There’s still time to enter
the Summer of Love Books contest for a chance to win a summer-full of romance
novels. Incentive: There will be more than one winner. http://summeroflovebooks.com
Following is an excerpt of a
recent blog at the site:
It seems everywhere
you look, and in every sub-genre, romances that center around a second chance
at love abound. A do-over, a chance to get things right this time. Why is that,
I hear you wondering.
I have an answer. – Becky Lower (Author of BLAME IT ON THE BRONTES)
****
cj Sez: A note
concerning writers’ literary estates crossed my desk recently (for the second
year, actually) so I think it’s time to re-post something I wrote in June of 2014.
I’ve always known that I’m happiest when I learn something
new every day. It’s the reason I take another college class every now and then.
And it’s the reason I attend writer’s conferences. Today, I learned that I
should be thinking about my “literary estate.” Hmm. I’ve never thought about
that concept: As a published writer, I have a literary estate. Wow.
I also learned that I was wrong when I thought that the
estate lawyer who drew up my trust and will was all I needed.
Not so, Grasshopper. Copyright protection in an estate and
will requires an attorney familiar with the subject. It’s a legal specialty, as
in she/he needs to be a copyright, publishing, and media lawyer.
I discovered, however, that I am moving in the right
direction. I keep files … physical paper documents in physical paper file
folders in addition to digital copies I keep on a flash drive in a safe deposit
box. I have a folder of contracts, correspondence, and any pertinent information
about my publisher, agent (if I ever get one she/he will be added), and the literary
works, such as are they still in print and who has the rights (I have requested
some be returned).
I keep a list of works-in-progress and completed but
unpublished manuscripts. I also keep a paper copy of all my passwords so that
they’re accessible to my executor/trix. All of these things are included in a six-page
list that keeps getting notated and updated in pencil until I can no longer
read my scratch and have to retype the thing. It’s about to get longer because
as I read this, I realize there are things I haven’t put on the list.
There’s a bit more I need to do . . . like find a literary
attorney who knows what to do with copyrights in estates. (Yep, I wrote this in 2014 and have yet to do
that. Got to put that at the top of my to-do list.)
Okay, you-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do
the same.
PS: I have my fingers crossed that you will be one of the winners for those romance books.
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