Covers and Contracts...

I thought some of you might be interested in these links to a discussion about cover art by Kathy's Review Corner. While the discusion focuses on romance novels, writers can still learn a lot from the readers answers to her questions. The discussion is broken into two parts and here are the links:

Part One
Part Two

In other news on the net, writers are again discussing how to handle it when a publishing relationship goes sour. Everything, everything depends on your contract. While other writers can give advice, they can't give reliable legal advice unless they happen to be lawyers.

We had a lawyer come speak to our writers groups about scams and cons, but he had good advice for anyone signing a contract: the only thing that matters is what is written down.

What you think the contract says or what the other party told you they meant don't matter. In a court of law, it's all about what the contract actually says.

If you don't understand what's written, get legal advice. For authors, there are tons of sites out there that break down contract clauses and warn against certain types of language.

Too many authors sign nasty contracts because they are so eager to get published, they forget to protect their intellectual property rights adequately. Too often we're afraid to mess up a deal with reasonable questions.

Learning how to ask intelligent questions about your contract/s is a sign of your professionalism. If it makes a publisher/editor upset to be asked reasonable questions and to reasonably negotiate a contract (note that word reasonable -- how much you can negotiate depends on a lot of factors) that is a huge warning flag.

The savvy writer does their research. The savvy writer is also willing to walk away from a bad cotnract.

Perilously yours,
Pauline

Pauline Baird Jones
www.paulinebjones.com
Pauline@paulinebjones.com
The Key, L&L Dreamspell, Independent Publisher Awards Bronze Medal Winner,
2008Proud member, Broad Universe (http://www.broaduniverse.org)

It was hard not to feel like the gods had sent him a gift for not giving up, but he realized she might not see her arrival in quite the same light. He ran a finger down the smooth curve of her cheek, then across her soft, full lower lip, relieved to see the slow rise and fall of her chest.
from THE KEY