When paperbacks took off, through lucrative deals with paperback publishers, that became another right to carve out, as did film, and book club, and serials, and audio. Some of these rights — like film – are almost never sold to publishers anymore; others — like paperback — are still included routinely in book deals but publishers have to pay for them; and still others — like audio — may be sold to the print publisher (at a price) or retained and sold separately to an independent audiobook house.
Which brings us to the question of the moment: where will ebook rights end up?
Publishers are now strenuously making the argument that ebooks are like paperbacks, a primary right, and they cannot create a publishing strategy for a title without controlling rights to both print and digital. Some agents and independent e-publishers, meanwhile, foresee a future in which ebooks are just one more right to carve out, like audiobooks, to sell to the print publisher at a price or to an independent digital house. But around the edges of debates about the old model, a new possibility is arising.
What if ebooks force a wholesale re-thinking of the contract for books in all shapes and forms?
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