legal Archives

This is it. You’ve made it. You’ve gotten a call from an agent, or you’ve received a contract from a publisher, or you’re taking that step to put your books up for sale as an indie author. This is your moment to shine and take on the world! But wait … let’s hit pause for a moment. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this business, it’s that creative individuals allow our emotions to rule us so…

When I was a newly published author, marketing to readers was mostly done blindfolded. Authors created swag to give away at events, to bookstores, and to libraries: branded pens, sticky notes, calendars, bookmarks, etc., and handed them out far and wide with no way to measure whether any of their efforts resulted in enough book sales to cover the cost of the swag. There was only cost involved, …

George Orwell was a big liar. So was George Elliot. And Dean Koontz. And all three of those nefarious Brontë sisters. And Mark Twain. And Agatha Christie. And George Sand. And Nora Roberts, of course. And that most insidious of liars, Dr. Seuss. So was Jane Austen, though to a lesser extent. When Austen’s novel Sense and Sensibility came out in 1811, the phrase “By a Lady” was printed in place …

Writing a novel and determining how to publish it—whether through an agent, a publishing house or independently—is daunting enough, but should an author also create a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC)? Michael Banner, founder of an LLC filing service and multi-published author of apocalyptic thrillers, answered with a resounding “Yes!” “Anybody who’s a professional should set up an entity imm…

Every time I’ve given a talk on the topic of estate planning, I see fear and panic abound. Even mentioning it gives authors hives. Here is a low-stress strategy. The legal stuff Yes, you need a will (or your estate can disappear into contention for years). You probably need a living trust to move all of that IP neatly forward to your heir(s). But those are both matters for a lawyer. Find a lawy…