Legal stuff

[garoo1980]

Hey guys,

I've always wondered with the books who owns the rights? Its some kind of blend right? Because as the authors you guys must own the rights to your own work, but its part of the ST world so Paramount owns that right?

What happens if years later the book is reprinted? Is that something you're consulted on? Could you stop it? (Not that I can see why you would)

Just wondering, thanks!

 

[BillJ]

CBS owns it all.

 

[Christopher]

I've always wondered with the books who owns the rights? Its some kind of blend right? Because as the authors you guys must own the rights to your own work, but its part of the ST world so Paramount owns that right?

No. We own none of it. We're contracted under a work-for-hire arrangement, so that every single word we write is the property of CBS (which now owns ST after a corporate restructuring a few years back).

What happens if years later the book is reprinted? Is that something you're consulted on? Could you stop it? (Not that I can see why you would)

Once we meet our contractual obligation and deliver the manuscript, Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster can do whatever they want with it. Which includes not publishing it at all, as we learned last year with the Abrams-movie sequel novels.

 

[MvComedy]

I have a sorta related question. When a book is reprinted years after it's initial publishing (like that TNG book that was reprinted to fill a gap in the schedule recently), is the author paid additional royalties for the reprints? Does a new contract need to be drawn up?

 

[Daddy Todd]

I have a sorta related question. When a book is reprinted years after it's initial publishing (like that TNG book that was reprinted to fill a gap in the schedule recently), is the author paid additional royalties for the reprints? Does a new contract need to be drawn up?

I'm sure an actual writer will correct me if I get this wrong, but I understand the process like this: The writer is paid an "advance against royalties" on the book. Royalties are calculated as a percentage of the list price of the book. If the book sells sufficient copies so that the royalties owed equal the advance, the advance is said to have "earned out," at which point the publisher begins paying the writer additional royalties for every copy sold. Royalties are calculated periodically, and the writer gets a statement from the publisher. If any royalties are owed, a check is cut.

I assume that CBS, as the owner of the property, is also paid an advance and royalties on each Star Trek title.

So, assuming the original publication window of that book "earned out" it's advance, Laurell K. Hamilton had some royalties paid to her after last year's reprint. There was no need to write a new contract; the original contract is still in place. Royalties may trickle in for another couple of years as the publisher's accountants determine how many copies were sold, and what is owed to the writer.

 

[BrotherBenny]

I assume that CBS, as the owner of the property, is also paid an advance and royalties on each Star Trek title.

CBS itself didn't write the book and therefore gets nada. They just own the TV rights and the publishing company that sells the books. S&S/Pocket Books is a subsidiary of CBS. Only the writer gets money if the advance is earned out.

 

[Christopher]

The contract just says we get royalties for each copy of a published edition of our work, so it covers originals and reprints alike.

And BrotherBenny, I'm pretty sure you're wrong about CBS not getting royalties. The profit from the sale of a book is divided among the publisher, the copyright owner, and the author. Authors get a lower percentage of the profits from a tie-in book than they do from an original book, because the pie is divided more ways. I'm not sure if the money that CBS gets is called "royalties," but naturally they do get money from the sale of the books -- otherwise why would they license the publishing rights in the first place?

 

[Daddy Todd]

Christopher, I understand that the Trek writers are doing "work for hire." Who are you "hired" by -- CBS or Pocket Books? As CBS owns the copyright on the book, it seems reasonable to assume you "work" for CBS.

Yet all your interaction is with Pocket Books. They even pay your royalties, if I'm not mistaken. That seems kind of weird to me.

 

[BillJ]

Christopher, I understand that the Trek writers are doing "work for hire." Who are you "hired" by -- CBS or Pocket Books? As CBS owns the copyright on the book, it seems reasonable to assume you "work" for CBS.

Yet all your interaction is with Pocket Books. They even pay your royalties, if I'm not mistaken. That seems kind of weird to me.

Pocket Books holds the license to publish Trek fiction.

 

[Christopher]

Well, Pocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster, which is a division of CBS Corporation, which also owns CBS Television Studios, which owns Star Trek. So ultimately it's all under the same corporate umbrella. Though that isn't always the case with tie-ins (for instance, the Marvel novels also from Pocket).

To the question of who hires me, I'm hired by the editor, who works for Pocket Books, which is publishing under license from CBS. So I guess I'm working for Pocket on behalf of CBS?

 

[DonIago]

I am shocked and appalled. Cleary the authors are writing for us, the book-consuming public! It is all for the glory of Trekdom!!! (laughs maniacally)

They're working for the people who sign their paychecks, clearly.

