What was the difference between a contracted novel and an uncontracted novel?
The copyrights, profits, and copyright protection of contracted novels were different from those of non-contracted novels. The author and the publishing house would strictly protect the copyright of the contracted novel. The author could modify, continue, and adapt the work, but he had to abide by the relevant regulations of the publishing house. The publishing house would edit and review the novel to ensure that the quality of the work met the requirements. In terms of income, authors who signed contracts could receive copyright income and royalties, while authors who did not sign contracts could only receive royalties. The authors who signed the contract could also cooperate with the publishing house to co-publish and obtain more profits. In terms of copyright protection, the author of the novel who signed the contract had the full ownership of the copyright of the work and the exclusive agency right. Without the author's authorization, others were not allowed to use, adapt, publish or distribute the work in any way. The authors who did not sign the contract only had the copyright of the works, but the publishing house could decide whether to sign the contract with the author to protect the rights of both parties. In addition, the contracted authors also had to abide by the publishing process and requirements of the publishing house, such as topic selection, review, editing, proofreading, typography, printing, distribution, etc., to ensure the quality of the work. At the same time, the author also needed to maintain a good cooperative relationship with the publishing house and actively communicate with them to jointly promote the publication and distribution of the work.
