Imagine, if you will, that I have written a novel that sold modestly well in the 1980. It is only one of several novels that I have written and that were published by the same publisher. The titles are currently out of print
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This is a true story, by the way. Pinnacle Books contracted with me through my agent for several horror novels in the 1980s, and the titles sold moderately well. I went on and sold other stories to other publishers, and I continued to receive royaties from those Pinnacle titles for nearly ten years. The titles went out of print, the contract expired after 12 years, and I could have marketed the titles elsewhere. But my agent got cancer and eventally died. The books were copyrighted in my name, the rights reverted to me, and I've thought about getting another agent and selling them again, along with other books I wrote and sold without an agent. But I've been busy with getting a couple of masters degrees, doing research for a doctorate, writing journal articles and a thesis, and the novels remain out of print. My editors at Pinnacle moved on, my agent is deceased, and no one knows my address or current whereabouts except SFWA. If a publisher or Google wants to reach me, they can through my professional membership in SFWA. Thanks to SFWA, I am also registered with the Authors Registry, the Authors Guild, and Copyright Clearance Center. NONE OF MY WORKS ARE ORPHANED!
ReplyDeletePaul,
ReplyDeleteThanks for this example from your own experience.
Does Google go so far as to check all three of these places, or are they limiting themselves to just checking CCC?