Out of Print books - what to do?

RJB published an anthology for 19 writers including E. Don Harpe and D. K. Christi. It is now listed as "Out of Print" and I don't even have one copy. I want at least one copy of each book to which I have made a contribution.

RJBuckley is moving to another country. What happens to the books she published and that will no longer be in print?

E. Don - do you have a copy to sell me of the World Outside the Window? I had hoped to find one online, but no luck.

I guess that's a lesson - don't let go of one's last copy...

Also, perhaps we could get it in an ebook? Who has the rights for an ebook? Who has the final pdf?

DK,

The answer to your questions depends on the contract you signed. The copyright owner (who is nor necessarily the author) owns the rights to to books out of print just as they do for books in print. You need to look at what rights were transferred and what rights, if any, were retained in the publication agreement (including reversionary rights to the copyright upon cessasion of publication which often but not always revert or are re-assigned to the author). Many publishers sign authors to "work for hire" arrangements where the publisher has all the rights to the work--including translation rights, reprint rights, and the rights to create any and all derivative works and the rights to all future versions of a book, including ebook, audiobook, etc.

These are issues that most new authors neither think about nor address when faced with the prospects of a book contract, unfortunately. Publishers vary widely in the reasonableness of the rights they demand from their authors and, for unestablished authors, there is little bargaining power as to these matters.

For your specific works published in collections or anthologies, you need to look carefully at whatever agreement you signed. Usually these involve first publication or republication rights only, but you can't assume that.

Dear Diane,

I would think the thing to do would be to contact Rebecca Buckley her own self. She would be the one to know.

I was looking at the PA version available on Amazon. Many people seem to have it and want to sell it for various prices and always 3.99 shipping and only one copy available.

I am a suspicious old bat. I wonder how many used book selling sites PA might have on Amazon. They do have the original plates....that they wanted to sell back at a high price...and can print your book willy nilly and sell it under a used category, collect the price of the book and some of the shipping money and never pay you a dime in royalties. How would one find this out.

Love,

Betty

I was looking at Wooffer.

Sorry that I did not make that clear.

Love,

Betty

You can buy the book from Amazon UK Marketplace, DK. rbmbooks dispatches from the US, so there shouldn't be a problem:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/0979170192/ref=dp_olp_new_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=new

Thanks all for the great responses. I will look into the addi above, Shelagh.