ADVANCED MAGIC BAKERY… Chapter Three

Chapter Three: Moral Rights

This book is mostly how writers can use the magic of copyright to make money from licensing their stories. But copyright has a number of other uses.

You own and control a copyright the moment you put your story in a form. You control the form. In our extended metaphor, the form is the pie. And you can control the slices of the pie you license, the terms of the license, and so on.

Interestingly enough, while in that kitchen creating your most recent pie, you create some other advantages that are stunningly valuable that go along with that pie, but more than likely you won’t even know it.

In this chapter I want to talk about just one of those extra creations. When you finish a pie, you also create Moral Rights. There are different parts of moral rights, and you can learn them as you learn copyright, but for this metaphor, the Moral Rights you created when you got your magic pie is the right to claim it as your pie and also the right to not let anyone else do anything to your pie. In other words, the right to control your work and how it is handled and what is done with it.

You would think that basic right would be automatic, wouldn’t you? It is.

Unless you do something really stupid.

So far I hope I have made it clear that the main stupid thing (besides not writing) that you can do are to “SELL” your copyright. All rights contracts let someone pick up your pie and walk it out the door of your magic bakery and you never control it again. Selling a book to traditional publishers is this level of stupid.

Second stupid thing (in the US) is waive your moral rights. They can not be waived for any reason in Europe and most other countries around the world. Don’t ask why we gave this self-destruct switch to uninformed writers.

You waive your moral rights and your story can appear under any other name that someone wants. Or in any venue.

And even worse, they can take your wonderful mystery story, leave your name on it, and make it into a musical on a submarine, and there would be nothing really you could do about it.

Ghost writers can use your name to rewrite your story and you can’t pull your name off the piece of trash.

Yes, yes, I know, I am being simplistic. But you waive your moral rights in a contract, for any reason, and you get what you deserve. You lose control of the magic in your pie.

Let me be clear here… NO reputable magazine or publisher will ask you to waive your moral rights. If they ask, say no and if they insist, walk away. No sale is worth the pain that could come from losing control of your own name and your own story.

And then ask yourself… “Why do they want you to waive your moral rights???”

What are they intending to do with your story? Hmmm.

Waiving Moral Rights is a deal breaker. Walk away.

The ideal magic bakery is all yours, with money coming in from the licensing of slices of the pies and often those slices never leave the pie.

And you control the bakery and your work and your name completely.

More chapters soon.