If you wish to negotiate your publishing agreement it is important to determine what rights are important to you. If the publisher won't accept your proposed changes are you willing to walk away from the publisher and consider publishing elsewhere? Are you willing to continue with the publication if you cannot retain certain rights?
More information on types of contracts and how to successfully negotiate a contract can be found through the links below.
When publishing an article or a book the publisher will usually require you to sign a publication agreement (also often known as a copyright transfer agreement). You as the creator of the work have exclusive rights to that work under U.S. Copyright Law.
In order to publish your work a publisher needs access to some of these rights via either transfer of the copyright or a license agreement.Historically most publishers have required authors to sign over their copyright. Now however it is becoming more common for authors to sign over only some of their rights or to retain some of their rights through a non-exclusive license with the publisher.
When signing a publication agreement it is important to understand what rights you are signing away and which rights you are retaining if any. There may be some things you wish to do with your work such as being able to share your work with your colleagues, post copies in Moodle/Joule for your students, publish excerpts in future works, or place in a personal website or online repository. If the terms of your publication agreement don't allow you to use your work in ways that are important to you then you can attempt to negotiate the agreement to retain certain rights.
Most publishers have standard publication agreements. Terms of publication agreements can vary highly by publisher. More restrictive agreements may require you to sign over all of your rights. Less restrictive agreements may only require you to provide a non-exclusive license to the publisher. When signing a publication agreement you should pay close attention to the terms of the contract and know which rights you are signing away and which you may be allowed to keep.
SHERPA/RoMEO copyright policies and self-archiving provides a database of standard publishing agreements for journals. You can use this database to help determine which journals will let you retain the rights you want.
If your publication agreement does not allow you to use your work in ways you would like or does not comply with the terms of any grants you may have received to support your work, you can negotiate with the publisher by attaching an addendum, which should be signed by both your publisher and you. The SPARC Author's Addendum is a legal document designed to help authors retain the rights to their works while still allowing the publisher the rights they need to publish and distribute the work.
Make sure to keep signed copies of all your author agreements and addenda so you know your rights in the future.
As an academic author you have probably signed some or all of your rights away to a publisher. There may be instances in which you want to have these rights reverted back to you. For instance your book may no longer be in print through your publisher, it may not be available in particular format, or you may wish to make a derivative work such as a translation. If you do not currently have the rights to do what you want to do with your work you can work with your publisher to try and have the necessary rights reverted to you.
1. Statutory Termination Right
According to U.S. Copyright Law, under certain conditions the transfer or license of a copyright to another party can be terminated after 35 years. The Authors Alliance has created the Termination of Transfer Tool to help authors determine if their work qualifies for statutory termination rights.
2. Contractual Rights Reversion
The terms of your contract may already include provisions for rights reversion under certain circumstances.
3. Voluntary Rights Reversion
If your work does not qualify for statutory or contractual rights reversion, you can ask your publisher to revert rights to you on a voluntary basis.
The Authors Alliance has created a Rights Reversion Portal with information on contractual and voluntary rights reversion including tools to help you request your rights.