Another great informative video, thank you. I have an unrelated question. I am from Ireland and currently living in Switzerland and I was wondering can I query agents in the US (ie you guys!) or would I need to stay within Europe? Also another idea for a video might be book fairs and would these benefit first time authors? I'm a first time picture book author so these videos are invaluable, thank you both again, Lisa 💖
Hi! Agencies might differ on this, but BookEnds for example definitely has lots of authors that are living in countries other than the U.S.! So don't feel like you have to stay within Europe during your querying! And thanks for the video idea :)
Please consider doing a video on bilingual books? Which I see more often as children's books. Does the author query in both languages? Do they specify to the agent in the query about the book being bilingual?
Another great video! And on the subject of IP, what if the IP lies with the author/illustrator, how tied up do your rights get when getting published? Suppose the author wants to do a sequel to a book (or makes it into a whole series), but the publisher does not, could the author go find another publisher? And do subsidiary rights by default remain with the creator, and are they for instance free to create merchandise on their own (or through a third party) or does the publisher have a say in this too? In other words, what is common: does a publisher have just the rights to publish the one book (supposing the contract only speaks of one book), or do their rights cover all exploitation of the IP that the book holds?
Hi there! Typically with IP, the publisher holds all rights (copyright, subsidiary, translations, etc.) to the book/series so the author will not be able to go off and write their own sequels, or do any subsidiary rights dealing. This would all be outlined in the contract, though, so if there were any exceptions to this, the author would know! :)
Hi, and thanks so much for your response! I am rather taken aback to learn that it is common for publisher to claim the ownership of an IP they did not create. Any third party wanting to exploit an IP -for instance for creating merchandise- would get a license for specific use, not ownership of the IP. What makes publishers different? I could see if they significantly helped develop the IP there could be some sort of shared ownership. But if the publisher's contribution was limited -the book was all but fully formed by the author and could more or less go straight to print- then from my perspective anything beyond a license to publish would be unfair. It's no different I suppose from the licenses that are sold in translation rights. I assume those foreign publisher don't get any ownership? Does this all mean J.K. Rowling does not own Harry Potter? And that if Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone had underperformed and Bloomsbury had decided to leave the series at part 1, there's nothing Rowling could have done and the entire rest of the series would never have seen the light of day? Once again the publishing world has me baffled :)
@@BookEndsLiterary Actually... are we talking about the same IP here? I was referring to where an IP originated with the author, not the publisher. When I check the colophons of the picture books I have in my bookcase, almost all state Copyright (c) 'author name'. Don't the authors then still have ownership of the IP?
Another querying question/agent question: What are some pitfalls or green flags for authors who are writing books within a planned series? Second, is it easier, harder, or the same to pitch a book that is planned to be part of a series?
You mentioned third party companies that manage IP. If they approached an author, how would they then go about getting that book published? Would the company directly approach the publisher or would they go through an agent?
Is there a way to tell if a book was IP (not for licensed IP but the other kind) in say the copyright page of a book? Also what percentage of projects that you take on at BookEnds would you say are IP versus the author’s idea?
Super interesting. Thanks.
Would love a video all about option clauses, including how the terms can vary etc. Thanks for all you do!
I would like to know more about publishing for children, middle grade and YA and all the sub-genres.
Another great informative video, thank you. I have an unrelated question. I am from Ireland and currently living in Switzerland and I was wondering can I query agents in the US (ie you guys!) or would I need to stay within Europe? Also another idea for a video might be book fairs and would these benefit first time authors? I'm a first time picture book author so these videos are invaluable, thank you both again, Lisa 💖
Hi! Agencies might differ on this, but BookEnds for example definitely has lots of authors that are living in countries other than the U.S.! So don't feel like you have to stay within Europe during your querying! And thanks for the video idea :)
Thank you for your reply, that's super 💖
Please consider doing a video on bilingual books? Which I see more often as children's books. Does the author query in both languages? Do they specify to the agent in the query about the book being bilingual?
Hi there! We have this idea in our docket of potential videos, hopefully we can get to it sometime soon :)
Another great video! And on the subject of IP, what if the IP lies with the author/illustrator, how tied up do your rights get when getting published? Suppose the author wants to do a sequel to a book (or makes it into a whole series), but the publisher does not, could the author go find another publisher? And do subsidiary rights by default remain with the creator, and are they for instance free to create merchandise on their own (or through a third party) or does the publisher have a say in this too?
In other words, what is common: does a publisher have just the rights to publish the one book (supposing the contract only speaks of one book), or do their rights cover all exploitation of the IP that the book holds?
Hi there! Typically with IP, the publisher holds all rights (copyright, subsidiary, translations, etc.) to the book/series so the author will not be able to go off and write their own sequels, or do any subsidiary rights dealing. This would all be outlined in the contract, though, so if there were any exceptions to this, the author would know! :)
Hi, and thanks so much for your response!
I am rather taken aback to learn that it is common for publisher to claim the ownership of an IP they did not create. Any third party wanting to exploit an IP -for instance for creating merchandise- would get a license for specific use, not ownership of the IP. What makes publishers different?
I could see if they significantly helped develop the IP there could be some sort of shared ownership. But if the publisher's contribution was limited -the book was all but fully formed by the author and could more or less go straight to print- then from my perspective anything beyond a license to publish would be unfair. It's no different I suppose from the licenses that are sold in translation rights. I assume those foreign publisher don't get any ownership?
Does this all mean J.K. Rowling does not own Harry Potter? And that if Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone had underperformed and Bloomsbury had decided to leave the series at part 1, there's nothing Rowling could have done and the entire rest of the series would never have seen the light of day?
Once again the publishing world has me baffled :)
@@BookEndsLiterary Actually... are we talking about the same IP here? I was referring to where an IP originated with the author, not the publisher. When I check the colophons of the picture books I have in my bookcase, almost all state Copyright (c) 'author name'. Don't the authors then still have ownership of the IP?
Another querying question/agent question: What are some pitfalls or green flags for authors who are writing books within a planned series? Second, is it easier, harder, or the same to pitch a book that is planned to be part of a series?
Great questions! We'll add em to our list of video ideas :)
You mentioned third party companies that manage IP. If they approached an author, how would they then go about getting that book published? Would the company directly approach the publisher or would they go through an agent?
Is there a way to tell if a book was IP (not for licensed IP but the other kind) in say the copyright page of a book? Also what percentage of projects that you take on at BookEnds would you say are IP versus the author’s idea?
Good subject. I understood it slightly different.
I’m curious your thoughts on AI writing books for authors. I keep seeing talk about this is happening.
If an author doesn't get royalties where do they make money?
They will likely be paid a one-time fee up front!