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in their contract. Naturally, this exclusivity is effective only until the work is published, because, with no regulation in the field, anyone can use it after the first publishing.
If the publisher does not want exclusivity, the author may take a copy of the manuscript to another publisher and get paid by both.
What happens after publication? That depends on the acceptance of the work by the public. Generally, the author gets more and more exposure as long as other publishers reprint and sell his work. And they do this as long as it earns money. In doing so, they all promote the author regardless of their intentions.
Does second-hand publishing (reprinting of a published work) provide incentives to the author? It may. For example, if a publisher wants to develop a brand, he may compensate the author in order to be the author’s announced sponsor. Would any publisher do this? Some may be tempted to do so because this marketing strategy is not worse than any other.
If the author is well-accepted, his next work will be sold at a higher price. Publishers will compete for the opportunity to publish it first. Obviously, being the first in this environment means being a brand. What if the very first publisher robs the author; say he does not give any written promise, takes the work, and publishes it under some other name? This does not change the situation much, because the author can take the work to another publisher and expose the first one as a fraud. Moreover, if the first work earns a considerable amount, a second one will not be stolen because other publishers will come forward in order to publish it. Thanks to Selftuning—that is to say, thanks to the no-exclusive-rights situation— sooner or later the real author will become known. Also, corresponding outcomes for the author, the publisher-thief, and the entire artistic and publishing community will result. Particularly, the author may turn to the courts and sue the publisher for breach of contract. For this scenario, the author would need another copy of the work and a witness to his agreement with the publisher-thief. Such measures can effectively secure any work from theft.
Now, suppose the first work does not earn anything; this means the work was not admired. In this case, the entire scenario starts over with his next work.