Writing Resources

B(u)y the Books: the Business of Writing

• ANYTHING you write is AUTOMATICALLY under copyright.
  • There is no need to register it, you don’t even need to put “copyright” or the © symbol on it.
    • When publishing, however, do make it habit to include a copyright statement.
    • © is not a recognized substitute for © or “copyright”.
  • Registering your story with the copyright registry, however, allows you to get more damages from anyone violating your copyright. Do so immediately after publication.
  • If you sell your story, you are selling the rights to publish it, never the story itself.
  • Never, ever, sign a publishing contract that does not spell out exactly how long or for too long the publisher has the rights to publish your work or does not spell out how or when the rights revert to the author.
• Professional writers who make their living solely by writing fiction are the exception, not the rule.
  • For every successful King, Rowling or Clancy there are dozens of other writers who barely make even.
  • Nielsen Hayden’s Corollary: “Don’t Quit Your Day Job.”
    • As a professional writer, writing becomes your day job. And night job. And takes over your life.
  • Stackpole’s Corollary: “If you want to be a professional writer, first take a vow of poverty.”
• Any situation where the writer is asked to pay to make anything happen to or for their story is a scam.
  • Agents and publishers get paid from selling a story, that’s their profit motive.
  • This includes the publisher taking any kind of fees out of the writer’s advance or payments.
• “Work For Hire” is different: you are writing under contract for someone else and they assume all rights to the story.
  • Why write “work for hire”? Notoriety, fame, experience, money, the chance to play with some famous properties. Lots of professional writers do this.
  • A number of writers with credentials in other forms got their start as professional writers doing work for hire.
• Become part of a writers community.
  • If you qualify, become a member of a professional writers organization. They protect their own.
  • Associate with other writers. Most of them are in the same position as you.

Minor update: I previously listed the uses of “its” and “it’s” backwards.