Literary Lawyer for Brooklyn Writers and Authors

Reviewing Your Book Contract, Royalties, and Enforcement

Expand law works with you to assess your work and manuscript for legal issues and to draft, review and negotiate your contract so your risk is minimized and your reward is maximized. 

Book contracts can be very complex, potentially involving collaborators or ghostwriters, provisions related to literary agents, items related to the marketing and merchandising of your work, agreements that may enable the conversion of your work to film or audiobook, translations, licenses, or any items that might be specific to your specific manuscript.

The wrong contract can have dire consequences—there may be hidden provisions signing away the rights to your work or to various lucrative uses of it, it might not have a concrete date for publication or copyright registration, or it might allow your publisher or other reviewers to change your novel without permission or approval.  The offered advance and royalties might be well below industry standard or come with strings attached.

Beyond the contract, not having an attorney on your team could delay your timeline of receiving your rightful payments, or it could expose you to risk of liability for libel or defamation.  You might also miss provisions like audit clauses that would allow you or your representative to examine the publisher’s sales records in the event of a royalties dispute

Lindsey is a creative-side attorney who works with authors and writers to prevent their work from falling into these kinds of traps and to help enforce the contracts so the originator of the work gets treated fairly.

FAQ:

Should a lawyer review my manuscript before I submit it?

There are plenty of reasons to have a lawyer review your manuscript before submission.

Your agent might be very helpful in understanding the buyers, the market, and many of the main provisions of a contract. 

Having a good attorney complement your agent can really insulate you and your work from liability or loss in the future.

An attorney who is working on your behalf to review your manuscript will read it with an eagle eye, adeptly assessing where you may have risk and suggesting ways to mitigate it.  At the very least, an attorney can help you clearly understand the risk and reward payoff so you can make the most sound decision in accordance with your work and your values.

Can I write about my friends or family members’ experiences in my work?

This seems like a good time for that loved-by-lawyers, hated-by-everyone-else answer: It depends.

Writing about people in your life carries several considerations.  You want to assess whether they are a public or private individual, whether you are writing the truth about them, whether they are easily identifiable (even if they are not named), and what you actually say about them.

For example, David Sedaris has been known to disclose intimate details of his family’s life in his work.  You are not necessarily protected merely because you are publishing a work of art or saying something that is true, and beyond the ethical considerations you grapple with, there are also legal risks that an experienced professional should assess for you.

It is good to have an attorney review your manuscript and clue you in to weak areas.  It can save you a lot of time and money in the long run.

What are some things I should look out for in a publishing agreement?

In a publishing agreement, there are many things to be aware of.  Lindsey can help you assess the contract you are offered so that it works for you.

Expand Law advises clients to consider their ideas for the future of the work—including possibilities like audiobooks, conversion to film, translation in other languages, marketing, branding, merchandising, as well as the ability to retain rights over the book and licensing.  

There can be provisions dealing with international rights or multimedia adaptations that you will want to assess for your intended audience.  There may also be provisions dealing with how disputes get handled—which is mainly through negotiations and private dealings.

Publishing agreements can become difficult legal battles, and it is imperative you have a legal expert in your corner.

Assessing Your Risk—or, What Can You Say in Your Work?

From picture book writers to novelists to memoirists, writers commonly pull from their own experiences in crafting their stories.

The legal issues that often come up for writers when deciding what to include touch upon a few broad concepts, including: 

• Intellectual property issues (or whether you are using a song or other copyrighted work and how to get that usage approved);

• First Amendment issues (or whether you are publishing information that is false and damaging to a person or business’s reputation);

• Right of privacy (or whether you have publicly represented someone who is not in the public eye, and how that representation might affect them).

Copyright Protection

Copyright and trademark protection is one of the most commonly touched upon areas for literary attorneys.

First, it is imperative that when you write about or refer to copyrighted works, you do so in a way that is consistent with “fair use,” or otherwise pursuant to a license.

Second, you should absolutely review your publishing agreement for rights and obligations to copyright.  If your work is not timely copyrighted, you are at risk of losing substantial opportunities related to the future of the work.

You may wish to copyright or trademark your work.  Copyright is a process by which you submit your work to the U.S. Copyright Office and receive the rights to exclusive use of it.  Trademark can be a more extensive process with a more rigorous review, which could end up in litigation.  Both of these processes include issues like renewal, duration, and termination of the rights, and both carry various penalties if someone violates them.

Expand Law can help you decide which protection is right for you based on your priorities.