Now the only business—forms book tailored specifically to the needs of craftmakers has been revised, bringing its 30 indispensable, ready—to—use forms and negotiation checklists completely up to date. And this new edition includes an ultra—convenient CD—ROM, so the forms can be copied electronically, modified, customized, and saved, ready for the crafter's next project. The crafts market is over $14 billion annually, and Business and Legal Forms for Crafts is the one book every crafter—businessperson must have.
Like any other financial endeavor, professional crafting carries legal obligations and necessitates the formation of good business habits. Authoritative and extensive, this handbook fully explains the purpose and use of 23 different forms, from a contract of sale to a basic invoice to a licensing contract to trademark and copyright applications. Each form is discussed item by item, with instructions for completion. The second portion of the guide consists of tearsheets of the actual forms, which can be photocopied and reused. As an added bonus, the book includes a CD-ROM (for both Mac and PC) containing all the forms so they can be customized and printed as needed. --Amy Handy--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"Professional crafters should find this book just the guide they need for partnering with craft malls, distributors, consumer shows, and other outlets for their wares. The book contains forms specifically designed to meet the needs of crafters, and can be easily customized.” (Craftrends )
Allworth Press publisher and founder Tad Crawford is an author, attorney, and artists' rights advocate.
Born in New York City, Crawford grew up in the artists colony of Woodstock, New York. Interested in writing both fiction and nonfiction, he majored in economics at Tufts College and graduated from Columbia Law School in February 1971. ("That explains the unusual amalgam of my activities," Crawford says. "A lot of legal skills are crucial for helping the artist and for running a publishing company. Of course, writing is an excellent background for publishing. So it's come together very well.")
Crawford clerked for a judge of the New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, then went to work for a small general law firm in New York City while writing and teaching writing and literature at the School of Visual Arts. Until he took the teaching assignment at the School of Visual Arts and learned of the need for materials to help artists understand their rights, he had not envisioned being an advocate of artists' rights.
"I found nothing in print to help artists deal with such legal matters as copyrights, contracts, income taxes, the 'hobby loss' problem, estate planning, or even how to get grants," recalls Crawford. And so, responding to what he saw as "an extreme need," he wrote a book dealing with those and other relevant issues, titling it Legal Guide for the Visual Artist and using it as a text for the "Law and the Visual Artist" course that he taught at the School of Visual Arts. Published in 1977, Legal Guide for the Visual Artist is now in its fourth edition and has one hundred thousand copies in print.
He followed this with The Writer's Legal Guide in 1978 (which has been updated and reissued with The Authors Guild as co-publisher and Kay Murray, the General Counsel for the Authors Guild, as co-author). With Arie Kopelman he wrote Selling Your Photography in 1980 and Selling Your Graphic Design and Illustration in 1981. At the same time Crawford served as Chairman of the Board for the Foundation for the Community of Artists, legislative counsel for the Copyright Justice Coalition (which had many arts groups as members), and general counsel for the Graphic Artists Guild. In 1982 Crawford was asked to help publish books for some of the organizations that he had represented as an attorney. In response, he became publisher of Madison Square Press, which issued annuals for such artists'organizations as the Society of Illustrators, the Society of Publication Designers, the Art Directors Club of New York, and the Art Directors Club of Los Angeles.
In 1988 he decided to strike out in a new direction, "to create a press that would offer the kind of information that was more like what I had taught, written about, and lobbied for." Crawford saw the need for a publishing company that would provide practical information to creative professionals, such as artists, photographers, designers, and authors. He knew first hand the issues faced every day by such creative people and could envision a spectrum of books to help them survive and prosper professionally.
In the Fall of 1989, Crawford published Allworth Press's first book, a revised edition of his classic Legal Guide for the Visual Artist. Ten more titles followed in 1990, offering information about marketing, promotion, pricing, copyright, contracts, health and safety, and much more. The first edition of Business and Legal Forms for Photographers was published in 1991. "The information in these books,"Crawford says, "can make all the difference in terms of success and prosperity." Today Allworth Press has a backlist of more than 250 books, publishes 12-15 books annually, and employs a staff of six very talented people.
Crawford's last involvement as an active lobbyist was in 1986, and he's given up active practice of the law to devote his energies to his publishing and his writing. The full list of books that he has authored follows:
AIGA Professional Practices in Graphic Design (editor) The Artist-Gallery Partnership (with Susan Mellon) Business and Legal Forms for Crafts Business and Legal Forms for Fine Artists Business and Legal Forms for Graphic Designers (with Eva Doman Bruck) Business and Legal Forms for Illustrators Business and Legal Forms for Interior Designers (with Eva Doman Bruck) Business and Legal Forms for Industrial Designers (with Eva Doman Bruck and Carl W. Battle) Business and Legal Forms for Photographers Legal Guide for the Visual Artist The Money Mentor The Secret Life of Money Selling Your Photography (with Arie Kopelman) Selling Your Graphic Design and Illustration (with Arie Kopelman) Starting Your Career as a Freelance Photographer The Writer's Legal Guide (with Kay Murray)
This review is from: Business and Legal Forms for Crafts (Paperback)
Craftspeople need a variety of business and legal forms to organize and promote their work - and it doesn't matter if you're an amateur or a neo-pro. That's where Business And Legal Forms, in its newly revised second edition, comes in handy: 30 forms on a CD-ROM are accompanied by discussions of contract negotiations, rights, royalties, invoicing and more. A 'must' for any who would sell - and protect - their crafts.
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This is a very helpful book and every craftsperson who wants to improve their business practices should own this book. I am a professional craftsperson and find the forms in this book extremely helpful in that even if you don't use the actual forms and use an attorney to develop your own agreements, reviewing them makes me aware of what I should do to cover myself legally in many aspects of my shows and sales. It's a great reference. It comes with a CD with digital files of the forms in MS Word, so you can review and alter them as you need to for your specific situation/needs if you want to do them yourself. While I would recommend running them by an attorney if you want something that's rock-solid from the legal standpoint, if you want a starting point, this book is a great tool.
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This review is from: Business and Legal Forms for Crafts (Paperback)
Tad Crawford has written a whole series of books out of his expertise in the law and creative arts, with a special focus on visual arts. 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 model and property releases, copyright transer forms, publishing contracts and sales forms. His descriptions are very helpful. Of greatest practical use, though, is the included media containing MS Word documents of all of the forms.
If you're just getting started in selling crafts, you need this book!
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