Resources and tips for the self-published author.

Publishing News Roundup Series: How to Protect Author Rights After Death

by Maureen Crisp •  May 2, 2016  •   Follow

Published in News  •  No comments

 

This week is all about author estates after death.

Many authors become even more successful after death. Even more so, they are involved with more legal rights battles, or rather their estates will. Its is important for an author, especially a big time author, to set up their estate properly for their inheritors ahead of time in order to prevent a big headache for their loved ones. Since author estates live long after their death, all authors should take the proper precautionary measures to protect it:

 

Author Education

It seems that every month we are mourning a creative genius who made an impact across the world. This week the creative dynamo Prince unexpectedly died at age 57. But the big tragedy as Kristine Rusch writes today in her Business Musings post was that he had no will. 

 

Kris started her Contract Deal Breakers series with a post on understanding what rights are last week and I had planned to link to that excellent post first when her latest post just slipped into my inbox. Both of these posts are must reads for authors as they highlight the very specific problems that authors face as their estates live long after the author is dead and what to do about it.
 
In another interesting pairing of posts, Wendy Sparrow writes about how writing romance is seen as easy to do when it is anything but… and Harlequin announced that they are dropping one of their most popular lines. Their letter announcing this is a wonderful example of corporate speak.
 
Janet Reid this week was asked about Agent contacts and what should be in them. She writes a fairly detailed letter outlining the sorts of things that you should see in a contact. If it says anything else be very careful.
 
This week Ruth Harris wrote about how to protect yourself from the University of Hard Knocks– or how to protect yourself from the scammers out there. She lists a comprehensive go to list for checking out offers you think might be your pot of gold… or your crock of s….
 
Publishing Perspectives talked to two pundits at the London Book Fair on publishing trends on both sides of the Atlantic. This is an interesting read. What sells in New York is not what London might pick.
 
Jane Friedman has a great guest post on her website on ways to generate Online Book Publicity. 
 
If you are dipping your toe into podcasts there are a few to choose from with book or publishing themes. The Bookseller has a collection of ten different podcasts that you might like to browse. I often link to the Creative Penn podcasts but I have dropped into a few others on this list and they are all good.
 
In the Craft Section,
Martha Alderson on using a plot planner-Bookmark


Joanna Penn on writing across genres  Bookmark


Marcy Kennedy on ways to evoke emotion. Bookmark


Two great posts from K M Weiland on Choosing the protagonist and How to write strong characters.


Ash Krafton on Engineering your series.
 


In the Marketing Section,


Rachel Thompson on branding 101 for authors– Bookmark


Molly Greene on the new way to go free on Amazon (This is a  How To on the new Amazon rules) Bookmark!
 
To Finish,
If you want to get inspired or educated just check into a TEDx talk. This week The UK’s top agent Jonny Geller gave a talk on What makes
a bestseller. Food for thought…

 

Maureen
@craicer

About Maureen Crisp

Maureen Crisp has been writing her weekly publishing roundups for over seven years. She is a traditionally published children's author as well as indie-published. She lives in New Zealand and is heading the team organising the 4th National Conference of Children's Writers and Illustrators. She is currently trying her hand at writing a children’s book series if she can drag herself away from forever tweaking her Mars novel or obsessing over space.