The practice
Publishing, adaptation and rights counsel. Indian authors routinely sign away world rights, translation rights and adaptation rights in a single contract for a modest advance, and only discover the cost when the book works.
Territory, language, audio, film and television, and merchandising are separate rights with separate markets. Bundling them into one deal is convenient for the publisher and expensive for the author.
An option is not a production. Understanding option periods, extension terms, attachment rights and what happens when an option lapses is the difference between a payday and a book locked up for five years.
Indian language rights, and rights into other territories, are frequently unsold simply because nobody is working them.
Audiobook and podcast derivative rights have real value and are the most commonly given away for nothing.
How the work runs
Existing contracts, retained rights and what has already been granted.
Which rights to sell, to whom, in what order.
Deal terms, advances, royalty structures and reversion clauses.
Adaptation approaches, translation sales and audio licensing.
Services
Business, memoir, history, policy and popular science.
Books & IPLiterary and commercial fiction, including regional language originals.
Books & IPOption structures, attachment strategy and producer introductions.
Books & IPTerritory sales and catalogue representation.
Books & IPAudiobook licensing, narration casting and podcast derivatives.
Books & IPFrequently asked
We advise on rights strategy and structure, and introduce to agents and publishers. Formal agency representation is a separate arrangement.
Depends entirely on the contract. Reversion and lapse clauses are what determine it, which is why they matter at signature.
For non-fiction with a defined audience, increasingly yes, particularly where the book is a business asset rather than a revenue line.
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