It makes sense because it's mine, right?
One thing I never realized is the possibility of losing the rights to your book/article. You would think that when and if you decided to sign over the rights to any type of article, obviously that article doesn’t really hold that much meaning to you. I kind of just assumed that if I spent a short amount of time writing something like a short story, then maybe I wouldn’t mind too much. However, when Moira Allen brought up the point of never knowing when a market will resurface itself and you will regret signing over the rights to a piece, I kind of stopped to think about it.
I didn’t even really stop to think about having to sign over any rights in general. I suppose without having much knowledge in the publishing industry, one would just assume that your work is always going to be your work. I never thought about there being a situation where I wrote something, but after I send it away/publish it, I don’t have the right to do whatever I want with the piece anymore. Would the publishing company just chalk it up and sue me for it? It seems absurd to sue someone for using their own work!
Because of this article, in the future I plan on attaining the rights for my works. It was a great tip to add, especially because she spoke from a first person experience. Knowing that she regrets it makes me believe I might regret it in the future as well, so I’m more inclined to keep my pieces.
I didn’t even really stop to think about having to sign over any rights in general. I suppose without having much knowledge in the publishing industry, one would just assume that your work is always going to be your work. I never thought about there being a situation where I wrote something, but after I send it away/publish it, I don’t have the right to do whatever I want with the piece anymore. Would the publishing company just chalk it up and sue me for it? It seems absurd to sue someone for using their own work!
Because of this article, in the future I plan on attaining the rights for my works. It was a great tip to add, especially because she spoke from a first person experience. Knowing that she regrets it makes me believe I might regret it in the future as well, so I’m more inclined to keep my pieces.