Three weeks before files go to the printer
A narrative history has forty illustrations, a couple of poems quoted in full, and a line from a song as the epigraph. The author found the images and sent a list. The editorial assistant has been emailing picture libraries, estates and a music publisher for two months.
Some have replied with a licence and an invoice. One wants the print run and the territories before quoting. One estate has not replied at all. The typesetter asks for the final credit lines and nobody is sure which wording the picture library required, because it was in an attachment on a reply to a reply.
Why permissions drift to the last minute
Permissions work is many small conversations running in parallel, each needing the same facts: edition, formats, territories, print run, publication date. Those facts change during production, and each request has to be updated.
- The permissions list lives in the author's document, not in a shared record.
- Terms vary: some grants exclude ebook, some limit territory, some cap the print run.
- Invoices arrive separately from the grant letters.
- Credit wording is specified by the rights holder and has to be exact.
- Nobody owns the list of what is still unanswered.
Authors often start the list before the book is signed, with notes like 'photo from a museum website' or 'lyrics, check'. Those notes travel into production as they are, and turning them into proper requests with named rights holders is work that nobody has scheduled.
What late permissions do to a book
| Late or missing item | What happens |
|---|---|
| No reply from an estate | An image is cut or replaced at proof stage |
| Grant excludes ebook | The ebook goes out with a blank space, or not at all |
| Print run exceeds the licence | A reprint needs a new request you did not plan |
| Credit line wrong | The rights holder asks for a correction in the next printing |
| Invoice not paid | Chasing letters arrive after publication |
Whether a quotation needs permission at all is an editorial and legal judgement for you and your adviser. We only build the log of what you have decided to clear.
The permissions log, item by item
- A log per book with a line for each item: type, page or chapter, source, rights holder and contact.
- The request details sent (formats, territories, print run, edition), stored once and reused, so a change updates every open request.
- Status per item: to request, requested, quoted, granted, refused, replaced.
- Terms of the grant recorded as fields, so limits on ebook, territory or print run are visible and can be checked against the book's plans.
- Credit wording stored exactly as supplied, and exported as a credits list for the typesetter.
- Fees and invoices linked to the item, with a reminder when a grant is in but payment is not.
Draft request emails are produced from a template with the book's details filled in. A person sends them, from their own mailbox, so replies arrive where they expect.
What production sees on a normal week
The production editor opens the book and sees how many items are cleared, how many are waiting and which ones have not answered after two chasers. If the publisher decides to add Australian rights, every open request that needs updating is listed. At proof stage, the credits list is exported rather than retyped, and a reprint shows at once which grants cap the print run.
Next time the author's book is reissued in paperback, the history is there: who held what, and what they charged.
A typical case is the image grant that covered the hardback only, in the UK and Commonwealth, up to a stated print run. The log shows it in amber as soon as the paperback is scheduled, with the original contact and fee, so the new request goes out in good time rather than the week the printer books the slot.
Is this your production schedule?
- Permissions are still open when proofs are being checked.
- Credit lines are copied from email attachments into the manuscript.
- You have found an ebook or territory exclusion after publication.
- Permissions invoices arrive and nobody knows which book they belong to.
- Reprints trigger a scramble to check old grants.