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Contracts are for your protection, to ensure each party understands the role they are providing for the contract, and to provide a place for all exceptions and exclusions.

Do not fall into the “let’s talk and then you do this” conversation. You must have that conversation with your potential client or if you are the writer your potential agent, publisher, editor, etc. Do nothing until you have a contract or signed proposal listing the services provided in detail in front of you. 

I don’t care if it is a piece of flash fiction, a short story, a formal essay, a novel, a newsletter for a business, or a grant you are writing for someone. Get it all in writing and make sure you get what you want. There are some things you need to know about when you start this process. Research what your rights are for intellectual property. Writing, artwork, photographs, and music are all considered intellectual property. 

It is essential you hammer out a contract between yourself and whoever you are considering doing business with. I won’t do anything anymore without something in writing. 

We have had to add certain points to our proposals having learned the hard way certain key items which are necessary. One of those items is the number of rewrites we will do. If we have agreed to perform the actual corrections in the editing phase and let the customer review them, then we will submit it only two times for corrections. The third submission is the last no matter what. If you don’t set a limit to how many times you will go back and forth as a freelancer then certain clients will have you doing rewrites for years without payment. Your time is important, and you must view it as if you were an hourly worker. Time is money and it is also essential to perform the craft of writing. 

This is a hard point to get across to some. Time is money. My time is valuable to me and what I do with it is something I plan out often from 6 am to 10 pm at night. My wife Yvonne works six and seven days a week on the job marketing and doing the business of writing. Without her I would not be free to perform the freelance work. She has recently begun to take over some of the legal aspects such a copyrights and ISBN numbers. 

Copyrights and ISBN’s are also a certain key point in proposals and contracts. Such as who is going to supply them and who has the rights and permissions. When I do freelance editing, I work for hire. I do not claim any rights against the work. If I ghost write, I take a salary and a part of the royalties to not have my name attached to the work. If I collaborate with the writers, I take a portion of the royalties, claim my portion of the credit and the rights. When I publish I take the rights for 2 years.

All these are part of what needs to be hammered out in proposals and contracts. One author wanted me to publish their work and perform all the editing and corrections myself. I decided that was the work of a collaborator and informed him I would list myself as co-author and editor. He refused and told me he would allow me 3 percent of the royalties. I refused of course. 

It works both ways. Publishers can be thieves. Do your research of what you may be entitled to and negotiate a proper contract or proposal. I don’t care about what the industry standard is either. I was told science fiction writers get 3 cents a word and I laughed. They got that back in the seventies. This is the age of gas that is $3.99 a gallon and milk that requires a home loan to purchase.  

Be ready to negotiate too. You can’t come in guns blazing and make demands. Unless you are J.K. Rowling and I doubt she had to make any demands once her first book took off.

So, once again I say, do your due diligence. Learn the business of writing. Because it is a business. And it is also a hard place for fragile egos. If you have one then be prepared for rejection, harsh criticisms and so much more. However, get what you want in writing and then some of the above will be negated. 

I’m Ross, The Editor-in-Chief at The Pyrateheart Press and I’m out.