COPYRIGHTS (IMPORTANT. WAKE UP.)
•Do not send it to us if you are not the SOLE OWNER OF THE COPYRIGHTS. Neither Menda City Press nor its publications hold any responsibility for researching and verifying copyright ownership. We like breaking rules, but not this one. If you cheat, we will assist the rightful owner in hunting you down and giving you atomic wedgies until you say Uncle, and all other due legal punishment. Cheaters may prosper, ridiculously well, but they're always assholes.
•For previously unpublished fiction or non-fiction work, Menda City Press obtains -- in written agreement -- First Serial Rights and Electronic Archival Rights. These are very commonly used publishing terms.
Here's what those terms mean:
- First Serial Rights: We get to be the first to publish this particular piece, one time. You promise that no one else has put their grubby mitts on it and published it--including print, online, ebook, pod, whatever--before we do. These are the same rights obtained by The Paris Review, The Missouri Review, The Kenyon Review, Fugue, and other major journals. (If you want to try them first, we don't blame you--they're very well established. If it doesn't work out, please come back and give us a try. We're better than all them suckers anyway, but whatever.)
We'll even do something for you that most won't do, and give ourselves a deadline of 180 days after signed agreement to publish it. After that, we'll have to get your permission all over again.
The very next moment after we display your work, you can sell it like crazy (We'd appreciate the courtesy of a "Published first in Menda City Review, issue X" reach-around, but it's not required.). Furthermore, if we publish you online, and then choose the same work later for our printed anthology, we must first ask for your permission again before printing. Of course, we still won't be able to pay much. But we probably won't ever print an anthology anyways because we're cheap and we love trees.
- Electronic Archival Rights: This means that what we publish will remain in our database for future perusal by our online visitors. This doesn't mean we can put it out on podcast or ebook or other techie stuff we don't know much about, only that we can show it as an archive on this awesome, lowly website. This is a "Non-Exclusive" right, meaning that you the proud author can subsequently give this right to anyone else you want, as long as A) they're cool; and, B) it doesn't infringe on our First Serial Rights, as stipulated above. We trust you'll do the right thing.
Note: First Serial Rights are not required for non-fiction essays. However, we will not, at this time, be able to pay for re-publication of non-fiction essays. Terms listed above are only for works offered with first serial rights.
(Still have questions about our policies? Send questions/concerns to: editors@mendacitypress.com)
Need more legal help? Try these links for more info:
Or try entering the above terms in your favorite search engine or library. (Library (noun): a building containing lots of printed reading material. For reading.)
