Clarks's Publishing Agreements: A Book of Precedents
(Seventh Edition)
Lynette Owen
Butterworths Tolley, hardback, £78 978-1-84592-785-1

The industry Bible on all aspects of author-publisher contracts, with 22 'precedent' contracts and an accompanying cd. Published in 2007, this edition includes the latest information on electronic and software rights, in addition to detailed commentary on standard author-publisher contracts and the many variations thereof (agreements for illustrators, translators, book series editors, contributors to a book, educational agreements etc). Rights licensing is also comprehensively covered. Along with Judith Butcher's Copy-Editing [link], this is a staple for every publisher and author's shelf.

It is accompanied by a CD-Rom which gives the text of the precedents.

Buying and Clearing Rights
Print, Broadcast and Multimedia
Richard McCracken and Madeleine Gibart
Routledge (Blueprint), hardback, £50, 1-85713-025-1

A specialist book written as a ‘practical guide for anyone concerned with the acquisition and clearance of intellectual property rights in the course of publishing or compiling their own material’ – ie in addition to publishers and agents, aimed at academics, producers, directors, software developers…

Selling Rights (4th edition)
Lynette Owen
Routledge, hardback, £40, 0-415-23508-1

A companion book to Clark's Publishing Agreements and also by Lynette Owen is this one-stop reference work dealing with all aspects of selling rights and co-editions throughout the world. Although primarily designed as a ‘practical guide for those working in the book industry' it is also used by agents, lawyers and authors.

The book tackles issues such as which party should control rights, when or not to sell rights and the practicalities of the rights-selling process.