Sorry...this thread was running a deficit of levity and I was bored...(blush)

 

[Greg Cox]

I can't speak for Pocket, but I've edited various tie-ins for Tor, and, yes, the licensor gets an advance and the lion's share of the royalties. Back when I was negotiating these kind of deals, the licensor would typically get, say, an 8% royalty on a paperback and an author would get 2%. (Different rates apply for hardcovers, trade paperbacks, Book Club editions, etc.)

And even when you're all under the same corporate umbrella, you still have to pay the other division. If I wanted to reprint a book that had been previously published by St. Martin's Press or Pan Macmillan or some other subsidiary of Holtzbrinck (which also owns Tor), I would still have to pay SMP for the rights.

That's how it worked with Conan, Farscape, Zorro, Freddy Krueger, Mortal Kombat, and every other franchise I worked on. Star Trek surely works the same way.

If you check the copyright page, you'll see that all tie-in books are copyrighted in the name of the licensor. The writers are just hired guns, like Christopher said. All rights belong to CBS or whomever.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Just be glad that Star Trek books are under their authors' bylines. Compare that with the various Stratemeyer children's novel series, in which every book was under the series pseudonym: Laura Lee Hope for The Bobbsey Twins, Franklin W. Dixon for The Hardy Boys, Carolyn Keene for Nancy Drew, &c, even though they were ghosted by writers ranging from Edward Stratemeyer himself (for surprisingly few), to Howard and Lillian Garis, to Nancy Axelrad, among many others.

 

[Greg Cox]

Just be glad that Star Trek books are under their authors' bylines. Compare that with the various Stratemeyer children's novel series, in which every book was under the series pseudonym: Laura Lee Hope for The Bobbsey Twins, Franklin W. Dixon for The Hardy Boys, Carolyn Keene for Nancy Drew, &c, even though they were ghosted by writers ranging from Edward Stratemeyer himself (for surprisingly few), to Howard and Lillian Garis, to Nancy Axelrad, among many others.

Don't forget "Victor Appleton," who has been writing TOM SWIFT for decades now.

 

[JD]

Just be glad that Star Trek books are under their authors' bylines. Compare that with the various Stratemeyer children's novel series, in which every book was under the series pseudonym: Laura Lee Hope for The Bobbsey Twins, Franklin W. Dixon for The Hardy Boys, Carolyn Keene for Nancy Drew, &c, even though they were ghosted by writers ranging from Edward Stratemeyer himself (for surprisingly few), to Howard and Lillian Garis, to Nancy Axelrad, among many others.

They're doing the same thing for the Eurka books. Even though they have been written by two different authors, all three books have been credited to Cris Ramsay. I can't remember who those authors were, but I know Defcon did mention them in his reviews and interviews on Unreality.

 

[Yevetha]

How much cash do you get on average for a book?

 

[David Mack]

^ What's your salary? How much do you pay for rent or mortgage each month? What's your car payment? How much money do you have in your bank account(s)?

Oh, I'm sorry, were those questions a bit too personal? ;-)

 

[TerraUnam]

Yeah, I knew that Yeventha's post would take this thread toward trainwreck territory.

Sheesh, there's asking about the book industry works and then there's asking about individual author's financial standing. Let's not confuse the two.

 

[Steve Roby]

If you check the copyright page, you'll see that all tie-in books are copyrighted in the name of the licensor. The writers are just hired guns, like Christopher said. All rights belong to CBS or whomever.

Things are different in the UK, which makes for some interesting phenomena. PAD can't licence a series of Mackenzie Calhoun novels set in Thallonian space with no mention of Starfleet, the Federation, or other bits of Trek established on TV or in movies. However, in the UK, that sort of thing can and does happen. Characters and elements from Doctor Who novels have been spun off into independent book lines not officially linked to the series or licenced by the BBC: Bernice Summerfield, Faction Paradox, Time Hunter, Iris Wildthyme...

The BBC owns the Doctor Who aspects of a tie-in novel, more or less, and the author owns what he or she creates. That's made the Doctor Who universe a richer and more wonderful place.

 

[Christopher]

^I thought I read somewhere that Iris Wildthyme started out as an original, independent character and was then tied into the Doctor Who novels, in the reverse of the usual pattern.

It happens on TV too; there's an Australian K-9 series that had K-9 lose his memory of the Doctor and change his appearance so they wouldn't be using any DW-specific elements they didn't have the rights to. And it happens in the negative; neither the shows nor the books can use freelancer-owned creations like the Daleks, the Cybermen, etc. without the permission of their authors or their estates. Which is why there were several multiyear gaps with no Dalek episodes and why the Virgin New/Missing Adventures never did any Dalek stories (although they could refer to the Daleks so long as they weren't directly involved in the story).