Authors in the UK, the Authors Guild in the US and the Australian Society of Authors, offer contract advice or vetting to members. Membership fees vary; check what each includes.

Watch for publishers who charge you

A traditional publisher pays the author. Some companies call themselves publishers, charge authors substantial fees for “packages” and still take a long or exclusive grant of rights. Before signing with any company that asks for payment, read the contract with extra care, look for independent reviews, and check industry watchdog resources such as Writer Beware, run by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association. If you are paying for services, you should normally keep your rights and be free to leave.

Rights for self-publishers: what you own and what platforms restrict

When you self-publish, you keep all rights. Platforms such as KDP, IngramSpark and Draft2Digital receive a non-exclusive licence to distribute the files you upload, under their terms of service. That said, a few programmes and choices do affect what you can do with your rights.

Choice	What it restricts	For how long
KDP Select (Kindle Unlimited)	The ebook edition must be exclusive to Amazon; print and audio are not affected	90-day terms that renew automatically unless you opt out
ACX exclusive distribution (audiobooks)	The audiobook is distributed only through ACX’s channels, in return for a higher royalty than non-exclusive	A multi-year term set in ACX’s agreement; check the current terms
Licensing a translation or audio edition to another company	Whatever rights, territories and term that contract grants	As agreed in the contract
Using a free platform ISBN	Does not transfer rights, but the ISBN can only be used for that platform’s edition	For that edition

Before enrolling in an exclusive programme, read the guide to Kindle Unlimited and KDP Select. If you are considering audio, the audiobook production and distribution guide explains the main routes. On identifiers, how to get an ISBN explains why the ISBN you use affects who appears as publisher but not who owns the rights.

Licensing your rights as a self-publisher

Self-published authors can and do license individual rights: translation rights to foreign publishers, audio rights to audiobook publishers, and occasionally film or TV options. Buyers will want evidence that you hold the rights cleanly, which comes from your contracts and records. Keep the cover artwork licence too, because a foreign publisher or audio producer may want to reuse the cover, and many artwork licences limit where it can be used.

Keep a rights log

A simple spreadsheet prevents accidental double-licensing and makes you easier to deal with. For each book, record:

• Each format and edition, with its ISBN or store identifier.
• Every licence granted: who to, which rights, territory, language, start date, end date and royalty.
• Exclusivity commitments and renewal dates (such as KDP Select terms).
• Cover, illustration and font licences, including any limits on use.
• Where the signed contracts are stored.

If you write under more than one name, record which name each book and contract is under; the pen names guide covers how pseudonyms work with contracts and payments. If you receive royalties from overseas, KDP tax and withholding explains how to avoid unnecessary deductions.

Common mistakes

• Signing without independent review. Publishing contracts use specialised terms, and small wording changes can have big long-term effects.
• Granting rights the publisher will not use. Film, merchandise and world translation rights are often included by default.
• Accepting a reversion clause without a sales trigger. With ebooks and print on demand, the book may never count as out of print.
• Agreeing to a broad option or non-compete. These can block your other writing for years.
• Comparing royalty percentages without the base. A percentage of list price and the same percentage of net receipts are very different amounts.
• Relying on spoken promises. If it matters, it belongs in the contract.
• Losing track of licences. Self-publishers who license audio or translation rights without a record risk licensing the same right twice.

Before you sign with anyone, it helps to know what a literary agent does and how they are paid.

Sources this guide draws on: the Berne Convention as summarised by the World Intellectual Property Organization; US Copyright Office guidance on registration, duration and its 2025 report on copyrightability and AI; the Authors Guild Model Trade Book Contract and its model AI training clause; guidance from the Society of Authors and the Australian Society of Authors; Writer Beware; and KDP Select and ACX help pages, checked in October 2026.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between copyright and publishing rights?

Copyright is your ownership of the work. Publishing rights are the specific uses (print, ebook, audio, translation, film and so on) that you can license to others. You can license a right without giving up your copyright.

Do I need to register copyright to own it?

No. In countries that follow the Berne Convention, copyright is automatic. Some countries, including the United States, offer registration that gives practical legal advantages if you ever need to enforce your rights.

What are subsidiary rights?

They are rights beyond the publisher’s main editions, such as translation, film, serial and merchandise rights. The publisher may license them to others and share the income with you, so only grant the ones the publisher has the reach to sell.

How do I get my rights back from a publisher?

Through the reversion or termination clause in your contract. Usually you write to the publisher when the book meets the out-of-print or low-sales condition, and the publisher has a set period to reissue the book or return the rights. A clear sales-based trigger makes this much easier.

Does Amazon own my book if I publish on KDP?

No. You keep your copyright and all rights. KDP receives a non-exclusive licence to sell what you upload, and if you enrol in KDP Select, you agree to keep the ebook exclusive to Amazon for each 90-day term.

Should I hire a lawyer to review a publishing contract?

For any contract that grants rights for years or pays an advance, independent review is worth it. A publishing lawyer or an authors’ organisation that offers contract vetting will know which terms are standard and which can be improved.

Your rights are the long-term value of everything you write. Grant only what will be used, insist on a clear way to get rights back, and keep a written record of every licence. Do that, and each book stays an asset you control.