| Contracts After The Fact During the last few weeks ASJA members have reported a bothersome development, publications that refuse to provide written contracts for assigned articles until after the piece is written and submitted. A writer who has worked with American Legion Magazine successfully in the past reported a variety of problems that arose during recent negotiations. Rather than a boilerplate contract that editors were willing to modify, which had been the writer’s experience in the past, the writer was told that the publication now wanted the proposed article in hand before a contract would be sent. When the writer objected the assignment was canceled. The publication eventually relented and provided a copy of the revised contract. The new agreement required a transfer of more rights than before, apparently without an increase in the fee offered, and the writer was told that the new contract was not negotiable. Another ASJA member recounted similar problems with LA Times Magazine. The writer was told that the policy of not offering a contract until after an article was submitted made sense because the assignment always is contingent on the article being accepted anyway. The “standard” contract, which was provided reluctantly after the writer objected, included a grant of all rights for the article in question and, more troublesome, a grant of rights for all articles written for the publication prior to the date of the agreement; a waiver of all moral rights (including the right to have proper attribution for the writer); a broad warranty and indemnification clause; and no kill fee. About half the “Terms and Conditions” involve an agreement that arbitration is the exclusive remedy for any disputes between writer and publication. In addition to the other problems with the contract, the writer must give up the right to sue the publication if there is a dispute. The LA Times Magazine does use assignment letters, but the author found that the terms set out in the letter did not match the terms agreed upon in verbal negotiations.
A post-submission contract for an assigned article presents too many problems to list. Without a signed contract a writer is, for all practical purposes, producing an assigned article on speculation—a contradiction in terms and a fundamental shift from the way contracts traditionally have been negotiated. Authors are far less likely to complain about contract terms after putting in work on an article than before. Without notice of the contract terms that supposedly will govern the transaction a writer is buying a pig in a poke. Post-submission contracts are a bad idea with no redeeming features for writers. Contracts Watch RSS Feed Put "http://www.asja.org/cw/cw.xml" into your RSS reader.
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