Must Read Publishing Removes Moral Rights Clause; SFWA Will Flag Analog in Market Listings Pending Further Contract Improvements 

Recently, SFWA has reviewed contracts and heard from members that there are several issues around contracts from Must Read Publishing, the new owner of Analog, Asimov’s, FS&F, among other legacy genre magazines.

In April, we encouraged writers to argue for merchandise clauses to be stricken or removed if they showed up in story contracts, including from Must Read. In recent weeks, with Writer Beware®, we provided information on what it means to be asked to waive your moral rights: another issue that arose in contracts from Must Read. 

Legal counsel is currently reviewing contract language and developing sample moral rights clauses. In the meantime, SFWA is flagging Analog in our Monthly Market Report.

We were considering de-listing Analog, but on July 14, we received news that Must Read will be removing moral rights clauses from their boilerplate contracts. 

We are optimistic that this will be the change we want to see, and we look forward to reviewing the updated language.

We know Must Read representatives have been open to negotiation with writers, but we also think it essential that writers should not have to negotiate for favorable (or legal) terms in the first place. Fixing boilerplate issues means that more writers are on better footing in the future. 

We also know that there are still issues with Must Read contracts, which is why Analog will remain flagged on our Market Report until we see a boilerplate contract that meets a higher threshold for industry standards. We will be sharing more information about other contract issues raised by this matter in the coming weeks, and we will follow up with a statement as soon as we receive sample contract information and more answers from legal counsel.

David Steffen, administrator for the Submission Grinder, says: “This is encouraging news and we look forward to reviewing the updated contract language. In addition to the moral rights waiver, there was another clause that was a basis for de-listing, regarding sublicensing, and there are others that meet our requirements for non-standard contract clauses as well, but it is encouraging to see that Must Read is willing to consider changes.”

We are thrilled to see positive movement on these contract issues, and we look forward to more productive changes in the coming weeks.

We appreciate the hard work of many members who brought this to our attention, submitted their contracts when they had concerns, and helped us advance key conversations to move the matter forward. It has taken a team effort to come this far, and we look forward to working with everyone involved in the coming weeks, to bring about the next steps needed to secure a better publishing environment for more writers in SFF.

On behalf of the SFWA Board of Directors,

Kate Ristau

President