The Graphic Artists Guild has posted an advocacy alert on their website warning their members about the new contract terms in S&S publishing contracts. The full text of the alert follows:

We have been alerted by the Authors Guild of new copyright terms in Simon & Schuster’s publishing contracts.

Agents and authors have recently been given print-on-demand­ contracts with a transfer of all rights in perpetuity to the publisher. The publisher has refused to negotiate the transfer of all rights in perpetuity term.

Traditionally, publishing contracts provided for a reversion of rights to the author after some milestone; such as quantity of books printed, a specific number of printed editions, after annual sales fell below a specific number, or a number of years. This allowed the author to take their work to another publisher for a better deal, self-publish, or repurpose their work some time after the work’s popularity had waned.

The Authors Guild and the Graphic Artists Guild supports print-on-demand technology. Now that works may be stored and printed digitally, the old printing process of producing a huge print run of books in order to keep costs down, plus the cost of storing stock, is not the most economical method to produce books. Print-on-demand allows small print orders, providing additional sales and royalties for publishers and authors/artists. However, a transfer of all rights forever to the publisher means that the author/artists –and their families- will never, ever regain the rights to their works, even after demand has waned and the publisher is no longer marketing or promoting the work.

The Authors Guild and the Graphic Artists Guild urges you NOT TO SIGN all rights in perpetuity contracts.

If you have been offered a print-on-demand­ contract with a transfer of all rights in perpetuity to the publisher, by Simon & Schuster or any other publisher, and have been unable to negotiate a reversion of rights at a milestone, please contact

Lisa Shaftel
National Advocacy Committee Chairperson
Graphic Artists Guild
advocacy@gag.org