Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres
A publishing contract isn't a partnership agreement, it is an outright sale and assignment of IP rights
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Absolutely. And the author needs to be aware of this when signing such a contract. An author who signs a contract without having all its implications explained to them by a lawyer is acting somewhat unwisely.
I experienced something very similar myself many years ago with my software business. I had a very good US agent who published my software in the US, and provided an excellent service. He was bought out by a much larger software company, and all the titles he published went with him. My product was a bit of an oddball which didn't really fit in to the larger company's portfolio, and it was basically put on the back-burner, not advertised or supported. My US sales fell through the floor.
Luckily the company accepted that this had happened and sold me all the rights back for a nominal $1 sum.