Good day everyone, The question I have is regarding who owns the legal rights to characters in a book I've sold the rights to. Some background: I've been a freelance writer for a number of years, most of which is ghostwriting other people's novels. However, I've recently been lucky enough to have something put out there in my own name. I've agreed to do a series of three books for this publisher, who will retain all rights to the work following payment. My aim is to use these same characters again in the future for books which I plan to pitch to larger publishers. Is this a viable option? Thank you for your help. Also, first post.
I think they are technically the other persons intellectual property, if you were just the ghost writer. IDK, even though Tom Clancy is dead, people still write novels using his name. Though they might have a contract with his surviving family to write using his name. If they are the exact same characters, and the exact same story line or universe, you might have to get permission from the original owner of them. As well as share a percentage of the profits with them, since they own the intellectual property rights of those characters. So you might have to talk with the people who own the rights to the characters, if you plan on using them after selling them. You sold them, and they are technically no longer yours. It is a viable option, but it will cost you a bit by having to pay for the privilege to use them. If they are not the exact same characters, in the same story line or universe, you should be alright, but I would still check with the owners of the 'originals' just to be safe. Good luck, and I hope it works out.
This is really going to depend on the terms of the contract you signed. It's pretty rare for an author to sell her copyright to her original work (if that's what you meant by selling all your rights?) so I don't think there's really an industry standard for the situation. There are some pretty good contract-consultation services offered by different writers' organizations (SFWA, etc.) If you're a member, they might be able to look at your contract and give you some advice.
It's funny that you bring this up, I was sort of thinking about this the other day. There appears to be a lot of interest in a sequel to my first book Under the Knife, and of course one of the approaches I could take for that is to grab one of the side characters and write their story. Unfortunately, the only one I really feel I could make a good book out of is Carmen, who is a straight woman. Assuming I could scrounge up enough interest to write a M/F romance, I wouldn't be able to sell it to UTK's publisher because they only publish LGBTQ romances. There doesn't appear to be anything in my contract prohibiting it, so it's more of an ethical dilemma at this point. If you're going to re-use characters from a universe you created, should all the books in that universe come from the same publisher?
@Laurin Kelly that is an interesting question. Both the Star Wars and Warhammer 40k series are written by dozens of authors. Assuming that they use the same characters amongst different books, how do they get the 'rights' to write these parts in a massive series like that? Though I think they are all under their own specific publishers though I am not 100% certain of that.
Usually books like that are licensed and written on a For Hire basis - the owner of the characters/universe/etc (George Lucas?) will hire people to write books in his universe. There's a central body that looks after continuity, etc. The authors may be paid a flat rate or may get royalties, but they don't own the characters and often won't even own copyright on their own work. The OP's situation is different, I think, in that the characters are her own. But what usage is allowed will still depend on the contract.
Thanks for the replies. Regarding my own situation, I was hired as a freelancer through www.upwork.com to write any kind of crime novel of my choosing. I don't get any royalties, I was simply paid a flat fee. In most cases, I would assume that any rights are reverted to the buyer upon payment, but because this book has been released under my real name, I thought that might give me some leeway.
I don't think the name involved would have much impact - it'll be the terms of the contract that matter.
Does your contract actually say something to the effect of "the publisher will retain all rights to the work following payment"? Because if so, that would seem to include rights to the characters.
This. I'm guessing the ghostwriting was done as a Work for Hire? If so, expect to have no rights and be pleasantly surprised if the contract says otherwise.
From the Upwork Website: Ownership of Work Product and Intellectual Property Upon Freelancer’s receipt of full payment from Client, the Work Product, including without limitation all Intellectual Property Rights in the Work Product, will be the sole and exclusive property of Client, and Client will be deemed to be the author thereof. If Freelancer has any Intellectual Property Rights to the Work Product that are not owned by Client upon Freelancer’s receipt of payment from Client, Freelancer hereby automatically irrevocably assigns to Client all right, title and interest worldwide in and to such Intellectual Property Rights. Except as set forth above, Freelancer retains no rights to use, and will not challenge the validity of Client’s ownership in, such Intellectual Property Rights. Freelancer hereby waives any moral rights, rights of paternity, integrity, disclosure and withdrawal or inalienable rights under applicable law in and to the Work Product. If payment is made only for partial delivery of Work Product, the assignment described herein applies only to the portion of Work Product delivered. License to or Waiver of Other Rights If Freelancer has any right to the Work Product, including without limitation any Intellectual Property Right, that cannot be assigned to Client by Freelancer, Freelancer hereby automatically, upon Freelancer’s receipt of full payment from Client, unconditionally and irrevocably grants to Client during the term of such rights, an exclusive, even as to Freelancer, irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide, fully-paid and royalty-free license to such rights, with rights to sublicense through multiple levels of sublicensees, to reproduce, make derivative works of, distribute, publicly perform and publicly display in any form or medium, whether now known or later developed, make, use, sell, import, offer for sale and exercise any and all such rights. If Freelancer has any rights to such Work Product that cannot be assigned or licensed, Freelancer hereby automatically, upon Freelancer’s receipt of payment from Client, unconditionally and irrevocably waives the enforcement of such rights, and all claims and causes of action of any kind against Client or related to Client’s customers, with respect to such rights, and will, at Client’s request and expense, consent to and join in any action to enforce such rights. If payment is made only for partial delivery of Work Product, the grant described herein applies only to the portion of Work Product delivered. So unless you signed a contract with the buyer giving you some rights, they own them all. Unless they didn't pay you, of course.
