Okay, I got this email from Tidesong that you guys might want to know too (I asked permission if I could blog on it). The question is about first rights according to publishing short stories or rather stories in general. Here it is (after edits cause I smooshed two email questions into one, for context this was regarding Sci-Fi short stories)!
What kind of markets are there in Singapore at all and do they often go after those first publishing rights thing? I noticed one magazine overseas only claim rights to
North America… How does this whole thing work out? How would it work out if I then attempt to sell it in Singapore or vice versa. Would it be considered a reprint regardless of location?
And so, I got Rozen aka Rosemary to help answer that more accurately!
No problem publishing it in Singapore and elsewhere if they only take North American rights, that’s just Canada and the US. Think of rights as a big pepperoni pizza with anchovies and stuffed crust. You’ll be giving the publisher a bite of a big chunk of the pizza.
If it’s ‘first North American rights’ then some other publisher in North America can have a second bite of that chunk of the pizza, or third or fourth. Usually, though, magazines want only unpublished work so the chance of selling the story again and again is slim, but if you ever do an anthology of your own stories you have no rights problems.
The rest of the pizza is usually not used up. There are translation rights in all territories, film rights, TV rights, anthology rights, merchandising rights etc. Singapore rights are like a slice of pepperoni at the bottom of the box.
The thing to look for in any contract is ‘first rights’ in whatever territory, which means you can re-sell it again and again in the same territory, or ‘non-exclusive rights’ which amounts to the same thing in that the publisher doesn’t have the exclusive rights to the work. In some circumstances this is fine, but definitely not for a short story.
And there you have it! I have to say, the first rights analogy is kinda yummy though…
