Thursday, June 20, 2013

Writers, who owns your work? by Leanne Dyck

A friend asked me if she owned the short story she had contributed to an anthology or if it was now owned by the publisher? She hadn't been paid for her submission nor had she signed a contract?

Here is my reply...

Authors always retain ownership of their work. The only time they lose ownership is when they sign a contract. And this loss is temporary. The reason you agree to lose ownership is two-fold 1) so that a publishing house can publish your work. 2) so you can get paid.

As she did not sign a contract, she did not lose ownership of her story--even temporarily.