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Can Permissions be Profitable?

by Kevin Stewart

 

March 2010

 

 

 

For once the machine did not spit out my money. For once, the ticket dropped into my hand without a problem and I was permitted to pass. Half an hour later, my identity card let me into the office block and I was allowed to proceed though the doors to my desk. I then turned on the pc and, on request, entered the eight digit password (six letters, two numbers) to let me look at my work and (ho hum) the email inbox began to fill (again). Brilliant! Three permissions have been personally extended to me by nine o'clock and here I am receiving a host of permission requests. Welcome to my day…

 

For far too many people in publishing, putting copyright law into practice is something that just sort of happens. It is almost seen as an arcane 'magick' known to a select few adherents who weave their esoteric spells in ways too unfathomable for the ordinary person to comprehend. However, to the Permissions Administrator it is part of what they do day in, day out; in fact it is the bedrock of the job.

 

To fulfil the role of Permissions Administrator the adept combines the following:

• One substantial part copyright law
• One part reading Publishing contracts
• One part archivist and researcher
• One part negotiator
• One part mathematician
• And, all too often, many parts of doing other jobs: Contracts Assistant, Rights Assistant, Editorial or Production Assistant, PA.

 

The Permissions Administrator is tasked with ensuring that the best mix for your company is achieved to make the work of dealing with permissions as smooth and profitable (or, at least, cost-effective) as possible.

 

It is now half-past nine and my Inbox has loaded for the time being; just in time for me to receive a handful of letters. As ever, these come from the four corners of the world but there is the usual quotient of dodgy handwriting to decipher. Right, emails loaded and letters beside me. what next? Coffee time! Sufficiently fortified, I begin to turn my attention to the 'To Do' pile.

 

Ten minutes later, I have opened the letters and sorted them into 'Do now' and 'Do later' and 'Err?' Why is it that 'Errr? is always so big a pile? Within a further half an hour the same has happened to the emails and the fun begins. Where to start?

 

The Publishing Training Centre runs a course on permissions called Permissions For Profit (a bold statement) but that could easily be rendered interrogative: Permissions for Profit? The rightsholder is entirely at the mercy of the requestor. You do not 'sell' permission rights as you would translation or large print. You cannot target likely users in that way. Instead, they ask you for permission to reproduce X, Y and Z in A, B and C. Why? Simply, because it is an infringement of copyright to use the whole or a substantial (whatever that means) part of a copyright work without permission. To the Permissions Administrator, however, life is a lot more straightforward: Mr Smith has asked and Mr Smith will expect an answer.

 

If you are looking to make the process profitable, the Administrator needs to apply some basic principles:

• Check the rights quickly
• Decide if s/he can charge the user for a licence?
• Calculate what value to apply to that licence?
• Prepare the response accurately and swiftly (be it licence for money, a free licence, a rejection or a response saying that the company does not hold the rights in question).

 

Cold logic dictates they should deal first with those that look like they will pay most; but don't forget everybody deserves a prompt, accurate and polite answer. Cold logic also dictates that the system be as simple with as few blanks to complete as possible in any response. Lastly, cold logic dictates that calculation and collection of the fee be administered as smoothly as possible.

 

The course I teach at The Publishing Training Centre gives guidance on ways of achieving all of this. It looks to ensure you avoid the pitfalls of hasty decision-making: giving permission for material you do not control rights to can be as costly to you as using the material without permission would be; and to avoid self-imposed obstacles: like suggesting fees that will lead the other party to seek to negotiate; thereby costing you time (and money). It is never a perfect science but the course seeks to place the value and role of permission income in the context of your individual business targets. For some, simply processing effectively is the key; for others, the money is the sole consideration.

 

At last the day is over: twenty-five requests dealt with; fourteen new ones to do. Five charged for; ten given free and ten where we had no rights or where the records have long gone. Feels like a two steps forward, one step back kind of day… but what other Rights person gets requests for naming racehorses after book titles, helps a mother design a birthday cake featuring her daughter's favourite character and tells somebody that to quote those verses including The Ten Commandments would be an infringement of copyright – and in breach of Commandment Number Eight? There are worse ways of earning a living!

 

Now, I wonder if the permissions I need will be given tonight so I can get home and put my feet up?

 

The next Permissions for Profit course will be taking place on 14 April 2010. Visit Permissions for Profit or call 020 8874 2718 for more details.

 

Kevin Stewart is a full time Publishing Contracts Consultant at Contracts For Publishing Limited, working with an extremely diverse client list, including Simon and Schuster UK, Royal Horticultural Society, Pinter and Martin, Rily Publications, Lawpack and The Poetry Archive. He has been a regular tutor for The Publishing Training Centre for over 10 years and was formerly Director Of Group Contracts for Hodder Headline.

 

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