Understanding the Rights Provisions of a Book Contract
Video Series
Created by Melody Herr, PhD
Head, Office of Scholarly Communications
University of Arkansas Libraries
March 2023
If you are a prospective book author or someone who provides copyright information, this series of short videos is for you!
A book contract establishes a partnership between a publisher and an author. The author offers their scholarly expertise and selected rights to the work while the publisher offers capital and expertise in copyediting, design, marketing, and rights management. In essence, the partnership is grounded in the exercise of specified rights.
Each short video in this series addresses one aspect of US copyright law relevant to book publishing contracts:
o Copyright as a package of rights
o Open access and open licenses
For an introduction to copyright, see the research guide Copyright and Fair Use.
For a comprehensive overview of Creative Commons licenses, see the research guide Creative Common Licenses.