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Originally Posted by HarryT
I’d just note that this is NOT common practice at all. Publishing contracts do not transfer copyright to the publisher. The only area of publishing in which it is common is academic journal publishing. I’ve never, ever, heard of it happening with book publication. Can you give an example?
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That is correct. However, the difference is more a matter of semantics than anything else, Back in 2012 Joe Konrath posted about unconscionability and quoted a typical clause from a traditional publishing contract as follows:
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Author grants and assigns to Publisher the sole and exclusive rights to the Material throughout the Territory during the entire term of the copyright and any renewals and extensions thereof.
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See
Link to Joe Konrath Blog
Yes, this is less than an assignment of the whole of the copyright. But, for the territory concerned, it may as well be. And sometimes that territory is the whole of the world. Anecdotally, things have got a lot worse for Big 5 authors since.