: Re: Will e-books prevent books from going out of print (and rights from reverting)? In the old days, books went out of print shortly after it stopped being profitable for the publisher to print

@Marchetta100

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Definition of terms is always crucial. As Ralph Gallagher says, books go out of print when the contract is ended. That point may be defined differently with different authors and publishers, perhaps 'one print run' or 'when sales drop to less than X dollars per annum' or even 'until there's been no interest for one full year'. I believe an author I know of received a ten-year term in her contract, and when it was up she renegotiated for some other deal with an omnibus edition of several works. I'll have to see if I can dig up the details.

This question though is Exhibit A on why you need an agent when dealing with a publisher. An agent will be able to advise you on this and will negotiate an effective ending date of the contract in the age of e-books. A good agent will protect your interests (and your profits) from publishers who will claim (correctly, as it happens) that nothing is out of print and try to hang on to rights forever.

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