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Author Frequently Asked Questions |
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What contract will Sci-rotica offer if my book is accepted? Can I see the contract before submitting? Can I still publish my book elsewhere? What would happen if an agent or editor saw my book and wanted to publish it? Why do you need print rights? I only see e-books on your web site. Once I've published my book with Sci-rotica, who owns the rights? Does Sci-rotica copyright my book for me? |
What contract will Sci-rotica offer if my book is accepted? Sci-rotica contracts via paperless or electronic contracts. And yes, they are legal and binding. If an author prefers to mail a signed physical paper contract, they may do so. Can I see the contract before submitting? We insist you do! You can examine a sample copy of our EPIC-based Contract on this web site before submitting your manuscript. Can I still publish my book elsewhere? No. You are granting the exclusive world-wide English language rights for Sci-rotica to print, distribute, and sell your book for you. After the publishing contract ends, you may renew your contract (subject to acceptance by Sci-rotica), or continue with Sci-rotica on a month-to-month basis until you decide to publish somewhere else. Termination of contract is outlined in the sample publishing Contract. What would happen if an agent or editor saw my book and wanted to publish it? Once the initial period of your publishing contract ends, you are free to enter into any other agreements at any time. However, other publishers may ask you to sever your agreement with Sci-rotica and grant them exclusive rights. If done within the initial period of the publishing contract, other publishers may offer a quit claim buy-out to Sci-rotica to receive the rights to your work. Sci-rotica will consider any such offer and always strives to achieve the maximum benefit for our authors. With each book we publish, Sci-rotica spends a considerable amount of time and money, commissioning cover artwork, getting your book into the sales system and onto book catalogues. A fair return on our investment is what helps Sci-rotica to stay in business. Why do you need print rights? I only see e-books on your web site. Sci-rotica publish e-books first and foremost. All manuscripts are released as an e-book first. The majority of our titles will be released first as an e-book and then considered for print at a later date. However, we do not guarantee print publication even though we contract both electronic and print rights. If you want to retain either of these rights, we suggest that you do not submit to us. Once I've published my book with Sci-rotica, who owns the rights? You own the book rights. However, during the contract period, you have licensed your sales rights exclusively to us and you do not have the right to sell your book unless specifically permitted by Sci-rotica. As part of the publishing contract you grant Sci-rotica the right to print, distribute, promote, and sell your book for a specific length of time, which can be extended for as long as you want (subject to agreement). As the owner of the book rights, you will be paid royalties on the net price of every book sold. Does Sci-rotica copyright my book for me? When you wrote your book, you automatically asserted copyright ownership. Sci-rotica only leases the rights to your book for a specified period, and the author always retains ownership of the copyright. Publishers and distributors in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland have a legal obligation to send one copy of each of their publications to the Legal Deposit Office of the British Library within one month of publication (Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 and the Irish Copyright Act 1963). The British Library is reviewing its processes for acquiring categories of material not covered by previous legislation, including offline (i.e. hand-held items such as CD-ROM) and online electronic publications. This will be done in line with specific Regulations to be brought forward under the new Act. As an interim arrangement, the deposit of offline or hand-held electronic publications will continue under the terms of the Voluntary Code of Practice 2000. Basically, at present publishers of electronic content for download may voluntarily deposit with the British Library. Sci-rotica has chosen to do so. The situation in the United States of America is slightly different. Again, you automatically asserted copyright ownership when you wrote your book. However, registering with the US Congress Copyright Office, which records this ownership more formally, gives you better recourse in case of an infringement question. Registering your book with the US Copyright Office involves providing a fee (currently $30.00 USD) and requires you to supply two (2) copies of your book. The copyright certificate will be in the author's name and will be sent to you. As Sci-rotica is based in the United Kingdom, we will not automatically do this for you. If you want a formal registration in the USA, it is the author’s responsibility to apply for the copyright of their book. |
