Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: geeky
  • Music: The Devil's Carnival, "Grace for Sale."

Why can't I buy ebook X outside of the US? Revisiting the territory question.

Once again, people have started asking "Why can't people outside the US buy the e-book edition of X?" (In this case, X = any given work that is unavailable in a specific region. Most often Blackout, since it's new, and "Countdown," since it currently lacks a physical edition, but almost everything has fallen into this category at one point or another.)

The answer is pretty simple.

Basically, when I sign a contract with a publisher, they acquire certain territorial rights. This is distinct from my copyrights, which are always mine and never sold. DAW owns the World rights for Toby and InCryptid. Orbit owns the World English rights for Newsflesh. DAW and Orbit may then sublicense these rights to other publishers in other regions (or territories), which is how you get things like Winterfluch and Feed: Viruszone (German editions of Rosemary and Rue and Feed, respectively).

The pieces I have sold to the Orbit Short Fiction Program ("Apocalypse Scenario #683" and "Countdown") were sold under a contract which, at present, covers only US territorial rights, which means that my publisher can't make those properties available outside the United States right now. They aren't allowed. And buying the rights for every possible market, in every possible region, is not always financially feasible with every work they publish.

It is also not always financially feasible for an author to sell all the rights to their work in every territory to the US publisher. Keeping World rights may mean a lower advance, but when I do retain those rights, I can ultimately earn more for them by selling them directly to foreign publishers. I want you to have and read my books in your preferred format, but I also want to pay my bills, and foreign rights sales enable me to do that reliably.

Orbit is working on making the short fiction pieces available outside the US; if you check the Short Fiction landing page, they note the problem exists, and that they're looking for a solution. Under my most recent contract with them, they now have the right to sell or license English language editions outside the US, which means that you'll hopefully be able to read it soon.

It's mildly annoying that it works this way, just like it sucks when I can't get the British or Australian TV shows I want on the right region format immediately. At the same time, this is how I keep the lights on, and how my publishers keep being able to do what they do.

ETA: This post has been pretty dramatically revised, following some clarification from smarter people than me. So if some of the comments seem to make no sense compared to the content of the entry, that's why. Sorry to confuse!
Tags: common questions, living in the future, technology
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  • 62 comments
...go 1 level up... Expand

seanan_mcguire

May 10 2012, 18:18:12 UTC 5 years ago

Say Bob and Sue both publish in France. Bob publishes English-language ebooks; Sue publishes French translations, both physical and electronic. Both Bob and Sue know that ebooks are the future, and that due to readers like yourself embracing the new digital world, that's where the long-term profit is.

Bob is able to publish his English ebook in France immediately, because he needs no translation services. The percentage of the market that wants to read the book and can read English buys it. This is 40% of Sue's potential market. Now, with a maximum of 60% of her projected market available to her, why would Sue go to the trouble and expense of a translation?

Not all avid readers prefer ebooks, and honestly, that's a question for greater minds than mine. I'm just trying to keep the lights on and feed my cats while living in a very expensive country that doesn't provide me with guaranteed medical care.

scorbet

May 11 2012, 04:58:41 UTC 5 years ago

I've heard two different versions of how english language ebook territories work. One is what I think is your version (what I refer to as the "inclusive" version) which says that e.g. NA rights means that the ebook can be sold in USA/Canada only and nowhere else. Similarly, UK/ROI rights means in the UK and ROI only, and so on. So there is no overlapping of territories, and no availability of english language ebooks in non-english language countries, as no-one is likely to bother buying the right to publish the English ebook in say France or Germany.

The other (the "exclusive" version) is more based on where the book can't be sold. In that case North America rights means anywhereexcept UK/ROI/Australia/NZ/etc. In this case any version of the English language ebook can be sold in non-English speaking countries. This is also the way it appears to work for print books - I've often seen the UK and US versions of books sitting right next to each other in German bookshops.

My computer is under the delusion that it's in Germany at the moment (it and I are actually in China but that's beside the point) and amazon.de doesn't seem to have any problem with selling me Blackout. Kobo is also willing to sell me Feed and Deadline, as well as the Toby books. (They don't do preorders so I can't check for Blackout). But I have had the opposite experience as well. So I am pretty thoroughly confused as to how it is supposed to work.

The percentage of the market that wants to read the book and can read English buys it.

Just as an aside, in my experience a large part of that is made up of people who won't buy a translated version. Most people who are comfortable enough to read a book in a foreign language also prefer to read the original. So I'm not reallt sure how much of the potential market is really being cannibilised by the english version.

seanan_mcguire

May 11 2012, 14:40:20 UTC 5 years ago

I don't honestly know either. All discussion involving numbers on the internet is simplified, because otherwise, we all stand there and stare at each other, awash in a sea of anecdotal data.

I've made some clarifications to the post, if that helps.