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Sunday, April 19, 2015

Summer of Love Contest and Literary Estates


There’s still time to enter the Summer of Love Books contest for a chance to win a summer-full of romance novels. Incentive: There will be more than one winner.  http://summeroflovebooks.com

Following is an excerpt of a recent blog at the site:


It seems everywhere you look, and in every sub-genre, romances that center around a second chance at love abound. A do-over, a chance to get things right this time. Why is that, I hear you wondering.

I have an answer.                  – Becky Lower (Author of BLAME IT ON THE BRONTES)

 

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cj Sez: A note concerning writers’ literary estates crossed my desk recently (for the second year, actually) so I think it’s time to re-post something I wrote in June of 2014.

I’ve always known that I’m happiest when I learn something new every day. It’s the reason I take another college class every now and then. And it’s the reason I attend writer’s conferences. Today, I learned that I should be thinking about my “literary estate.” Hmm. I’ve never thought about that concept: As a published writer, I have a literary estate. Wow.

I also learned that I was wrong when I thought that the estate lawyer who drew up my trust and will was all I needed.

Not so, Grasshopper. Copyright protection in an estate and will requires an attorney familiar with the subject. It’s a legal specialty, as in she/he needs to be a copyright, publishing, and media lawyer.

I discovered, however, that I am moving in the right direction. I keep files … physical paper documents in physical paper file folders in addition to digital copies I keep on a flash drive in a safe deposit box. I have a folder of contracts, correspondence, and any pertinent information about my publisher, agent (if I ever get one she/he will be added), and the literary works, such as are they still in print and who has the rights (I have requested some be returned).

I keep a list of works-in-progress and completed but unpublished manuscripts. I also keep a paper copy of all my passwords so that they’re accessible to my executor/trix. All of these things are included in a six-page list that keeps getting notated and updated in pencil until I can no longer read my scratch and have to retype the thing. It’s about to get longer because as I read this, I realize there are things I haven’t put on the list.

There’s a bit more I need to do . . . like find a literary attorney who knows what to do with copyrights in estates.  (Yep, I wrote this in 2014 and have yet to do that. Got to put that at the top of my to-do list.)

Okay, you-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

 cj
 
PS: I have my fingers crossed that you will be one of the winners for those romance books.

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