Writers Contracts Dangers

Even when you're writing for someone else and receiving no byline or credits, many sticky issues can rear up and bite you in the butt. What kind of writing carries no credit lines? Writing for businesses, work-for-hire jobs, and ghostwriting come to mind immediately. Because so many issues can arise around copyrights, use of your name and non-competition agreements, it's better to have these spelled out in the clauses of a contract before you start working. Even then, as the American Society of Journalists and Authors points out in a Contracts Watch article, you might not have a smooth relationship with the employer.

Melanie Votaw learned first hand about feeling (and being) violated when a book she wrote under a work-for-hire agreement was reissued using her name in a rewritten form that she did not authorize. "When I signed the WMFH contract, I gave away copyright of my original manuscript, and I received no royalties. The contract did not give the publisher permission to use my name in any way it saw fit, however. I potentially have a case for "misappropriation of name," but the attorneys for the Authors Guild have advised me that after having kissed my copyright goodbye, I would probably lose such a lawsuit."

Even more bizarre is the saga of the Penn Group suing ghostwriter Lauren Slater for breach of contract. Alex Beam of The Boston Globe presents a complex tale about Slater, this publishing company and it's proposed suit against a west coast ghost who didn't even work for it! A good admonition to find out all you can about any company before you work for them.