When books are no longer making money, authors who have signed away their copyrights should seriously consider asking their publishers for rights reversions. Yet many authors don’t, for several reasons: they may not know how to accomplish reversions, they may believe they are ineligible because they don’t have reversion clauses in their contracts, or a triggering event for a reversion (such as a title going out of print) may not have occurred.

But rights reversions may be easier to accomplish than most authors believe, even for those who don’t have reversion clauses in their contracts. To help authors understand when a reversion makes sense, and how to approach the process, the Authors Alliance recently published a guide: Understanding Rights Reversions: When, Why, & How to Regain Copyright and Make Your Book More Available.

The Authors Alliance (of which I am a cofounder) launched in May 2014; its goal is to represent the interests of authors (such as academics) whose primary goal is sharing their works to promote the public good. Our reversion guide is the first in a series of resources that the Authors Alliance plans to publish to help authors take advantage of opportunities to increase access to their works in the digital age.

The idea for a rights-reversion guide came up after we helped a number of our own board members make their backlist works more widely available. Nobel Prize–winning author Harold Varmus wanted to put a digital copy of his book The Art and Politics of Science online for free, although he was fine with his publisher continuing to sell print copies. Historian and Harvard University librarian Robert Darnton wanted two of his books from the 1960s to be available in digital-library projects such as the HathiTrust. Katie Hafner wanted her book A Romance on Two Legs to be available in paperback, because she believed that her readers preferred this format to the e-book her publisher was providing. After she explained why she wanted a reversion, her publisher decided to offer a print edition, making a reversion unnecessary.

Based in part on interviews with agents, publishers, and authors, Understanding Rights Reversions uses hypothetical scenarios to illustrate situations in which authors may seek rights reversions. It also tells the stories of several authors who succeeded in getting some or all of their rights back, and the plans these authors had for their books. Science fiction author Michael Copabianco, for instance, obtained reversions for five of his books from his publisher, and struck a deal with a new publisher to make some of them available. Jeff Hecht wanted to do a sixth edition of his book on fiber optics, but after his publisher decided not to pursue a new edition, Hecht negotiated for a partial rights reversion so the sixth edition to come out with another publisher.

Until recently, there were few options for authors once their sales tailed off. But in the digital era, an array of new opportunities exist for backlist works to reach new readers. Of course, authors should recognize that they are not always better off with a reversion.

Having a book with a prestigious publisher may prove advantageous, as events can often suddenly propel a title into prominence after years of dormancy. And reissuing a book on one’s own is neither costless nor guaranteed to breathe new life into it if it has lost its readership. Authors need to do their homework before asking for rights reversions. And every author should also have plans for what to do once he or she receives a reversion—whether that’s self-publishing, making a deal with a new publisher, depositing the book in an open-access repository, or finding a subscription service.

The guide also offers key advice to authors seeking reversions, suggesting that they be reasonable, flexible, and persistent. They should realize that publishers generally want to help them achieve their goals, and publishers are often open to reversion requests—if for no other reason than that, after reversions, they no longer have to keep track of meager royalties for certain titles. Rights reversions can be a win-win-win: for authors, for publishers, and for readers who benefit from the insights that these books have to offer.

Pam Samuelson is a professor of law and information at UC Berkeley and a cofounder of the Authors Alliance.