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Get ready for our next #SYPCareerCafe, which this week is all about Rights! We've got a fantastic panel for you this week, so stay tuned for all the key discussion points on this thread 
We'll be starting off with some introductions from our chair and panellists, before moving onto our first questions!
Q1: How did you get into Rights? Do you have any tips for those looking to get into Rights?
Nathaniel A: I thought I wanted to get into editorial, did lots of placements, and then happened upon rights! I did a rights placement, then a job came up, I applied and fell into it that way! I'd aimed to move across to editorial from rights, but I fell in love with rights
Saidah: I did an MA in publishing and didn't know rights existed until then! I liked the idea of travelling and seeing the books being translated into other languages, so that's how I got into it
Elle: I went to the SYP conference and learnt about rights there! I think it's interesting that we all kind of fell into rights, which is quite common in rights I feel
Q2: What are some of the important things you learned early on in your careers?
Oda: If you manage to get any experience, even a boring or tedious job, it'll lead to something great!
Nathaniel A: Enjoy the detail! That's the way you learn how rights works. Look at the contracts, when you're copied into emails take it all on board. It'll give you an understanding how the relationships within rights work. You have to be detail-focused and have a wider focus
Saidah: Be inquisitive - ask your manager and colleagues how things work!
Nathaniel M: This is a part of publishing which is really relationship-based, so understand the context and history of everyone you meet and are put in contact with. Learn to build your own relationships with people, which will help your career down the line
Elle: I agree - if you're doing filing early on in your career, then look at those files and ask your manager to explain the contracts and documents. Those little things will be important!
Q3: Does it help to understand contracts?
Oda: We don't draft our own contracts, legal does that in our team, but it's useful to be able to understand them and know what's in the contracts and the clauses. Like Elle said, when I was doing filing I read the contracts and tried to understand them
Nathaniel A: You need to know what's in the contracts even if you don't draft them, as you'll be negotiating deals. You need to know what you're negotiating. You don't have to understand it completely in depth but you should know what each part of the contract grants or allows
Saidah: Everything takes time - your manager will understand you won't get it straight away! It is important in your role as you progress and it's good to understand wording, but you'll get the hang of it so don't worry!
Nathaniel S: I agree, I learnt a lot of it on the job, but you need to have that interest and desire to learn. In small publishers you may end up drafting the contracts, so sometimes you'll have to compare new and old contracts and so you'll need to learn how they work
Elle: Yes, I currently draft my own contracts. Each company is different, we don't have an in-house legal team. It was something I learned on the job, but there are lots of online courses and ways to learn more. If you're in publishing, ask your managers if you can go on courses!
Q4: How important are languages?
Oda: In my job, I don't need to know another language. It can be beneficial, but if you're working permissions it's not a necessity
Nathaniel A: I agree, it's not obligatory. It can't hurt however, a lot of publishing and rights is about relationships, so if you can speak the language of someone you're working with, you might find it easier to build up your relationship with them
Q5: Do any of our panellists have a favourite territory they work in?
Nathaniel M: I quite like France! It can be difficult - often when something sells in France it doesn't take off anywhere else though, but occasionally you get France and everywhere else so it's a sense of achievement!
Saidah: I think I like Poland - they seem to take the books that no one else does! It's interesting for sure
Nathaniel A: I agree about Poland, but I also like Russia! Everyone is really lovely, and they also take a lot of books that no one else seems to, so it's really fun
Q6: Are there any courses that would be useful or skills that would be good to learn?
Nathaniel A: There's a course I did on rights at the Publishing Training Centre - when I began my career that was like a right of passage for everyone who started in rights! I also met a lot of people there who I'm still friends with
Saidah: I did my publishing MA a couple of years ago. I did a rights module and it was interesting, but I wouldn't say it was essential. It was good to have that information, and the MA was a nice thing to do to learn more about the industry
Nathaniel M: I went on that Publishing Training Centre course! I learned a lot, it was very useful, especially surrounding understanding contracts
Oda: I found my MA useful as well, we had to do work experience which was a way to get out there and make connections. In my job however, knowing Excel is a good tip! I use it a lot, so having that knowledge is very useful
Elle: I agree about Excel. There's also a lot of free online material, not necessarily focused on publishing, but courses that can offer good general skills. Look on Future Learn and platforms like that
Q7: Do our panellists go on lots of work trips?
