Beware the Contract/Creative Nonfiction

Writer's Thought for the Week: I take a simple view of life: keep your eyes open and get on with it. ~ Sir Laurence Olivier

BEWARE THE CONTRACT and a New Imprint

 

Last December when I blogged about Random House’s new digital imprints, no one had seen their contracts. As contracts appeared, Writer Beware, Science Fiction Writers of America, Horror Writers of America, and other author group representatives soon criticized the onerous clauses. Last Tuesday morning, Random House announced changes to their contracts for Hydra, Alibi, Flirt, and Loveswept. They will now follow a more traditional contract model as one of two options. You can read the details here.

The situation reminds us that publishing is a business. Writers need to either become familiar with contract jargon and what it means or find an agent or attorney who is. We've all heard about scam publishers and agents preying on writers, but when even Random House is called to task, whom can you trust?

Also this week, Amazon launched imprint called Little A, aimed at novels, memoir, and story collections. Within Little A is a digital-only series called Day One which targets short stories from writers who have not published books yet. I have not heard any bad news about these.

DIANA WOODS MEMORIAL AWARD IN CREATIVE NONFICTION

Deadline: March 31, 2013 for the June issue.

No entry fee

Submit an essay of up to 5,000 words on the subject of your choice to this semi-annual competition. Winners will receive $250 and their work will be featured in the next issue of Lunch Ticket. All submissions for the award will be considered for publication. The reading period for the award is February and March for the issue that publishes in June, and August and September for the issue that publishes in December.

Oz Fiction/Reversion of Rights

Writer’s Thought for the Week: A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say. ~ Italo Calvino

Oz Fiction Contest at Winkie Con 2012

Deadline: June 30, 2012

No entry fee.

$100 First Prize; $50 Second Prize

Yes, that’s Oz as in “Wizard of” not “Dr.” The Winkie Con is reviving the Winkie Research Table for the 2012 Convention, including the Fred Otto Prize for Oz Fiction. Prose story submissions up to 10,000 words invited.

“Oz Fiction” is defined as any story about or pertaining to the Land of Oz as originally created by L. Frank Baum in the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its sequels, but stories need not be confined to Baum’s vision. Submissions about or pertaining to the Land of Oz in any of its forms will be accepted. Stories may follow on from Oz books, Oz plays, Oz movies, Magic Land, or any other fictional version of Oz.

REVERSION CLAUSES IN CONTRACTS

Writers and other creative people often try to avoid or gloss over the business side of things, but we do so at our peril. The contract details that you failed to understand and did not ask about can come back to bite you. The “reversion of rights” contract clause is one of the most important. Read about it at Writer Beware.