NamiComi FAIR

Pillar 1: You own your work.

The principle: Creators retain full Intellectual Property (IP) ownership.

What it means: You are not selling your creation; you are renting it out. A publisher gets permission to distribute, sell, and print your comic for a set period, but the copyright stays with you. You created it, you own it. If this deal ends, you take your creation with you to the next publisher. Never sign a contract that asks you to transfer your copyright.

Pillar 2: Access to the records.

The principle: Revenue splits are transparent and auditable.

What it means: You deserve to know exactly how many fans have paid to read your work and how much money you made. This means you have the right to regular, detailed royalty statements. And if you think the numbers are wrong, you should have the right to hire an auditor to check the publisher's records (at their expense if they messed up). If a publisher hides behind "We don't have to show you that," they are being disingenuous.

Pillar 3: Specificity is king.

The principle: Licenses are narrow, time-limited, and revocable.

What it means: A license is permission, and so it should be specific. If the publisher only paid for the right to print a paperback in English, they cannot suddenly release a hardcover in French or turn it into an audiobook without paying you more. The license should also have an expiration date. If the publisher stops selling your book (or lets it go "out of print"), the license should automatically end (revoke) so you can find someone else who will sell it.

Pillar 4: No "All-Rights" grabs.

The principle: No overly broad rights attribution that never expires.

What it means: Beware of phrases like "in any media now known or hereafter devised." This is a publisher trying to buy the rights to future technologies (like the metaverse or holo-books) for free, today. If a new way to make money is invented in 10 years, the creator should benefit from it, not just the publisher who distributed the series a decade ago.

Pillar 5: No quicksand contracts.

The principle: No "option traps" or hidden cross-collateralisation.

What it means: This is the sneakiest trick in the book.

• Option Traps: This clause says that if you make a sequel, the publisher gets first dibs on it under the same terms. Sounds fair? It can be a trap if your first deal was bad. You might be trapped into offering them your next great idea on the same terrible terms, and if you refuse, they can block you from selling it anywhere else.
• Cross-Collateralisation: Imagine you write two books. Book 1 is a hit. Book 2 is a flop. Cross-collateralisation means the publisher takes the profits from Book 1 to cover the losses from Book 2 before paying you. You end up getting nothing for your hit because it's paying for their failure on your other book.

Pillar 6: Don't mess with the art.

The principle: Moral rights are respected.

What it means: Your name is your brand. Your art is part of you. You have the right to be identified as the creator (attribution). And you have the right to stop the publisher from doing something that harms your reputation, like printing your art on a neo-nazi poster or editing your story to promote something you hate (integrity). You have the final say on how your work is presented.