How to Create a Freelance Writing Contract

A writer’s words have monetary value under copyright law and they belong solely to the writer until he or she decides to sell those rights. Freelance writers sell some or all of the rights to their stories and articles in exchange for payment. A freelance writing contract details the rights of both the publisher and the writer. Usually the publisher will present a standard contract to the writer. When you’re creating a writing contract, follow some basic guidelines to protect yourself.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Keep your contract clean and your terms understandable. The publisher prepares most contracts but on occasion, the editor of a website or a new publication may ask to see one of your general writing contracts. It pays to have one ready when this occurs.

2. Start your contract by specifying whom the agreement includes. All contracts must state the name of the party buying and the name of the party selling the writing. For example, your opening sentence could read, “This contract, made on (date), between (Publisher’s name) and (Writer’s name) includes the following terms of this legally binding transaction”.

3. State the compensation. For a contract to be legal there must be compensation offered in exchange for the writing received. The compensation may be monetary or a specifically agreed upon service. For example, the writer may sell his writing in exchange for, “copies of the publication in which the article appears".

4. Set forth your terms for selling your freelance writing. Writers may sell “first serial rights,” allowing the buyer to publish the work one initial time and retaining the right to resell it later, or “all rights,” which means the buyer now totally owns the piece and can publish it again. Writers may sell “one time rights,” indicating that the article may be published only once by that buyer but that it may be resold elsewhere.

5. Stipulate whether the writer is due a “kill fee” for work that he or she prepares for the buyer that never sees publication. In this case, the publisher has already asked the writer to prepare an article and both parties agree upon an amount of money the writer will receive if his or her article is never published. This amount is often approximately one-third of the amount offered for the article if published.

6. Try using a basic business letter method of protecting your rights if the publisher does not offer a formal contract and does not want one of yours. You can put the above terms in the form of a letter and ask the publisher to sign and date a copy, and mail it back to you if he or she agrees to the terms. This is another form of a contract and is legally binding.

Tips & Warnings

• Use simple language in your contract. As long as you clearly set forth your terms, you needn’t sound like an armchair attorney.
• You can’t protect “ideas,” you may only protect your specific wording. For instance, if you write a proposal to an editor suggesting a story about a new surfboard for grass, you have no legal claim should they assign that topic to another writer.

[MicheleLTune]

on 12/3/2008 Love your tips for how to create a freelance writing contract. I gave it 5* - and a Digg!

*smiles*
Michele