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The Work-for-hire question

You have a great idea for a children's non-fiction book. Maybe your daughter came home from school complaining that she has to write a report on red-tailed hawks and there's not a single book on red-tailed hawks in the library. Maybe your son has to write a "you are there" history play on Jamestown, and he can't find the material he wants. Or perhaps you want to help your toddler's daycare celebrate holidays from other cultures and you want Chinese New Year craft book, but can't find one. "Hey," you think, "here's a writing opportunity!"

So you research the publishers who publish non-fiction for libraries, and you find out that many pay only a flat fee. What's more, some of them want to see a resume and writing samples, not manuscripts.

What's up? Are they ripping you off?

The answer: not necessarily. Work-for-hire is a regular part of the school and library publishing world. However, some work-for-hire situations aren't as friendly as the school and library market can be.

The needs of school and libraries

Public libraries and school libraries need good non-fiction as well as fiction. Students may have particular interests they want to learn about, or may need books for writing reports. Students need clear, accurate, factual material written at an age-appropriate level and presented in an appealing way.

Library and classroom books take a rough beating. Even those bound in firm library binding can look shabby after a few years. Furthermore, the contents may become dated, particularly in science books. Libraries must comb through their books every year, pulling battered and outdated books, and buy new ones as their budgets allow.

However, when librarians replace non-fiction books, they are unlikely to replace them with the same titles. They'll want new, updated books with the latest information. This means that they'll turn to the catalogs from school and library publishers every year, ordering new books.

This also means that school and library publishers need to be turning out new titles every year, which in turn keeps authors employed in creating the new titles. However, this also gives any one title a short life on the publisher's lists, and very little opportunity to earn royalties.

Because their market is so targeted, and because school and library publishers already know what kinds of books are needed the most, many of these publishers prefer to plan their own publishing schedule and hire authors to write specific titles according to their guidelines, rather than sift through thousands of manuscripts in hopes of finding one that they can use.

Short shelf life, short list life, and assigned work are among the qualities of the school and library book that lead to the usual practice of work-for-hire.

Most school-and-library publishers that we've worked for are pleasant and professional. The pay is modest but reasonable, the guidelines are clear, and the work can be steady for someone who actively pursues leads, who writes well, who meets deadlines, and who is flexible enough to write about many different topics.

Other work-for-hire markets

Book packagers are another venue that often have work-for-hire policies. Packagers may work with school and library publishers to help get their publishing schedules filled. They may work with publishers of series books, hiring authors to write novels about popular cartoon characters or a television series, or novels in based on a role-playing game or based in a fantasy setting established for the series (sometimes called shared-world writing). Some of these pay well, while others make great demands on the author but pay poorly.

Jenna Glatzer's article on Book Packaging: Underexplored Terrain for Freelancers has more information on writing children's books with book packagers.

Negotiating work-for-hire contracts

If you do not want to give up all of your rights to your work, discuss this with the editor and find out if there is any room for negotiation. There may or may not be, depending on publisher policy, but some publishers may allow you to regain rights to the work after a stated period of time, or may pay you more if the book sells more than a stated number of copies. If you want to negotiate a contract, the National Writer's Union San Francisco Bay chapter has a good article on negotiating work-for-hire contracts.

Should I pursue work-for-hire writing?

There are upsides and downsides to working on a write-for-hire contract:

Pros:

  • Many school and library publishers hire on the basis of a resume and a writing sample, even if the sample is unpublished, so the market can be a good place to break in if you are a good writer and can meet deadlines.
  • Some writers make a career out of writing for the school and library market, since the work can be steady -- especially if you can write about science, technology, or history.
  • When writing on assignment in areas with which you are not familiar, you may amass enough material to write one or more books or articles of your own. Hence, writing for hire can stimulate new ideas and further sales.

Cons:

  • You do not own the copyright to your work, including any characters you create. The publisher owns all rights in exchange for a flat fee. If the book has a limited lifespan, as most library books do, this may not be an issue. But if you write for a fantasy series and the book sells well, you will not get royalties. Nor will you benefit in any other way from those great sales unless you have negotiated otherwise.
  • If you are writing for book packagers, remember that some are excellent while others are not. Get as much information in writing as you can.
  • Some writers find that writing books for hire takes too much time away from their own creative work.
  • Some writers find it hard to write on assignment, and to write about topics that they do not personally find stimulating.
 

Recommended books:

Find work-for-hire opportunities with educational publishers using the latest market guide:

2006 Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market
Writer's Digest Books, 2005

Glen and Karen Bledsoe --> articles --> Submissions --> The work-for-hire question

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