When You Ghostwrite, Who Owns It?
March 3, 2008 by Anne Wayman
Filed under Jobs
I was poking around our Business Channel when I ran into WorkBoxers post called: Who Holds Rights To Commissioned Designs?
Mark strongly suggests designers make sure ownership rights for designs are spelled out in contracts. I do exactly the same thing in ghostwriting contracts. I make sure that my clients retain all the rights unless, for some reason, we decide to do something differently. As a ghost I don’t want the rights to someone else’s ideas, even if I am the one who put them down in writing.
How do you protect yourself and your clients?
Write well and often,
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I do the same thing, Anne. My contract gives rights to all written work that comes from our collaboration to the client. I’m paid to keep my name off it, and that’s fine. Like you pointed out, it’s not our ideas on paper – we’re the facilitators of their ideas.
Hi Lori… love it when someone agrees with me totally ;)
That’s sort of the point of ghostwriting, of course. But I think that the writing belongs to whomever the contract says it belongs to. I’ve never heard of a ghostwriting client giving up the rights to the words, but I suppose it could happen. All the more reason to read that contract carefully.
Yes, John, contracts are a must if you’re writing for clients… marcom, websites, all of it.
Anne,
Maybe you can answer a question I’ve been struggling with . . . Is it ok to use ghostwritten material as samples? For example, if I have a prospective client who wants articles about pets, and I have a series of articles on bloodhounds that I ghostwrote for a previous client, is it apppropriate to show those to the prospective client? If so, do you need to mention it?
This issue has been bugging me for some time, but I keep forgetting to check into it. Maybe you have some insight that I don’t . . .
Lorna, ideally you’d get permission from the bloodhound client… just ask if they are available. Usually they’ll say yes. If you can’t reach them or don’t want to for some reason, I think it’s okay to show your work on a limited basis… not posted on your website, but maybe emailed with a big confidential notice plus a copyright notice in the client/author’s name… In the case you describe I’d probably show one article and tell the prospective client this is one of a series of X I did.
Make sense?
Incidentally, this is something you could add to a contract in the future… “ghost retains the right to show a sample of this work to prospective clients provided the prospective client is informed of the confidential nature of the work” or some such.
Thanks so much, Anne. This is great information, and I like the idea of adding that bit in to the contract.
You’re more than welcome.
You write it- you own it. when you buy a book it doesn’t give you right to claim the content.
Give and take credits where they are due.
Design and write a site for someone( and its your original copy) then you ALWAYs own the rights to it.
The reason peole contact you is often because they have seen your work elsewhere.
Take care . The Baldchemist
Baldchemist,
As I understand your post, you’re saying that if you write something you own it forever. I do a lot of ghostwriting and commercial copywriting and I can tell you that none of my clients would hold still for a deal in which I am paid to ghostwrite something and then still claim it as my own. I sell all those rights; it’s why I charge a lot for my services. Same way with commercial copywriting. If a company pays a writer $10-20K to write a direct mail package, they certainly want to own it, especially if it’s a winner. They will want to run versions of it (different prices, or terms, or premiums) whenever they wish, so it’s vital for them to own the creative. One way around that for the writer is to make a contract that pays you based on the number of pieces that are mailed, or based on the response over a certain period of time.
So John, how do you get business if no-one knows who wrote it? You must have credits. The Baldchemist
Baldchemist,
I didn’t say nobody knows that I wrote it. The agent who represents me knows it, the people who publish the ghostwritten book (and often recommend ghostwriters to other folks in need of such services) know it, and the people who appear as the authors of ghostwritten books know who wrote their books and pass that information along to others interested in similar deals. In the direct mail business, news of a winning package travels even faster. I used to advertise in MagazineWeek magazine, but since they ceased publishing, I’ve relied on consultants and circulation directors who are familiar with my subscription marketing work. If you keep writing winners, you’ll have no trouble drumming up additional work.
I am in the South. Can anybody tell me what the “going rates” may be for projects like brochures, newsletters, articles, etc? THANKS!
Apple guy, with the net there’s no such thing as a going rate per se… what do you figure you’re worth an hour?
What about this scenario:
I was working at a small company as an editor, and was given the project of writing articles for their magazine. The assignment was to take the material presented at our conference and turn it into the articles (with collaboration from the presenters of the material). I wrote the articles, and then ended up having to leave the job, but did so on amicable terms. The magazine came out and the samples I have been using do not have my byline. I have no contract with the company as a ghostwriter, I was not paid as a ghostwriter, so I’m wondering what the protocol is. Do I have to take these samples down from my portfolio? Or can I simply say that I was the ghostwriter and leave them? I am looking for jobs, but am not pursuing further ghostwriting work, if that makes a difference.