ok. check
here.
The copyright law gives an author of a work a bundle of exclusive rights to do and authorize others to do the following with the work:
To reproduce the work
To distribute copies of the work to the public
To prepare derivative works based on the work
To display the work publicly
To perform the work publicly
Under the traditional academic publication model an author typically transfers all copyright interests to a publisher. If authors relinquish all their copyright interests to the publisher, the author loses the ability to use his or her own work without permission from the publisher.
some good stuff
here too
Also, some publishers even refuse to publish a work without DRM even though the author does not want it DRMed.
In most cases, authors are just as screwed as the general public.