Part of our guide to licensing cartoons for publishing (coming soon)
When do you need to relicense a cartoon for a new edition or reprint? A reprint inside your print run band needs nothing further. A reprint that takes you past the band needs the next band up, for no more than the difference. A new edition needs a new license, but cartoons already licensed for the earlier edition are 50% off. At CartoonStock that’s the whole rule for relicensing images, and the rest of this guide covers how to use it.
Reprints Inside and Outside Your Band
Your license covers a reprint of the same edition as long as your total copies stay inside your band. Licensed at 5,001–50,000 and reprinting 5,000 more to reach 20,000? Nothing to do.
If a reprint takes your total past the band’s ceiling, you need the next band. Tell us, and you’ll pay no more than the difference between the two. Ebook downloads count toward the same total, and so do copies of any translated version sold in the same territory.
Our licenses carry no expiry date either. You license a publication, not a period of time, so there’s no renewal to diarize.
New Editions at Half Price
A new edition is a new publication, so every cartoon you carry forward needs a new license, whatever the print run. The cartoonist is paid again for the new use.
Publishers and authors producing a new edition of an existing title get 50% off cartoons already licensed for it. Cartoons you’re adding for the first time are licensed at the standard rate.
We apply the discount by hand, so don’t buy at checkout. Email us instead, with:
- The cartoon IDs you’re carrying forward
- The title of the earlier edition
- The print run band, territory and formats for the new edition
A new edition in a new territory, such as a translated edition for a different market, works the same way. Licensing cartoons for translations and co-editions (coming soon) explains when a translation needs a new license and when it doesn’t.
The License That Covers a Whole Edition
For titles you’ll reuse heavily, ask about our publication and product family license. It covers print, ebook, web and related derivative works for the life of that edition, including promotional use in context.
It suits a cartoon that’s central to a title rather than incidental, and a title that spawns workbooks, digital components or teacher materials. How cartoon licensing differs across publishing sectors (coming soon) looks at the kinds of title where that happens.
Making Relicensing Images Easy
The discount depends on us matching cartoons to the earlier edition, so good records pay for themselves.
Keep the cartoon IDs. Record them in your permissions log, not just the credit line. Relicensing images then becomes a list you send us, not a search through printed pages. Authors filling in that log can use filling in your publisher’s permissions log (coming soon).
Tell us during development. Let us know while you’re planning the new edition, especially if the print run or territory is changing. Territory rights for publishing (coming soon) covers a change of market.
Send the whole list at once. One email with every cartoon ID gets one quote back. Licensing several cartoons for one project (coming soon) explains accounts and invoicing for larger lists.
The Bottom Line
Relicensing images for a CartoonStock cartoon follows one rule. Reprints inside your band need nothing, and reprints beyond it need the next band for no more than the difference. A new edition needs a new license at 50% off for cartoons already licensed for the title, applied by hand when you email us the cartoon IDs. Every license pays the cartoonist.
Licensing cartoons for publishing · Request custom terms
Q&A: Relicensing Cartoons
Q: We’re dropping some cartoons from the new edition and keeping others. What do we license?
A: Only the cartoons you keep, at 50% off. Cartoons you drop need nothing further.
Q: The earlier edition was licensed by a different publisher. Does the discount still apply?
A: Email us the cartoon IDs and the earlier edition’s details, and we’ll check. Licenses are non-transferable, so the new edition needs its own license either way.
Q: Can we download the files again for the new edition?
A: Yes. You can download licensed files again from your account history. The new edition still needs its own license.
Keep Reading
Briefing picture researchers and sourcing agencies on cartoon licensing (coming soon)
Related Posts
- Which license size to choose when you don’t know your print run (coming soon)