Why You Want A Contract For Your Creative Work — And The Minimum It Should Include

Even if you don’t want to commercially sell your writing (or other creative endeavor), if someone else wants to use it, you should have a contract. And while that contract doesn’t need to be super-fancy, there are several parts that it needs to contain. This isn’t just a hypothetical; I’ve got real-world examples here (though my privacy policy is in effect). Also, I am not a lawyer, I am not your lawyer, and this is officially not legal advice, as I am not a lawyer. That said, this is the stuff I look for as a layperson and as an author, and what I made sure was included when I was a publisher. Even If You’re Not Getting Paid, Only Grant Others Rights With Intention I have a friend who writes well, but has absolutely zero interest in pursuing being published. While they call their work “fan fiction,” it’s fan fiction about their own original character, so there’s no rights complication, which makes this example all the better illustration for us. They post their fiction on one of the…