The Writer's Legal Companion: The Complete Handbook For The Working Writer, Third Edition [Paperback]

Brad Bunnin (Author), Peter Beren (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 20, 1998

For most writers, negotiating the legal maze of publishing is as challenging as getting their words in print. This comprehensive guide offers writers solid advice on all aspects of publishing law. Candid and readable, it cover everything from copyrights and taxes to libel laws, subsidiary rights, and the obscure clauses in publisher’s contracts. As important resource for editors, agents, or anyone in print or electronic publishing, this updated third edition of The Writer’s Legal Companion features essential, irreplacable information on: publishing contracts, good and bad clauses libel, slander, and invasion of privacy issues electronic rights conditions the business of publishing, including marketing and selling books magazine publishing collaboration and agents’ agreements federal income tax considerations for freelance writers copyright legalities Whether you write an occasional magazine article or publish a new book every year, The Writers Legal Companion will save you time, and reduce you anxiety over the business of publishing.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This is a fantastic reference for writers interested--and all should be--in legal issues concerning contracts, collaboration, agents, defamation, copyright, taxes, and high-tech publishing. Authors Brad Bunnin and Peter Beren have written this guide with such style and clarity that you might find yourself reading it, rather than just consulting it. But that's okay: you can't help but feel empowered by having read such a thorough and, when appropriate, opinionated text. Consider, for instance, the book's first chapter, "The Publishing Contract." Contrary to what publishers tell you, Bunnin writes (Beren contributed the chapter on "The Author and the Business of Publishing"), there is no such thing as a standard book contract. In fact, he says, "virtually without exception, publishers willingly change contracts at the author's request." Bunnin proceeds to lead his readers, line by line over 63 pages, through every single element of a publishing contract, including the grants-of-rights clause; warranties and indemnities; royalties, revisions, and remainders; and "all that incomprehensible, apparently unimportant stuff at the back of the contract." Whether or not you've retained a literary lawyer to work on your behalf, you'll want a book such as this on your shelves, to refer to when you need advice on avoiding defamatory statements, protecting yourself against copyright infringement, or even knowing which home-office expenditures you may deduct come tax time. --Jane Steinberg

From Library Journal

The aim of these two volumes is the sameto inform certain groups of their legal rights and responsibilities. Both are excellent resources, clearly written for lay users. The Artist's Friendly Legal Guide, by four members of the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, covers copyright, the evolving area of moral rights, contracts for artwork, and tax concerns. Questions and answers are included after each section to cover minor points of law; sample legal forms are also given. Intended for professionals in the fine arts, this guide is recommended for legal and art collections. The Writer's Legal Companion covers some of the same areas but naturally focuses on writers' concerns and gives particular emphasis to copyright and defamation. Sample forms are included here as well. Because the intended audienceany persons in the writing or publishing fieldsis larger than those in art specifically, this book is recommended. Sally G. Waters, Stetson Law Lib., St. Petersburg, Fla.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 3 edition (October 20, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 073820031X
• ISBN-13: 978-0738200316
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 9.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #459,941 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This novelist wouldn't do without it!, September 27, 2001

By 

Debbie Lee Wesselmann (the Lehigh Valley, PA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Writer's Legal Companion: The Complete Handbook For The Working Writer, Third Edition (Paperback)

Without this book, I would never have been able to negotiate my first book contract. Bunnin and Beren gave me the necessary tools: book contract language and what it means, fair and unfair clauses, negotiating tactics, and how to get most of what I wanted. The sections on contracts alone are worth the price. They are by far the most valuable aspect of this book

But there is more here than information about book contracts. This book will teach you the necessary skills to be a business person, to think like the small business owner you are. Writers have a tendency to want to deal with art only, shying away from finance and law, but the authors point out time after time how dangerous this stance can be. With the knowledge provided here, you will protect yourself and your career.

Whether you are a new writer or an experienced professional, this book is a must-have.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Never Sign the First Contract, October 6, 2000

By 

Dan Poynter "Author-Publisher-Speaker" (Santa Barbara, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Writer's Legal Companion: The Complete Handbook For The Working Writer, Third Edition (Paperback)

To understand why, I will begin with a page on author-publisher contracts from my own book: Successful Nonfiction: Turning Thoughts into Books.

"The contract you receive from your publisher may be in two colors and printed on fancy paper but it is not chiseled in stone. Only new authors sign and return a publisher's first offer. You may make changes to the contract and return it-that is a "counter offer". The contract may go back and forth until someone "accepts it."

"I took a distressing telephone call from an author who had just received a contract from a large New York publisher. There were a total of 21 items in the contract she didn't like or didn't understand. After discussing some of them, I suggested she call her editor and have a discussion. Better communication was certainly required here.

"She called back two days later, both astonished and delighted. When she asked about the first paragraph in question, the editor said, "that's okay; you can have it." She got what she wanted on the next paragraph in question too. On one other paragraph that concerned her, the editor said something like, "Well, that sounds like this but in the book trade it really means that; so it isn't a big issue."

"The result: she got 19 out of the 21 things she asked for. So contract discussions do not mean pulling the wool over the eyes of your publisher. This was a win-win negotiation.

"Take the contract to a book attorney (not just any attorney, not a contract attorney and not a media attorney). When it comes to literary properties and money, you need professional help. And make a counter offer.

"As Joe "Mr. Fire" Vitale says: "Remember, all of this is negotiable. The contract looks like it is set in stone when you review it, but anything can be scratched out or inked in. If you want more books, a better discount, or more help with marketing, negotiate for it. You may not get it, but you never know if you don't ask."

"And remember: The big print giveth and the small print taketh away."

The Writer's Legal Companion covers contracts (intimidation, negotiating, terms), publishing in magazines (contracts, serializations), collaborations (problem areas, alternatives), agent relationships (finding contracting), defamation (intrusive fact gathering, invasion of privacy, libel), copyright (the old law and the new, establishing, categories, length, derivative & collective works, notice, registration), protecting copyright (proving infringement, what to do), taxes & the freelance writer, resources (where to find a lawyer, how to choose, fees & bills), business (editor's role, the marketing process, non-traditional sales, premiums, special sales, the book trade, selling to libraries, subsidiary rights), new technology (eBooks, downloads, electronic media, negotiating), and much more. The appendix is filled with resources: There is a glossary of terms, sample contracts, comparisons of the copyright acts, permission guidelines, author's questionnaire and an index.

Brad Bunnin is a skilled book attorney.

Peter Beren is a well-known author, agent and publisher.

As the author of 113 books (including revisions and foreign-language editions) and over 500 magazine articles, I have kept (previous editions of) this book within easy reach for almost twenty years and have referred to it often. [e-mail].

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Every Writer Should Have One, January 5, 2000

By 

John Boddie - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Writer's Legal Companion: The Complete Handbook For The Working Writer, Third Edition (Paperback)

This is a guide to copyright, contracts, agents and all of the messy "non-creative" part of writing that you need to know if you are writing for commercial publication, even if you are acting as your own publisher.

The great benefit is that it takes the arcane business of contract and copyright law and presents it in terms that a non-lawyer can understand. It will help you to ask the right questions before you submit a poem, article or manuscript. It will teach you what copyright is, what it protects and what you need to do to ensure and enforce it.

Seriously, if you write, you'll find this at least as useful as Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style."