Usually, the agreement you strike with a publisher specifies that rights revert to the author, once they've declared the book "out of print". I think I have a letter to that effect on the 2nd edition of my pheasant book, from Countrysport. And I did the 1st edition with a different publisher, so obviously I got the rights back.
CountrySport is an interesting situation: The publishing co. was started by Brian Belinski and (?) Smith; Brian (Fieldsport) is a regular at double-gun events; I don't know Smith (Steve?), but I believe he is still involved in publishing. They came up short and someone else got the business, and it changed hands again and wound up owned by DownEast (
SSM), who eventually shut it down. Brian mentioned me to Ludo of Safari Press at a SCI event, and he pitched me for
PG: The "Old Reliable," probably the first time in the history of the world where a would-be author with but one
DGJ article to his credit was contacted by a major gun book publisher...I thought it was a joke!
I heard reliable stories from a printer's rep that certain CountrySport printing bills weren't paid (before DownEast took over) and the tooling for a well-known author/editor's book(s) were being held hostage till someone made good on money owed. And herein lies the crux of the reversion of rights problem:
Reversion of rights without a contractual provision that the publisher turn over the print-ready tooling (now on disc) is not worth anything. You as author have the "rights" to start over at manuscript level on a book that has proved unprofitable for a publisher that already has done the editing, composition, tooling, and sales promotion. In the final analysis, authors are at the mercy of the publishers, even with a contract. The number of best selling authors who wind up suing there publishers is real long (Mitchner comes to mind). The business is brutal. And now the money has gone out of books. Working up an acceptable manuscript is a labor of love, but putting a second mortgage on the home to see it to fruition does not make economic sense nowadays. Alas! EDM
