Lawrence Block Shows Why Authors Need to Know Their Rights

If you read Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s blog, you know that she emphasizes being very careful about what rights you sign away.

Lawrence Block would agree.

After all, you are creating worlds with your stories. You are creating characters that could last beyond your lifetime. They are unique, the product of a singular mind. They are valuable, and you should treat them that way.

Publishers and producers know that the products of your imagination are valuable, which is why they try to acquire the rights to them. Authors, not being business-savvy as a rule, think they should sign over everything to get published. Worse, they think they can’t or shouldn’t object, because they fear the offer would be taken away, or that they would look “greedy,” or they fear offending their new “friends.”

This is mistaken thinking, and it can hurt you financially and emotionally.

Anyway, read her advice, starting with her latest post, and I’ll add this story that shows why you should give away nothing you create, no matter how insignificant you think it is.

On Goodreads, Lawrence Block mentioned that a story he wrote, “Bride of Violence, was made into a feature movie and is appearing now on Amazon Prime.

Well and good. Except this was not a story featuring his most popular characters, like Scudder or Bernie Rhodenbarr. It wasn’t a high-paying story. It was something he wrote in 1959 and it was published in “Two-Fisted Detective Stories,” for which he was paid $25.

No one would have thought that a short story would be made into a feature movie 59 years later. You see the trailer on YouTube.

That’s why you hang onto your rights!