As a writer, you are in charge of the rights to your work that you convey to the publisher. When you publish, you sell the publisher certain rights in the contract. But what does all that legalese mean? Here are a few of the terms that you might encounter in a publishing contract.

• First Serial Rights--The writer offers a newspaper or magazine the right to publish her work for the first time in any periodical. All other rights to the material remain with the writer.
  When material is excerpted from a book scheduled to be published and it appears in a magazine or newspaper prior to book publication, this is also known as first serial rights.
• One-Time Rights (also known as simultaneous rights)--A periodical buys the nonexclusive right to publish the work once. There is nothing to stop the author from selling the work to other publications at the same time. Simultaneous sales should be to periodicals without overlapping audiences.
• Second Serial (Reprint) Rights--Gives a periodical rights to print an article, poem, or story after it has already appeared in another newspaper or magazine. Second serial rights can be licensed to more than one market.
• All Rights--If you license away all rights to your work, you forfeit the right to ever use it again. This is not a good idea if you think you might want to use the material later. Before pulling out of the deal, however, ask the editor if she would be willing to buy first rights instead of all rights. It's worth a try.
• Electronic Rights--This covers a broad range of electronic media, from online magazines to CD-ROM anthologies or interactive games. The contract should specify which medium is to be used. The presumption is that all unspecified rights are kept by the writer.
• Subsidiary Rights--These are rights, other than book publication rights, that should be covered in a book contract. These may include: movie, television, audiotape and other electronic rights. The contract should specify who retains rights, and what percentage of sales from the licensing of the sub rights goes to the writer.
• Dramatic, Television, and Motion Picture Rights--This means that the writer is selling her material for use on the stage, in television, or on film. Often a one-year option to buy is offered. The interested party tries to sell the idea to other people (such as directors, studios, networks, etc.). Sometimes properties are optioned many times, but fail to become dramatic productions. In this case, the writer can sell the rights to her material over and over.