Elle: I do about 10 trips a year normally, so yes!
Nathaniel A: Normally, yes! I usually do 2-3 trips a year outside of book fairs
Nathaniel M: I generally only go to Frankfurt, which is fairly normal for rights assistants
Q8: Are there key software skills you use on a daily basis?
Nathaniel M: We simply use a series of spreadsheets, although they have to be updated all the time!
Saidah: We use biblio, for everything and anything! If that went down, it would be the end of the world...! We use docusign for contracts now, which is really useful and quick
Q9: What are the importance of rights fairs?
Nathaniel A: That's the one time of the year when everyone gets together, you get to meet everyone you're working with and build relationships. You get to understand what people are looking out for and you get an insight into the trends for the next 6 months
Saidah: It's weird with no fairs this year... You're constantly sending emails to try to get people to look at your book and it's not the same as actually sitting down with people. Deals seem to come out of nowhere! We've had to adapt to this, and luckily it's going okay so far!
Nathaniel M: It's definitely odd - sending a guide to the rights you have via email is a lot of information to digest. Being able to sit down with people enables you to understand what they want and you can tailor your emails to them instead. So that's been different for sure
Oda: We usually meet all our partners at LBF and get updates about how the industry is going, so it's really important to be able to meet with them face to face and get these updates
Elle: I agree about the trends - I'm normally able to see the upcoming trends from talking to people in person at fairs, so that's really hard without the fairs
Q10: How are you managing without the fairs?
Elle: I've been doing a lot more online/Zoom meetings with people!
Nathaniel M: I agree, we've been setting up more online meetings. The one benefit is that we can have more people doing this as normally only a small team goes to Frankfurt
Q11: What is the main difference between rights for childrens and adults books?
Nathaniel A: I've found it much the same, just with different contacts
Elle: Yes, I think they have a lot of similar skills, there isn't a huge difference
Q12: What exactly is a rights guide?
Nathaniel M: Depending on the deal that's been made, you have various extents of rights. For example, audio rights, hardback/ paperback rights, territorial rights. Do you have the rights to sell in translation? So one of my tasks is making sure all this information is up to date
Q13: Who goes to a books fair, are you meeting with other rights people or commissioning editors?
Saidah: A variety of people tend to go, usually it's a selection of editorial and rights team members. You meet with editors at other publishers from other territories etc
Nathaniel A: Some territories have a specific rights person who I've met with, and they filter out the information for their editorial team. For the most part it's editors - but I meet with other rights people in the pub later on!
Q14: What is a typical day working in rights/permissions?
Saidah: First thing, I check my emails! Then I check the status of current contracts and deals, drafting contracts if needed. In the office, sometimes sending books out to authors and agents. Communicating with the team about new books or manuscripts. It's a bit ad hoc!
Nathaniel M: Mine's pretty similar! I have a lot more cover copy as well as I'm also editorial though! I check in what's come in overnight, recently I've been dealing with renewals coming in with China, so you have to work out the time difference for urgent contracts or deals!
Oda: I also have an assistant who works on the journals so we liaise to work out who's going to do what and go through emails in the morning. I then do a lot of project work in the afternoon
Nathaniel A: The great thing for me is no day is ever the same! I could be working with translations, getting contracts processed, working with foreign publishers, having meetings with editors, reading...! It's really varied
Elle: Mine's also very varied, as I do a bit of everything. I split my day into segments, so like an admin section, email section etc. I often have meetings and so always make sure I'm prepared for those!
Finally, some parting words and advice!
Nathaniel A: Well, it's the best job in the world! You get to read loads and be involved in editorial and acquisition meetings, you get to travel loads and meet lots of people as well
Saidah: Rights is definitely a fun area - the travel area is definitely a big attraction. There's always something different happening and new people to meet as well
Nathaniel M: It changes how you look at books. When you get something and your second thought is 'this would do well in X country', it's a good feeling to have that ability to introduce text or work to a completely different place
Oda: It's a close knit community - there are some great rights events, so it's a lovely community where you always get to meet people. It's also very varied, so it's definitely the best job
Elle: It's awesome to be working with all the different departments and to see your books come out in different languages as that is really special to see
And that's a wrap! Thank you so much to our wonderful panellists and chair, that was a fantastic panel. Stay tuned to find out about our next one...
