Publishing careers

Departments - Rights

Publishers don't make money just from selling books. Another important source of revenue is selling certain rights to those books. These may be translation or distribution rights in other countries, or the right to reproduce the book in another format (e.g. audio).

Working in the rights department therefore means you need a certain amount of commercial and legal acumen, to understand the various agreements involved, plus the ability to negotiate a good deal.

It is also one of the few areas of publishing that can involve foreign travel and you will find that some of your business is likely to be done at book fairs, both in the UK and overseas. Foreign languages can be an advantage if you want to work in rights, as can an understanding of the culture in the countries you're likely to be working with.

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