Before you Disappear: Eight Contract Issues for Ghostwriters

When you write an article for a magazine, newspaper, or website, you sign a contract. When a traditional publisher buys your book, you sign a contract. When you hire a POD company to get your book into print, you sign a contract.

You already know there are plenty of reasons to ghostwrite/coauthor for a client. If you're working for a packager, publisher, or agent, they'll have you sign their contract. If your client is an Everyday Joe or Pro with a Platform, though, chances are you'll write your own.

While every collaboration agreement is different, make sure that yours addresses the eight following elements:

• Pay. Of course I put this one first. How much will you be paid, and when? I suggest you get a retainer upfront. If you client loses interest early on, you want to be paid for the work you've already done.
• Credit. Whose book is this? Are you ghostwriting? If you'll get cover credit, specify how you and your coauthor's name will appear on the cover.
• Scope of work. What are you writing, and how long will it be? Will it be a 30,000-word book or a 75,000-word book, for example?
• Division of work. Will you be researching and writing chapters, which your coauthor will then review, or will each of you be writing? Will your coauthor provide facts, research, anecdotes, or other material for you to use, or are you responsible for coming up with that?
• Deadline. When is the book due? And will you give your client a certain turn-around time (say, one week) to review your drafts and get it back to you?
• Indemnification. You don't want to be sued over libelous material your coauthor provided, so the contract should indemnify you for that.
• Copyright. Will the copyright be held jointly, or in only one of your names? (You can be a ghostwriter and still share copyright, but most clients will want to be the sole owner of copyright.)
• Termination. What happens if one of you dies before the book is complete, or decides you no longer want to pursue the book? This should be spelled out.

If you want to know more about ghostwriting contracts or breaking into this field, check out my latest book, Goodbye Byline, Hello Big Bucks: The Writer’s Guide to Making Money Ghostwriting and Coauthoring Books, or buy the Kindle version.

Coming later this week, straight talk about money, and a preview of a special January blog series.

Before you Sign on the Dotted Line: Contract Advice for Freelancers

You just received a contract from a market that's new to you. You flip to the signature page, sign your name, and return it immediately, right?

Wrong!

Don't rush to signed on the dotted line. While many writers simply accept the language in contracts they receive, you can negotiate better ones when you keep these strategies in mind:

• Read it! Believe it or not, many freelancers don’t read the contracts they sign—or they don’t read them closely. (I did this early in my freelance career—I cared about clips, not contracts.) Highlight anything you don’t understand, and if you have questions about what it means, gather more information and ask a lawyer or other freelancer for help.

• Ease the way. I never start a contract negotiation in a hostile manner. In fact, I express how much I appreciate the assignment and let the editor know I’m excited about it. Then I say something like, “but there are a few parts of the contract I’d like to talk to you about…”

• Guard your rights. Much of contracts are boilerplate, but some provisions can affect your bottom line if you’re not careful. Take exclusivity provisions. Many magazines ask for exclusive rights to a story for a certain period of time, say three or six months. But sometimes the provisions seek to prevent you from writing about a similar subject during that time for other publications. If you specialize, like I do, that may be a real problem. Read indemnification clauses carefully, too, to make sure you’re not signing on to insure the publisher if a lawsuit arises out of the story.

• Don’t give it all away—unless you have to. I’m often asked about all-rights contracts. Should you sign them? On principle, no. But I will sign them if the publisher is offering me enough money, and I don’t think I can reprint the story elsewhere. (I did sign them when I was starting out—remember, I wanted clips, connections, and experience and wasn’t as worried about contract issues.)

• Offer an alternative. If a contract asks for all rights, for example, suggest all rights for a limited time—say 90 days—or for first North American serial rights and electronic rights for a limited period of time. I’ve found that many editors are amenable to changes like this, especially when I’m willing to work with them to create an agreement that will make both of us happy

Sure, sometimes editors refuse to change their contracts, and then you have to decide whether to accept an assignment with the contract “as is.” But often editors are willing to make reasonable contract changes—if you’re willing to ask for them. So why not try?

Don't forget to tune in tonight for my free teleseminar on Six-Figure Freelancing...hope to "see" you on the call!