Both these rights involve the condensation of the text of a literary work. Digest rights are the right to publish a condensed version of whole or part of a work in a single issue of a newspaper or magazine. Digest book condensation rights cover the right to publish a condensed version of the complete text in volume form, often accompanied by the condensed texts of other works. In each case, the major player in the field is Reader’s Digest, with its magazine of the same title and its compendium volumes. Its readership is recruited almost entirely through direct mail shots rather than through press advertising. It also has websites advertising its products.
Most of the rights acquired for both forms of publication are for the work of well-established authors with popular appeal. Book condensation rights are acquired for works of fiction and non-fiction; the majority of magazine digest rights are for works of non-fiction.
Reader’s Digest editors need to maintain close contact with both literary agents and rights staff from the major trade houses, both through regular meet-ings and through a flow of information and material on likely titles, provided well in advance of publication. The editors in the Condensed Books depart-ment of Reader’s Digest and those on the magazine share information about suitable titles. Assessment of key titles will be made on the basis of the manu-script or page proofs, although the editors also monitor the trade press for possible candidates from smaller publishers with whom they may not have regular contact.
The proceeds from digest book condensation rights acquired through the trade publisher are normally shared with the author on a 50/50 basis.
DIGEST RIGHTS
First established in 1922 in the United States, Reader’s Digest magazine is issued twelve times per year and sent to subscribers by mail. Titles selected may be used in one of two ways: either in the form of condensed extracts from the
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book in the main body of the magazine, or in a highly condensed version of the whole book in the book supplement section at the end of each issue; in such cases, illustrations are added. The magazine occasionally publishes short fiction, but it mainly uses non-fiction.
Payment is usually made at a rate per 500 words (the average number of words per page) depending on the geographical market required. Each country with a Reader’s Digest operation has its own budget for acquiring rights.
Full payment is normally made to the licensor on publication. Reader’s Digest magazine is published in many countries, including a number in the former communist bloc.
BOOK CONDENSATION RIGHTS
Since 1954, Reader’s Digest in the UK has been publishing its series of con-densed books. Their hardback series has recently been renamed Select Editions in line with the series published by Reader’s Digest in the USA; six of these volumes are published per year, with each volume containing four condensed works by different authors, providing a range of different writing aimed to appeal to a family readership; this series now contains an increasing number of non-fiction titles. The price per volume is currently around £17.99, excluding postage and handling. Specially commissioned title pages are added to each title included in the compendium.
At the beginning of the decade, Reader’s Digest introduced a paperback series entitled Of Love and Life; five volumes are published a year, currently priced at around £12.99 excluding postage and handling; each contains three condensations of contemporary books chosen to appeal to women of all ages.
The work of condensation is undertaken by a highly skilled team of in-house editors with the use of some freelance editors, who are often former full-time employees of the organization. The standard of work is regarded as extremely high. Rights are normally negotiated on the basis of a set rate per copy for each of the titles included in the compendium; the exact rate depends on the length of the condensation, the importance of the title to the volume, and to some extent the status of the author. The rate per copy is currently not less than 4p, with major titles commanding a higher rate per copy.
A standard contract is issued by Reader’s Digest for each work included; for Select Editions, this normally provides for an advance payment equivalent to a guaranteed sale of 300,000 copies. Print runs for the Of Love and Life volumes tend to be lower, with correspondingly lower advances. Payment is made half on signature of a contract and half on publication. Payment for copies in excess of the quantity guaranteed for the advance is then accounted for on a twice-yearly basis. Licences normally run for five years from the date of first publication. Stock of a particular volume is not always sold out in the first mailing, but may be used in subsequent follow-up mailings. A certain propor-tion of the books printed are offered free, through bi-annual promopropor-tional 1111
mailings to attract new customers to the series, and royalties are paid at half the normal rate on these copies.
The market requested for book condensation rights may vary, but the London office of Reader’s Digest negotiates for world English-language rights exclud-ing the United States and its dependencies, the Philippines, Canada and Australasia. It also negotiates rights on behalf of the Australian Select Editions operation, negotiating with UK rights holders for English-language rights throughout Australasia. Recently, the Australian Select Editions (which almost always contain the same selection of four books as the United Kingdom) has also been mailed into small markets in Singapore, Malaysia and India, for which the UK office negotiates rights.
However, once a title is included in the Reader’s Digest programme, interest may be generated from other parts of the organization, for example in the United States and Canada, and further rights may then be negotiated. In addi-tion, the foreign-language operations of Reader’s Digest (in markets such as France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, Latin America, the Scandinavian countries and central and eastern Europe) may seek to acquire translation rights in the condensation; in this case, rights would also have to be cleared with any foreign-language licensee of the full text of the work. The American Reader’s Digest operation maintains a ‘pool’ of condensed titles from which the foreign-language companies can select; appropriate rights would then need to be cleared. Rates paid per copy can differ considerably from country to country.
In the past, condensed editions have not been considered to affect trade sales, but the situation may perhaps be changing. They can undoubtedly gener-ate substantial extra revenue and may genergener-ate extra sales of trade editions when readers of a condensed edition become familiar with the work of a particular author. The compendium volumes contain full credit to the authors, titles and the publishers of the full trade editions in the market concerned;
they also include photographs of the covers of the trade editions. If a book is being offered by an agent, strong interest from Reader’s Digest in condensa-tion rights can often be helpful in placing the trade rights, if these have not already been sold.
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