Wednesday, February 29, 2012

How 'bout this to add to an Author's contract?


Our friend, Mary Minow of librarylaw.com has drafted language for author's to add to their contracts with publishers when they negotiate for digital rights.  It would be amazing if a popular author could pick this language up and run with it.
Author’s Rights To Allow Library Loans
Notwithstanding any terms or conditions to the contrary in any author agreement between Author and Publisher, Author shall retain the non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free right to authorize the loaning of digital copies of Author's work, facilitated by libraries on a one-user-at-a-time basis.

As Jamie LaRue of Douglas County writes:

"The challenge in the 21st century isn't going to be to get published. It will be to get NOTICED. That hand-selling of favorite authors, that recommending to new readers a wonderful new find, are just what libraries are about."

If any of you have relationships with authors, we'd love for you to run this language past them and see what they think.  And let us know what you think, too. 

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