Are you hesitant to submit your manuscript, to have it read, to upload it to platforms… In short, to make it public? Are you unsure if, once exposed to everyone, your work will still belong to you? Are you wondering how to protect it? How to retain ownership and assert your copyright to your book?
Are you hesitating between two possibilities (which are not necessarily mutually exclusive): submitting your work to a publisher, by sending your manuscript to several publishing houses or by presenting it on Edith & Nous , and in this case transferring your rights in exchange for payment (through the publishing contract), or self-publishing your book and keeping all of your copyright (as well as managing all the income from the exploitation of your book)?
But first of all, what is copyright and what does it mean to assign your rights? In concrete terms.
In France, copyright refers to all the rights held by an author or their beneficiaries (for example: heirs or rights management companies) over works that have an original character.
As the author of an original work, you have two types of rights over your work:
- Economic rights (known as reproduction and performance rights) allow you to prohibit or authorize the exploitation of your work and to receive remuneration in return. These rights can be assigned or licensed;
- Moral rights allow you to object to the first unauthorized disclosure of your work, demand that your name be mentioned when your work is used, and prohibit any modification of the work that would compromise its integrity. Unlike economic rights, moral rights cannot be transferred because they are attached to the creator of the work. They are passed on to the author’s heirs.
Copyright arises automatically upon the creation of a work, without any filing or registration formalities (unlike a trademark, for example, which must be registered with the French National Institute of Industrial Property, INPI), provided the work is original. The condition of originality is not defined by law; it has emerged from various court decisions on this subject over time. Ultimately, copyright is considered to be based on the personal connection between the author and their work. A work is therefore considered original if it bears the mark of its author’s personality, which is evident in particular through the author’s free and creative choices.
A protected work can be composed of several works that are themselves protectable. For example, a comic strip consists of illustrations, dialogue, and a script, and therefore several works. In this respect, each work within the work must be protected individually.
However, you can never protect an idea or a concept, as copyright only protects a work once it has been expressed, once it becomes visible, audible, tangible—and that’s a good thing! Indeed, if a mere idea gave rise to a right for its creator, we would have no source of inspiration for writing books, painting, making music, inventing… and this has been the case for a long time! In other words, intellectual creations must be materially perceptible in their form in order to benefit from copyright protection.
How long is my book protected by copyright?
Regarding the duration of protection, a distinction must be made between the economic rights and the moral rights of the author.
Moral rights are perpetual and imprescriptible. They are therefore transmitted upon the author’s death to their heirs.
Unlike moral rights, economic rights are limited in time. Indeed, it has been determined that after a certain period, a work must enter the public domain so that it can be freely and without charge used by everyone. This protection period is set at 70 years after the author’s death.
Your work is therefore protected by copyright throughout your lifetime, and also for 70 years after your death. In the event of infringement during the protection period, you or your heirs can assert your rights to the work and claim financial compensation for each use.
The duration of the author’s economic rights should not be confused with the duration of the transfer of rights to a publisher. Such a duration is explicitly stipulated in the transfer agreement and may very well differ from the duration of copyright (it obviously cannot exceed it). Nor should the duration of copyright be confused with the validity period of a deposit made under the conditions described below; this latter period corresponds to the preservation of a work as evidence. This deposit must be renewed as many times as necessary until your book is published.
How can I assert my copyright on my work?
Although there is no obligation to file or register for copyright to arise, this does not mean that there is no benefit in “filing” your work.
Registering a work establishes its existence on a given date and proves that you are indeed the author, which is useful in the event of a dispute arising between you and another person claiming authorship of the work.
Thus, to establish a certain date for your work, to attribute authorship to you, and thereby assert your copyright in the event of a dispute with a third party, various means (more or less expensive) are available to you:
- You can print your manuscript and send it to yourself by registered mail with return receipt requested. By sticking the registered mail label on the flap of the envelope, you will prove that it has never been opened and the postmark will serve as proof of the date of creation of your work;
- You can also send your work to yourself by email. Indeed, Article 1316-1 of the French Civil Code admits electronic documents as evidence in the same way as documents on paper. You will therefore need to send yourself an email with an attachment containing your manuscript, on which your name as the author is written. As with a postmark, the date the email was sent will serve as proof.
- You can prove your authorship of the work and the date it was created by filling out a Soleau envelope , either in its paper or digital version ( e-Soleau) , and sending it to the INPI. The procedure costs around fifteen euros, and the contents of the envelope are kept by the INPI for 5 years, renewable once;
- The SGDL (Société des Gens de Lettres) also offers a paid service for depositing works intended for authors who wish to benefit from a registration date that can prove the prior creation and facilitate, in the event of a dispute, the proof of their authorship of the work on the Cléo platform ;
- Your manuscript can also be deposited on the blockchain. This technology, similar to an online public ledger, allows for the secure and tamper-proof storage of information. Each piece of data entered on the blockchain is time-stamped and cannot be erased, thus enabling the creation of a work to prove its existence on the date of deposit. This is what Édith & Nous offers: each deposited manuscript, and each modification you make to it, will be automatically protected by an anchor on the blockchain . In the event of a dispute arising from the copying, reproduction, adaptation, or public disclosure of your work, you will need to provide proof of the prior existence of your work. Édith & Nous allows you to establish this proof through timestamping on the blockchain and by issuing you a certificate of deposit.
- Finally, the most expensive method is depositing your book with a notary or a bailiff, both of whom are licensed public officials, for a fee of approximately €150. Depositing the book results in the creation of an authentic instrument, the signature of which by the official attests to its contents and date. This makes the proof of deposit irrefutable in court. Another advantage of using a notary or bailiff is the unlimited validity of the deposit.
