Ghostwriting contracts – what you need to know
The process of hiring a ghostwriter is straightforward, especially with the help of The Ghostwriters Agency, but the process of agreeing contract terms can be daunting. What should be included in this important legal document and what happens if one, or both, sides of the partnership are unhappy with the process? It is rare, but it can happen. This is why contracts are so important to protect both author and ghost.
Ghostwriting contracts usually begin with a brief description of the project and the genre, with a ‘place holder’ working title and an estimate of its word count. The key points a contract will then move on to cover are compensation, ownership and control, credit, responsibilities, dispute resolution, copyright and libel. There may also be a miscellaneous section for items such as media rights, licensing and sequel rights.
From an author's point of view, one of the most important clauses concerns copyright. By law, if both parties contribute to a project, they are deemed to share the copyright. However, it is the norm for ghostwriters to sign over all the rights to the work to the named author. In other words, the author will gain full authority to claim authorship for the book and to take 100% of the credit for it. However, this must be recorded in writing. Some contracts may stipulate that the author will not be granted full ownership until the amount agreed upon has been paid in full.
This brings us to compensation. This is the part of the contract that sets out how much the ghost will be paid and whether or not they are due a percentage share of royalties. Individual ghosts may structure this part of the agreement in a variety of ways, but in almost all cases payments will be made in instalments over the course of the project, keeping pace with the work done and agreed milestones. A proportion of the fee is generally paid up-front before the process begins. Payment of the fee may be dependent upon certain milestones, which need to be clearly stated, including a target deadline. This section of the contract will also cover expenses and tie down which party will pay if the ghost has to travel widely to conduct interviews and stay away from home. Sometimes, both sides will agree to share expenses, just as they agree to share royalties, but again it is best to discuss this openly up front.
An ownership and control section will include details of whose responsibility is it to seek out book deals and who has the authority to approve the final draft of the work, or seek revisions. It is not unusual for a ghost to impose a reasonable time limit on the approvals process. They may, for example, ask for at least 30-days after receiving the author’s comments to resubmit a draft manuscript with the required edits. There might also be a provision for what constitutes a ‘satisfactory’ manuscript and this will probably reference the original book proposal ie if the book closely follows the format agreed in the initial plan, it should for all intents and purposes be deemed satisfactory. This protects both parties in case either one of them tries to shift the brief during the collaboration, contrary to their co writer’s wishes.
There needs to be agreement upfront on what credit the ghostwriter will get, if at all and, if they do get one, how prominent it will be. Most ghosts are happy to be invisible, but some like at least a nod to their input in the acknowledgements. It is very much a matter up for discussion over how much, or how little, recognition a ghost should get and where on the book their name should be included. Again, it is good to get an agreement well before the book begins to take shape.
Authors should also expect some detail about what will be expected from them regarding the work schedule. For a collaboration to be effective, an author will need to commit to a certain number of hours for interviews with their ghost. The amount can vary from writer to writer, but is usually somewhere in the region of 15 to 25 hours. The important part is that both parties fully commit to at least roughly the number of hours needed.
For authors to feel comfortable that anything they tell their ghost will remain between the two parties until it is approved for publication, there will be a clause on confidentiality. This is also the point at which the author might stipulate that the relationship with the ghost, or use of their services, is never disclosed publicly. It is at the author’s discretion whether or not the ghost is permitted to provide excerpts of the work to their potential clients.
No matter how well both parties prepare, life happens. For this reason, the contract should include an escape clause which can terminate a project if things are not working out, or something else happens which means the agreement cannot be completed as originally envisaged. This clause will include a ‘kill fee’ for the ghostwriter, as well as provision for them to be paid for the work already completed.
Finally, the contract should tackle the procedures for dispute resolution and the steps that both parties should take if they feel unhappy or uncomfortable with the progress on the book. As with most business transactions, a successful collaboration, or at least a successful dispute resolution, is dependent upon agreeing strong contract terms across the board at the outset.
Writing a book is a creative process, but that shouldn’t stand in the way of getting a business agreement in place from the start. If things do go wrong, but the contract is solid, both sides should at least be able to walk away relatively unscathed.