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“All rights” deals are usually known as “work done for hire.” If you sign an All Rights deal, the copyright transfers to the company which paid you. That’s the complete copyright, now and forever, in all media. You give up all rights.
Since you’re giving up all rights, you deserve to be recompensed for this. If you want to be a well-paid professional writer, you’ll look on All Rights deals with zero enthusiasm.
Here’s a rule of thumb which is easy to remember and which will keep you out of trouble: refuse All Rights deals to all publications which sell advertising, and to all book publishers.
Publications which want All Rights are just greedy. You’ll often find your work repurposed, and popping up in many unexpected places. Trust me on this, it will NOT feel good. You’ll know you’ve been gypped, and there’s nothing you can do about it.
There are some venues in which All Rights deals are expected. All Rights/ Work Done For Hire deal are common in copywriting, for example, and you’re paid accordingly. Once you’ve written the Web sales page, the newsletter, the brochure or whatever, and have been paid in full, all copyright transfers to the buyer.
When you’re not writing copy, steer clear of All Rights. As “Dragon Magazine Wants to Own Your Ass, Cheap” points out when discussing a publication which wants All Rights for a pittance:
Mind you, it’s win-win for Dragon, and its various corporate owners (Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro), since they’re getting viable intellectual property for very literally next to nothing with no risk of having to share revenues later. Brilliant! Somewhere an Hasbro IP lawyer has gotten his wings. Good for him. Bad for the writer.
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Angela Booth
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