Why “World Rights, One Cover” Is Not the Best Idea

Publishing Perspectives

There’s been a lot of talk about the end of territorial rights, but experience suggests that wouldn’t be a good thing for authors or books, writes literary agent Ginger Clark.

The idea of selling all territorial rights to one publisher is a good one in some cases. Sometimes, an offer is made that is so high that it makes sense. Sometimes, a publisher has a strong presence in all the major English language markets, and it makes sense to sell World English. Sometimes, the publisher refuses to offer for anything but World; and your client really wants to have his book published. So you grant the publisher World Rights, much to your chagrin, and smile through clenched teeth.
But in other cases (and I would argue that in a majority of cases), the author benefits much more if they have a publisher on the ground in that country, doing their own homegrown promotion and creating a market-appropriate cover.


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