For those of you with agents, for those of you with IP lawyers for contracts, for those of you even hoping to sell a book into traditional publishing, the Passive Guy, a former attorney, on his blog, The Passive Voice, is giving us all some fantastic lessons and suggestions on how to deal with the changing contracts.
Why are contracts changing so much so quickly? Because the world is changing in publishing and publishers are going after rights grabs. It is one of the many, many reasons Kris and I and others are shouting to stay away from agents who don’t know law and use IP lawyers these days. Or even if you feel you need an agent, hire an IP lawyer to look over the contract that comes from your agent. If the agent is insulted, fire the agent. If they like the idea, you might have a great agent for these new times.
This week Passive Guy suggests that we all insert clauses to protect us from the nasty stuff publishers are putting in. They are called “Avoidance of Doubt” clauses.
Fantastic!!!
This blog is so critical, everyone, that I believe every writer should read it, copy it, and put it in your contract file for you next contract.
http://www.thepassivevoice.com/?s=avoidance+of+doubt
Do not avoid this blog.
And Passive Guy, THANK YOU!!
From all of us.
Dean, sometime in the future can you do a post on how to find an IP lawyer and what sort of qualifications to look for?
Dean – Thanks for your very kind words. I’m happy you find my posts useful.
Useful doesn’t begin to describe them. Thanks again!!
Now that is a very good idea.
Many thanks, Passive Guy.
Thanks for the link
From now on I’m following The Passive Voice.
Randy:
Speaking as someone who has characterized himself in the past as an “IP lawyer,” there really isn’t a good answer. Unlike medicine, there is no certification/specialty training process for lawyers, beyond that for patent attorneys. (And you really, really don’t want a patent attorney, which is one species of “IP lawyer”.) In fact, the ethics rules prohibit lawyers from using the word “specialist” or any other form of that word to describe themselves! Instead, you’ll frequently find lawyers who claim that they “limit their practice to” or “concentrate in” or some other mealymouthed phrase that implies — but doesn’t outright say — that they’re specialists.
Worse, the reality is that lawyers are even more specialized than are doctors. When’s the last time that you heard of an ENT specialist who works only with the left side of the throat, or a neurologist who deals only with fine-motor-function disorders? That, however, is what the legal profession is like… except for the so-called “family practitioner,” the replacement for the old-style “GP” (“general practitioner”), and you don’t want to let him/her anywhere near a publishing contract anyway.
One of the ways that lawyers specialize is in not just the type of “disease” that they “treat,” but in the nature of the patients. Again, an analogy to medicine is a useful illustration; consider the ENT specialist who only takes patients insured by Unum. For lawyers, it matters a great deal what kind of parties they represent — arguably, that’s as important as the type of law being considered.
Then, too, there’s the almost incomprehensibly encoded nature of third-party sources like Martindale-Hubbell (you won’t find me in there, and never would have found me in there at any time, because I never paid the fee for listing… and when I practiced at a Chicago boutique firm, the firm didn’t list associates). Bluntly, none of those sources are reliable ways for a non-lawyer to get good information on suitability for specific consultations. None of them.
Instead, unfortunately, that means that you — as a prospective client — must rely on the same means as has proven most effective over time for selling books: Personal recommendations from trusted sources who know what they’re talking about. Our Gracious Host and His Lovely Spouse qualify in that department; so, for example, do other currently active authors who have actually used an attorney’s services. As a rule, writers’ organizations are not the best place to go for such recommendations (NINC being an exception), due to some conflicts of interest that almost never get disclosed.
I’m sorry this isn’t more encouraging. A large part of the problem is that it is incredibly difficult for an attorney to charge reasonable fees for services to creators and simultaneously pay for those expensive golf-club memberships and yacht mortgages… but most of the problem is structural to the practice of law, and is not unique to the author looking for specific counsel. IMNSHO, the profession is doing the public a disservice by trying to maintain a 19th-century upper-middle-class-white-male dignity to things, but then I’m not a 19th-century upper-middle-class white male (in fact, I’m none of those things), so the bar leadership doesn’t give a rat’s nether regions what I think.
Thanks, C.E., spot on the money. What he said, Randy.
Laura has put up a few vetted lists, ten or more writers on our big list also have used IP lawyers lately and been happy with them, so they can give recs as well. Kris and I know of a couple we use.
Lately, they are all over the place. Just a few questions of writers will find one. Almost every major writer has an attorney on speed dial. Most are IP lawyers with a focus on book publishing of fiction. Asking is the best way.