Getting your book rights back

This guide explains common practice and quotes the Authors Guild, the US Copyright Office and the Copyright Act. It is not legal advice. Your own contract decides what you can do, so read its exact words and have a publishing lawyer or, if you are a member, the Authors Guild review them.

Why reversion matters

The Authors Guild's guide to rights reversion starts with the problem: "Most publishing contracts grant rights to the publisher for the full term of copyright," which it notes is the life of the author plus 70 years. It adds that "most publishers today put little to no effort into marketing and selling mid-list books within two to three years after publication" (Authors Guild, Rights Reversion, December 4, 2025).

The result can be a book nobody sells that you cannot sell either. The out-of-print clause, in the Guild's words, "allows the author to regain their rights if their publisher stops selling the book in any meaningful way, enabling the author to republish the book themselves or sell the rights to another publisher." A book that still brings in clients is worth more in your hands than on a backlist.

What an out-of-print clause contains

The Guild says most out-of-print clauses have four main elements:

1. The "Out of Print" definition: "The specific criteria that determine when a book is considered 'out of print' and eligible for a reversion."
2. The notice requirement: "The formal process the author must follow to notify the publisher that they are invoking the clause and asking for a reversion of rights."
3. The grace period: "A window of time given to the publisher to put the book back into print, license it to keep control of the rights, or notify the author that it is reverting rights."
4. The reversion: "Failure by the publisher to take action results in rights reverting automatically."

The definition is where most of the fight happens. Clauses that count any format, including electronic and print on demand, let a publisher "keep the book in print without having to undertake a new printing or do anything else," which the Guild says can make the out-of-print clause "essentially meaningless." Many contracts now add a royalty or sales threshold instead, and the Guild "strongly recommends using a royalty threshold."

The Guild's model clause, a recommendation rather than anyone's contract, opens: "If, after the expiration of two years from the date of Publisher's first publication of the Work, the Work is 'Out of Print' (as defined below) through ordinary retail channels, Author may, by written notice to Publisher, request Publisher to reissue the Work or license rights in the Work" (Model Trade Book Contract, section 10). Negotiating the clause before you sign is covered in who owns what: rights, ISBNs and contract terms; this guide is about using the clause you already have.

How to ask for your rights back

The Guild sums up the process in two steps.

Step 1: Check whether the book is out of print under your contract

Read the definition first. The Guild notes that clauses "normally provide that the reversion right may not be terminated until two or three years after publication," whatever the sales. After that:

• If your contract uses a royalty or sales threshold, check your royalty statements. The Guild says you can request your rights back "as soon as the specified period (e.g., two accounting periods) has elapsed since your royalties fell under the stated threshold."
• Watch for split definitions. The Guild warns that "many contracts still only apply the royalty or sales threshold to electronic and print on demand formats and use the traditional out-of-print standard for physical books."
• If your contract uses an availability test, you have to check yourself, because "publishers do not volunteer information about whether a book is out of print." Its ways to check: local bookstores, the publisher's current trade catalog, a major online bookstore, the Books in Print database, and trying to "order several copies of your work to see if it's available or if it's reported to be temporarily out of stock, indefinitely out of stock, or out of print."

Keep dated screenshots and royalty statements as evidence.

Step 2: Send the reversion notice

The Guild calls this step "very important." Under a typical clause, it says, "the author is required to send a notice to the publisher that they would like the publisher to put the book into print or revert rights in accordance with the language in the contract." Follow your contract's notice section exactly.

• Templates. "The Authors Guild can provide a demand letter template," and members can submit a legal request. Authors Alliance publishes a free guide to crafting a rights reversion letter with templates.
• The wait. The Guild says the publisher "typically has a certain time period (usually six months)" to say whether it will reissue the book or revert the rights, and if it promises to reissue but does not within another stated period, "usually a year from the notice date," the rights revert. Your contract's numbers are the ones that count.
• Automatic or not. "Some stipulate that reversion only occurs if a publisher responds." Check yours.

Loose ends: files, licenses and proof

Get a letter if you can. The Guild says a reversion letter from the publisher "should not be necessary for the reversion to be effective," but "obtaining one does simplify the process of republishing." It notes that Amazon "requires documentation of rights ownership." KDP's own help page says it may ask for documentation before a previously published book goes on sale, and that you can show "the previous publisher's rights have reverted back to you or expired (usually in the form of a 'reversion letter')" (KDP).

Ask about the cover and interior files. Your rights to the text are one thing; the publisher's cover design and typesetting are another. The Guild's model clause includes this sentence: "For 30 days following termination of this Agreement pursuant to this Section 10, Author shall have the right to purchase available production materials (if any) at cost or less, as determined by Publisher." Check your contract, and ask in writing before reusing any file.

Check existing licenses. The Guild's commentary says "a reversion of rights under this provision does not affect outstanding sublicenses," such as a translation the publisher has already licensed. Foreign editions are covered in foreign and translation rights.

The 35-year termination right

A second route works even when the book is still in print. The US Copyright Office explains that the Copyright Act "permits authors or their heirs, under certain circumstances, to terminate the exclusive or nonexclusive grant of a transfer or license of an author's copyright." It says the provisions are "intended to protect authors and their heirs against unremunerative agreements" (Copyright Office, Notices of Termination).

For grants an author signed on or after January 1, 1978, the rule is 17 U.S.C. section 203. Its wording on timing:

"Termination of the grant may be effected at any time during a period of five years beginning at the end of thirty-five years from the date of execution of the grant; or, if the grant covers the right of publication of the work, the period begins at the end of thirty-five years from the date of publication of the work under the grant or at the end of forty years from the date of execution of the grant, whichever term ends earlier." (17 U.S.C. § 203(a)(3))

The limits:

• Notice. The notice "shall be served not less than two or more than ten years before" the effective date, and a copy "shall be recorded in the Copyright Office before the effective date of termination, as a condition to its taking effect."
• Agreements to the contrary. Termination "may be effected notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary."
• Exceptions. Section 203 applies to "any work other than a work made for hire," and the Copyright Office says "grants made via a will or involving a work made for hire may not be terminated under these provisions."

The Copyright Office publishes tables for the dates, but a mistake in timing, contents or recording can cost the right. This is a job for a copyright lawyer. Because the window opens 35 or more years after the grant, it only reaches older books. For a recent book, the out-of-print clause is the route available now.

What to do with the book next

Once the rights are yours, start with a new ISBN. Bowker says an ISBN "can never be used again" once a title is published with it, that ISBNs "cannot be transferred on an individual basis," and that "If a self-publisher wants to be identified as the publisher, the self-publisher must get their own ISBN" (Bowker). Then choose a path:

What most people get wrong

• Waiting for the publisher to tell them. Publishers do not volunteer it.
• Never sending the notice. The Guild's lesson is "to make sure to follow the contractual process and send notice to get rights back once a book qualifies as out of print."
• Reusing the old files without asking. The text may be yours; the cover and typesetting may not be.
• Treating the 35-year right as automatic. It needs a served, recorded notice.