None of these solutions are necessary to benefit from copyright protection, which, as mentioned above, results from the mere creation of an original work. It is a matter of choice for each author. However, in the event of infringement, such a procedure will make it easier to prove that you are the author of a work and its date of creation.
How do I transfer the copyright to my book?
First of all, it is important to note that in the case of self-publishing, there is no transfer of rights, precisely because you are self-publishing, so you retain all the economic rights to your work.
A transfer of rights only occurs when you sign a contract that stipulates such a transfer, such as a publishing contract. This is what happens when you submit your manuscript to Édith & Nous , it is noticed by a publisher, and you sign a publishing contract with them.
To avoid misunderstandings, misinterpretations, or even conflicts with the publisher, your relationship must be built on solid foundations, namely a well-defined contract, understood and accepted by both parties. Mastering key concepts, as well as your legal obligations and those of the publisher, by signing a publishing contract will help you avoid certain problems.
What information must be included in a copyright assignment contract?
The Intellectual Property Code provides for some mandatory clauses in copyright assignment contracts.
Firstly, any transfer of copyright must be in writing.
The contract must then include a strictly defined assignment of rights because, according to the law, anything not expressly assigned to the publisher remains with the author. Therefore, it is essential to describe precisely and strictly the types of rights assigned to the publisher.
Generally, publishing contracts stipulate a much broader transfer of rights than what is necessary for producing copies of a work and marketing them. However, the author is not obligated to agree to a contract that relinquishes all their rights from the outset. Keep in mind that the bare minimum in a publishing contract is the right to reproduce, print, and publish!
If the publisher plans to exploit the work internationally, a transfer of translation rights must be included in the contract. In this case, the translator will also have rights to the book since they will have created a derivative work, that is, a new work incorporating a pre-existing work, in this case, the book in its original language.
The outright transfer of exploitation rights to a future work, that is, a work not yet completed, is prohibited. However, the author may grant a right of first refusal to the publisher for a predetermined period and number of copies.
The author may also authorize their publisher to transfer the rights to their book to a third party for the publication of a paperback edition, sales to book clubs, or audiovisual adaptations, including for theater, film, comics, etc. The transfer of these rights is often defined at the time the publishing contract is signed with the author, except for audiovisual rights, which must be the subject of a separate contract.
The publishing contract must also specify the place of exploitation of the work and the duration of the transfer of rights.
Finally, the contract must obviously specify the methods of calculating and paying for the rights transferred to the publisher.
As an author, how is my remuneration calculated?
The author’s remuneration is, in principle, proportional to the revenue generated by the sale or exploitation of their work by the publisher. This proportional remuneration most often corresponds to a percentage of the work’s retail price (excluding taxes) to the public, or more broadly, of the revenue generated by its sale or exploitation (for example, in the case of a film adaptation). The author’s percentage of remuneration is freely determined through negotiation between the author and the publisher, based on the work’s retail price (excluding taxes).
In literary terms, this means in practical terms that the greater the success of the book, the higher the author’s remuneration will be.
A fixed fee payment is nevertheless conceivable, when proportional remuneration is not possible (because the basis for calculation cannot be determined for example), or for exploitation of the work abroad.
How do I negotiate my copyright?
On this point, it’s important to start with a statement often overlooked by authors: everything in a contract is negotiable! Certainly, the law sets out mandatory rules that neither the author nor the publisher can disregard, but outside of these specific cases, you, as the author, are completely free to impose your own conditions. However, the relationship between you and your publisher won’t always allow you to get what you want…
What are the rules and practices to know in publishing?
In almost all cases, the contract will be exclusive and granted to the publisher you sign with. This means you will not be able to transfer your rights to another publisher.
Regarding the issue of print run, it is essential that the minimum number of copies constituting the first print run be specified in the copyright assignment contract.
The publishing house will systematically reserve the right to determine the format of the work to be published, its presentation (cover page, often in consultation with the author) as well as the collection to which the book will belong.
As an author, what can I negotiate?
In addition to these mandatory rules and publishing practices, you will still need to use your negotiation skills on the following points:
- The percentage received as compensation for the transfer of your rights. Generally, this increases according to the number of books sold (in tiers). Percentages and copy thresholds may vary depending on the publisher or the book format. It is also observed that the percentage on the sale of ebooks is higher than that of printed books;
- An advance, that is, an advance on royalties, the amount of which is freely determined during the negotiation of the publishing contract. If the work is successful, this advance will be deducted from the author’s royalties. Conversely, if sales of the book do not reach the amount of the advance, the author will not have to repay it.
- The exploitation rights granted to the publisher, and particularly the translation rights;
- The duration of the contract, that is to say the duration of the transfer of rights which, as mentioned above, does not necessarily correspond to the legal duration of copyright;
- Promotional activities to be carried out by the publisher and the author.
You will therefore need to pay close attention to all the details mentioned in your contract. Will you have the right, for example, to choose the title of your work? What will the deadlines be for submitting the manuscript? Will you have to pay for editing?
So many things that authors need to think about carefully before signing their copyright assignment contract.
In any case, never sign a contract you don’t understand or that still presents some ambiguities. If in doubt, discuss it with your publisher. You can refer to the sample contracts published online by the French National Union of Authors and Composers (Syndicat national des auteurs et compositeurs) as examples. Finally, you can consult a legal professional if you believe it’s necessary to seek advice from a third party during the negotiation of this contract, to best protect your interests.