THE CAREER NOVELIST
nal material. Multimedia writers are the new screenwriters. And—
sorry—the leading writers are already in place.
RIGHTS, CONTRACTS, REVENUES
Nevertheless, back at home novelists must still deal with the con-
tract mess and battle with publishers who want to sew up their elec-
tronic rights. What to do?
The first issue is copying. New technologies always bring new
fears for authors, since they mean that their works can be copied
more easily. Is this fear justified? To a point. For that reason copy
protection needs to be built into electronic-book products. When
licensing or granting rights to electronic versions to your book pub-
lisher, be sure that copy protection is part of the deal.
Copyright itself is another issue. Current copyright laws do not
cover cyberspace. President Clinton has proposed new legislation
that would make transmission on-line a right belonging to a work's
copyright owner. He has also proposed new rules regarding "fair
use" copying by libraries, with exemptions for nonprofit organiza-
tions that supply material to the blind. Hacking devices for disarm-
ing safeguards would also be outlawed.
Issues remain. For one thing, cyberspace is worldwide. Can U.S.
laws really protect intellectual property on the Net? The most recent
GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) also left in its wake
many unanswered questions and nightmare scenarios. Innovative
forms of tariffs and trade protection are now possible. Much has yet
to be done. For the time being authors should at least be sure that
electronic-rights agreements stipulate strong copyright protections
for their work.
Two other points to negotiate when selling electronic rights are
(1) the means of display; and (2) the term of license. The first is
important because there are so many ways of presenting a book elec-
tronically. If your buyer can produce only one format—say, read-only
floppy disks for PCs—then what is the point of selling him rights to
all other formats (though licensors will want them anyway)?
Similarly, broad grants in publishing contracts, such as "in all media
whether now known or hereafter devised" should be modified.