Monday, May 12, 2014

Know Everything?

Even though I've been published for over six years, every time I attend one of my local writers' meetings, I'm reminded how much I have to learn yet. Not just about the mechanics of writing but pacing, plotting, planning a series, selecting titles, and well, I don't think I need to go on. I'm so fortunate to have all those writer friends I can rely.

One of our members brought her father along to our most recent meeting. He's a lawyer. Besides being a wonderfully entertaining speaker, he answered all our questions in easily understandable terms. But one question led to another and time ran out before even a small portion of the legal issues involved in a writer's life was answered.

When I first started writing, I knew nothing about contracts, little about copyrights or how royalties might be paid. I didn't think I had to know. Fortunately, there were avenues to educate myself when I recognized the necessity of learning. Where and how? Well, check out today's post at IWSG, and find a number of places where you can at least start or hone your understanding of the legal tapestry of being a writer.

As some of you know from my last week's post, I'll be doing a lot of driving today so I'll be checking comments later today. I hope the forecast of a snowstorm in Colorado is just a vicious rumor.

Are you self-taught in the legal issues of writing? Do you have someone look over your contracts or do you understand them all by yourself? What is one legal thing you had to learn as you started your writing journey? Ever worry about infringing on someone else's copyright? Did you check out the post on IWSG?

25 comments:

L. Diane Wolfe said...

There's a lot of legal stuff most authors don't know about. One great resource is Ivan Hoffman's site since he has so much free information - and he's a publishing law lawyer.

Unknown said...

I've had to learn that particular lesson the hard way, I'm afraid, but at least lessons like that tend to stick with you.

Beth said...

I'm a law school drop out but my agent still looks over my contracts.

Pat Hatt said...

I tend to read and read some more when it comes to the legal mumbo jumbo but still, we'll never know everything

Robin said...

Yikes. Always so many things to take into consideration. I find legalease intimidating at best.

Unknown said...

Always so much to learn.

And we got snow. You?

Nicki Elson said...

Copyright is about the only legal thing a kind of sort of know a little bit about. I'm sure someday I'll be kicking myself for that.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Great post at the IWSG today. Safe travels.

cleemckenzie said...

I'm a dunce in the legal department and have proven it.

I'll stop by IWSG to read the post today. Thanks.

cleemckenzie said...

I'm a dunce in the legal department and have proven it.

I'll stop by IWSG to read the post today. Thanks.

cleemckenzie said...

I'm a dunce in the legal department and have proven it.

I'll stop by IWSG to read the post today. Thanks.

cleemckenzie said...

I'm a dunce in the legal department and have proven it.

I'll stop by IWSG to read the post today. Thanks.

cleemckenzie said...

I'm a dunce in the legal department and have proven it.

I'll stop by IWSG to read the post today. Thanks.

cleemckenzie said...

I'm a dunce in the legal department and have proven it.

I'll stop by IWSG to read the post today. Thanks.

cleemckenzie said...

I'm a dunce in the legal department and have proven it.

I'll stop by IWSG to read the post today. Thanks.

LittleCely said...

I can't say I know much about the legal matters that have to do with writing. I probably should though...

LittleCely's Blog

Ava Quinn said...

Have a safe trip and a wonderful visit!! I'm glad I got to sit next to you at the meeting!

Unknown said...

Yes, to all of those questions :0) and yes, we all find that we never stop learning, Susan, that is very true. Yes, drinking beer on your own at 11am, such a lonely process and these people were old like me, but didn't seem to have a life. Made me want to help them all.

shelly said...

Since I'm Indie, I haven't had to deal with anything legal.

Michael Di Gesu said...

Hi, Susan,

SAFE TRAVELS!

I am not published yet, but I am certainly concerned about all the legal jargon...

I will definitely check out the post at the IWSG .

THANKS!

Heather R. Holden said...

Legal stuff always seems so overwhelming, so I agree, there's always something new to learn when it comes to that!

The Happy Whisk said...

SAFE TRAVELS. GOOD LUCK W/NO SNOW.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Susan - I hope your travels went well .. and legal stuff is an essential, writing, photos, quotes et al ... better to be ahead of it and sure in being original, which should save some effort and worry later on. Great reminder though .. as we forget as we blog on .. cheers Hilary

Tara Tyler said...

Hey Susan!
i'll be stopping over at iwsg in a moment
i know it's too late for me to get a lawyer to read one of my contracts, but my husband has vast knowledge of legalese and we understood every word of my current contracts, so i think i'm good, for now!

as for the previous post, i am not surprised about that sale and how the bigger publishers cannot compete with so many smaller publishers - not to mention, they basically have to sell 3-5 ebooks to match one paperback and more for hard covers, so of course they are losing money! cost is down, but sales are even lower - interesting and i'm still anxious to see how this all plays out... paper is going away, gradually but surely.

hope you made it thru your driving safely!
happy tuesday!

Lynn Proctor said...

excellent questions---i don't know hardly anything about all of this--i remember when i used to write music---i didn't want to pay to copyright so as advise by a fellow musician writer--i took all of my stuff and mailed it to myself and never opened it--haha don't even know where it is today!