Product Description

Updated and expanded, twenty ready-to-use forms for authors and self-publishers are accompanied by step-by-step instructions, advice on standard contractual provisions, and unique negotiation checklists. Included are: estimate, confirmation, permission, and nondisclosure forms; contracts with agents, publishers, designers, printers, sales reps, and distributors; as well as a licensing form for electronic rights. "Revised edition of a reference we've referred to often to assist with Hotline questions (Freelance Writer's Report). Provides important details not to be found elsewhere. An important success kit of practical examples (Reviewer's Bookwatch).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #170995 in Books
• Published on: 2005-01-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

ASJA Newsletter
A helpful compilation of basic forms and tear-out forms for actual use, plus an intelligent index. This is a very useful addition to the professional writer's library

The Pulse
An all-in-one handy book, authors and self-publishers will find every contract and business form they'll need at every step of the writing/publishing process

Library Journal
A handy guide offering advice on how to negotiate and how to contact volunteer lawyers for the arts

Customer Reviews

Some good notes
This book has a few good notes of things you should pay attention too but over time I have found I rarely go to it. The number of sample contracts you receive is good and worth the money if you need samples to work from. I found "Contracts Companion for Writers" to be a better starting point because it included finished contracts...so you could see where most company were starting as far as numbers and percentages go.

What I needed- concisely
I knew what my concerns were with my literary Agent Agreement and what I wanted to say, but I didn't have a handy lawyer to draft the verbiage. I used Crawford's contract templates to dummy up the provisions I needed, and make sure I'd considered all the angles. This is a concise and targeted look at publishing-related contracts that's in understandable language and from the viewpoint of giving advantages and protections to the author. I hope one day to need the juicy ones even further back in the book.

Cutting Through a Complex Area
Tad Crawford has written a whole series of books out of his expertise in the law and creative arts, with a special focus on photography. I'd suggest looking at Tad's other books, too, since this one is more action-focused without extensive explanations of the whys and wherefores of it.

"Business and Legal Forms" has the documents you'll need, such as copyright transer forms, publishing contracts and agreements. His descriptions are very helpful. Of greatest practical use, though, is the included DVD containing MS Word documents of all of the forms.

If you're just getting started writing, you need this book! It is not at all uncommon for creative work to be copied or outright stolen, so protect your rights as soon as you get started...