I hired a ghostwriter to write a book for me, how do I keep the rights?

Question

I created a children's character and I hired a ghostwriter to write a book for me based on the details that I gave her. I would like to own the rights to the book, what should I do?

Answer 1

You are in trouble.

What you want is "Work made for hire":

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Copyright Law of the United States of America

201. Ownership of copyright1
(a) Initial Ownership. — Copyright in a work protected under this title vests initially in the author or authors of the work. The authors of a joint work are coowner of copyright in the work.

(b) Works Made for Hire. — In the case of a work made for hire, the employer or other person for whom the work was prepared is considered the author for purposes of this title, and, unless the parties have expressly agreed otherwise in a written instrument signed by them, owns all of the rights comprised in the copyright.

What is a work made for hire?
Although the general rule is that the person who creates the work is its author, there is an exception to that principle; the exception is a work made for hire, which is a work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment; or a work specially ordered or commissioned in certain specified circumstances. When a work qualifies as a work made for hire, the employer, or commissioning party, is considered to be the author. See Circular 9, Work-Made-For-Hire Under the 1976 Copyright Act.
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Now there are 9 categories for a "work made for hire" and a novel is not one of them (Circular 9, Work-Made-For-Hire Under the 1976 Copyright Act.). The law also require a writen agreement between the parties specifying that the work is a work made for hire. But in this case even if you make a contract with this person this contract would be illegal and void.

You have the copyright of the characters if they are "... fixed in any tangible medium of expression...Copyright Law of the United States of America; 102 (a)". But and "idea" has no copyright (why? because 100 writers can have the same idea, but none of them would create an identical story). You cannot own an "idea". So even if the characters are yours, the story belongs to the writer (no matter if you gave him the "ideas" that's the law).

The best you can do is to do a 50-50 deal to share copyright. Teams of writers are very common (one create the characters and other the story); is that or you have to write it yourself. But there's no way to keep it all the copyright for yourself.

Courts are full of disputes about this kind of thing. I know I almost sue someone. So make a deal and do everything by the book if you don't want to spend the next 20 years in court.

Answer 2

Artemm is the only who got it right

Even if you have a contract, even if you gave the ideas, even if this writer agrees that it's all yours, even if you run first to the copiright office, the ghostwriter still will have and share the copyright of the book with you, the writer can sue you for stealing his copyright and the court will deside against you. And you will never be able to do anything without his concent, his name will be forever part of the book.

The story belongs to the writer, the copyright law states clearly: "Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device." So every time this writer writes a sentence he gets copyrigt protection. The story belongs to him because you didn't create the story. You created the characteers but all he has to do is to erease your characters and create new ones.

A synopsis or outline is not an story. Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, titles, names, short phrases, and slogans are not protected by copyright law.

You will be in court for yeaaaars . You can't use a "work for hire" argument here, it doesn't qualify for this kind of work. If you claim the copyright of the story you are geting yourself into a big fat sue.

Answer 3

Hi,

before the ghostwriter starts on the work get him/her to sign an agreement that all rights remain with you and that the ghost writer will have no claim on the copyright of the work.

This is ESSENTIAL to protect your rights. The copyright law is pretty clear on this 'ghostwriter' point, but unless you have the written agreement the ghostwriter could (however unfairly) claim THEY had written any publication.

When you get the book published write the copyright claim in the inside pages of the book (read any book and you'll find similar phrasing from the copyright owner.

Good luck with your book,

BobSpain

Answer 4

Lets clear up one thing.
You cant copyright an idea.

A character -- that you can copyright, so long as its original.

As far as copyrighting a story.
Well, what did you give to the ghost writer is important.

Did you give her a synopsis? an outline? what?
Did you give it to her by phone, email?

Understanding what youre trying o protect yourself from is going to help you protect yourself.
So I would think of it from her point of view.

Something written where she acknowledges that this is your idea and details the split of payment should this thing take off, or an invoice type printout of her accepting payment to write a story on your behalf with your character.
Otherwise, she could go for half, claiming it was a collaboration all along. Heck, with the right lawyer she could cut you out of the deal completely if you dont protect yourself.

And again, copyright your character.
and see if you can the title of your book.

Answer 5

What you can do is to get online with the U.S. Copyright office in Washington DC and request the forms to fill out to copyright your material. You can also get a legal agreement together with your attorney, to draw up a legal document giving her a minor percent of the profits. That way it's ALL legal. You must make certain that you get your work copywritten by the Federal Government. That way it is yours and she cannot reproduce it in her own name. You would be wise to do this ASAP to avoid any misunderstandings.

Ummmmm, just one question...did you pay her in any manner for her time? If so, then deduct this from any other profits, of course.

I'm also a writer, but I take care of my own material.

http://home.comcast.net/~timeless57/fatal_impact.html

Answer 6

You should have had a contract written up when you hired her, stating that you own all rights to the book. If you let her write it and then take the credit, she can sue you for rights if there is no contract.

Answer 7

if you really have the money to pay ghost writers, you shld have the money to pay lawyers and not roam around Yahoo Answer for this type of of question