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A Few Words About Model Contracts
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As with all contracts, they are at their best when they have been reviewed by an attorney. Much of the contract negotiation process concerns business, rather than legal, decisions. Nevertheless, many business decisions contain legal ramifications, and the legal results of using the following agreements will vary from case to case. These model agreements are intended to provide accurate and authoritative information on the subject of author/publisher rights. In publishing these agreements and the comments that accompany them, neither the Garden Writers Association or John W. Hazard, Jr., is engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. All of the contracts have been written with an author bias; all are written in conjunction with the assumption that authors will want to continue to own the copyrights in the works they create, even after publication. Will all publishers agree to the terms in these model contracts? Probably not, especially where a publisher’s corporate culture demands that all copyrights be assigned to the publisher or its parent corporation. As with all contracts, the outcome of these model agreements will depend on individual negotiations between author and publisher. The tactical advantage in using these agreements is that when one of them is presented to a publisher, few doubts will exist about the importance to the author of the copyright ownership issue. This should produce a prompt response from the publisher as to whether or not he/she will accede to the author’s requests. Getting a quick response, even if it is negative, is usually a help in moving the negotiations along.
NOTICE: The information contained in this publication is intended as a general information resource for GWA members and not legal advice. No contract activities should be conducted by any members without consulting proper legal advice. Free legal advisory services are available to GWA members through the association for writers’ rights issues.
The GWA disclaims any and all responsibility suffered as a result of reliance on the information contained herein without proper legal advice.
Book Publishing Agreement, click here.
Magazine Publishing Contract for Regular Column, click here.
Magazine Publishing Contract for Individual Article, click here.
Newspaper Publishing Contract for a Regular Column, click here.
Contract for Television Appearance, click here.
Download ALL the Model Contracts for Garden Writers, click here.
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Garden Writers Association
10210 Leatherleaf Court, Manassas, VA 20111
Phone: (703) 257-1032 - Fax: (703) 257-0213
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