Abaddon Books Open Submissions Month

Anyone who is thinking of entering should make sure they clearly understand the implications of the "work for hire" payment model. Even if your world and characters are wildly successful, 1) you won't get anything more than the initial payment, 2) it might not be you who writes any sequels, and 3) you won't be able to use the story-world in anything else.
 
I wouldnt touch that with someone else's book!
 
Ouch. That sounds like a pretty sh*tty rights grab from a company that should know better.

I don't know about "should know better." Obviously this company has done the same sort of thing before and successfully enough to do it again.

Writers need to be informed about the language of publishing, so that they will know better than to take a deal like this one. Work-for-hire is all very well when you set your story in the publisher's own world or do a tie-in with a movie, game, or television world, but asking people to write new stories in new worlds under that kind of contract is a very different matter. It sounds like the very worst of bad deals. If this is how they do business even some of the time, I wonder how they treat authors generally, and would beware of any dealings with them.
 
I learnt about work for hire when reading about L. j Smith, who wrote The Vampire Diaries back in the 90's I think. Far as I could tell she was happy that someone liked her stuff enough, and didn't know better/didn't realise, what she was signing. The series was became popular (pre Twilight) and spawned a very successful tv series. But the company wanted her to write certain situations or character arcs, and they dictated everything.

When she refused they found someone who would write them, and no she is left writing fan/fix of her own world/characters so the original fans can finish the story.

I wouldnt have known before, but i never write work for hire now.
 
Anyone who is thinking of entering should make sure they clearly understand the implications of the "work for hire" payment model. Even if your world and characters are wildly successful, 1) you won't get anything more than the initial payment, 2) it might not be you who writes any sequels, and 3) you won't be able to use the story-world in anything else.
Ouch - that is painful... I was going to go down the agent route for my C.A.T. novel anyway, but this reinforces that point.
 
I did notice that part but decided it was worth posting anyway - they're pretty open about it, at least. I'm not planning on submitting anything myself but mostly because the thought of being paid up front to write something (with all the implied deadlines,etc.) is, frankly, terrifying!
 
Losing a story-world would not be pleasing. Cheers to those who pointed that out.
 
Very true. If you do go in for something like this, you need to be aware of what you are going to be giving away. In my opinion, you'd be much better off writing in someone else's established setting - assuming that you personally want to and can do that. And join the Society of Authors if you don't have an agent. They'll look over contracts and comment on anything glaring, if I remember rightly.
 
I'm thinking where it says 'all rights in the work reside with solely Rebellion' they are looking for a permanent transfer of copyright.
Bad if the case. Very bad.
 
Ok. I take your points for sure. But How about a hobbyist that is just looking for a way to get their work out there and recognized? If your stuff is successful, you have a much stronger place to negotiate from. Honestly, it sounds like the way the recording industry used to work. You get money up front to produce an album, from which the record company takes the majority of the profit. Bands were falling over themselves to take these deals even though they didn't stand to profit much, but the recognition would put them in a strong place to create future albums from. In some ways this was worse, because they would commit to four to six records under the same deal before they could do anything else. Plus, they were expected to tour the country to promote.
 
But How about a hobbyist that is just looking for a way to get their work out there and recognized?
It's a fair point, but I think the downsides of a publishing model like this far outweigh that benefit of getting your work out there. And if the work is good enough to be published, then the chances are good that another publisher would see the merit of it. I think the danger with something like this is that new authors who perhaps haven't researched the industry and how it works are more likely to see this and not realise it isn't standard - that a flat payment and losing your rights isn't typical for authors.

On their list of authors I did see two well-known names who've published with them*: Adrian Tchaikovsky and Chuck Wendig. Wendig knows about the open window for Abaddon and posted his own thoughts about work for hire:
On Work-for-Hire As A Humble Novelist

Personally I'd never go for something like this, but I can see how for some people it could be a good fit - I think the key is to go into it with your eyes open. It's a case of reading the fine print:
Work For Hire is a publishing model in which we buy out your work – publication, adaptation and licensing rights, for characters, setting and story – for a single upfront payment. You get a professional paycheque without waiting to earn out, and all rights in the work reside solely with Rebellion, sequels and all.
So you could write a book, have it become massively successful and never see a penny beyond the initial payment. Or see it made into a film (again, never receiving any payment. Perhaps you decide to write a sequel later - only you can't because they own it now. A year later you have an idea for a series of adventures involving one of the minor characters - only they own that character now, so you can't. Perhaps you want to write other adventures on the same world/in the same universe...they own that too, so you can't.
Or perhaps it's perfect as a standalone story, maybe one of those with an unresolved ending that works perfectly... which is later ruined when they hire another author to continue the story.

Honestly, it sounds like the way the recording industry used to work. You get money up front to produce an album, from which the record company takes the majority of the profit.
Hmm, not quite, I think. Let's say Led Zeppelin did their first album this way:
They lose songwriting royalties because it's in the contract (one-off payment initially and copyright and other rights not their own)
They don't get a penny for each album sold - all they get is that initial payment. This means Jimmy Page can't buy lots of Gibson guitars and Robert Plant's hair will fall into disarray:whistle:
They can't release Led Zeppelin II because technically it's a sequel:(:eek:
They can't use the songs on a live album or BBC sessions album because they don't own them anymore

I take your point though, @Cory Swanson, that there may be scenarios where publishing this way may be a good fit but I think there are many better, less restrictive options out there.

*which does rather lend weight to your argument that it can help get your name out there or be used as a springboard to bigger and better things:)
 
I think this would be OK if you were confident this book would be a one shot for you. Say you'd created a world you knew you had no intention of going back to. But imagine if J. K Rowling had published Philosopher's Stone this way? Not only would she have sold one of the most lucrative franchises in history for comparative peanuts, future books in the series wouldn't even be written by her, with all the problems that entails. What if the second author decided Snape was going to be the ultimate villain of the series, then author 4 decides actually he's merely a lacky of the bad guy, then author 6 decides actually he's not that important and kills him off screen.
 
Hmm, not quite, I think. Let's say Led Zeppelin did their first album this way:
They lose songwriting royalties because it's in the contract (one-off payment initially and copyright and other rights not their own)
They don't get a penny for each album sold - all they get is that initial payment. This means Jimmy Page can't buy lots of Gibson guitars and Robert Plant's hair will fall into disarray:whistle:
They can't release Led Zeppelin II because technically it's a sequel:(:eek:
They can't use the songs on a live album or BBC sessions album because they don't own them anymore

You often hear of bands/indivduals trying to regain or buy up their back-catalogue so I suspect some unsuspecting and naive individuals fell into this trap.

Not quite the same as here(although it did start with a situation where others were able to get the rights) but an example of Beatles strife: A Brief History of the Ownership of the Beatles Catalog
 
On Work-for-Hire As A Humble Novelist

Wendig makes some very fair points there. In particular, I like his point about the setting in which you are writing needing to have something beyond the generic. I suppose anyone could write the 1940s Red Army in space, but Warhammer has that and demons, if that's your sort of thing. One of the aspects of the Space Captain Smith world that I like best is that it isn't just generic steampunk. It's often what you add to the generic that makes the novel appealling and stamps it as yours.

I suspect that writing for hire, especially in a big franchise, could be a useful step between self-publishing or being published by a very small press, and writing for a larger publisher. However, I'm not sure whether publishers look at a writer's skills the way an HR department looks at a CV, although working that closely with a setting (and editors!) is probably useful experience.
 

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