licensing – Sean Monaghan

A new post. How about that? I’ve been otherwise distracted with travel and some licensing issues that needed resolving. Just about there with all that now, but a little more travel lies in my future, so it may take a little while to get back up to speed.

Looking ahead now to the next Captain Arlon Stoddard adventure Tramp Steamers. This will be the tenth book in the series. Something of a new direction, but with all the action and adventure you enjoy with the crew.

Finishing up the cover and blurb now so it should be out for preorder soon, with a release date of October 20th.

At the moment I’m deep in the heart of the next book in the series, tentatively titled Cradle Robbers. Hope to have that out next year. The next Cole Wright Thriller Hard Ground is complete and with the copy editor now, then it’ll get a final proof and should be available on December 20th.

I’ve been able to get a few short stories up as standalones, as well as a story collection The Blaze of Pollux and hope to get back into that through the rest of the year.

I’ll post once Tramp Steamers is available. Being the tenth book, it kind of feels as if it might need some kind of little celebration.

contest Lloyd Metcalf is an illustrator, creator of some stunning images. He’s also pretty smart with regard to business, and how creatives make a living.

As in, getting paid for the work we do.
He has a great post on his site about avoiding a particular illustration contest. The contest he names has rules that give the contest organizers the rights to the entries.

Without payment.

Basically only the winner will get paid. Meanwhile many skilled but unwary illustrators are effectively giving away the license to their works.

As I’ve gone on at length about (here, here and here), a New Zealand writing contest does something similar. Their terms and conditions effectively give the contest organizers the right to publish any entry without payment.

In the context of Lloyd’s experience, though, this is minor. It seems that the illustration contest is run by a subsidiary of a major toy and game manufacturer, with its hands in movies and other media.

Imagine giving away the rights to your design and finding it turning into the next Transformers or My Little Pony or Pokemon.

All I can suggest for creative people is to read the terms and conditions. Read them. Understand them.

With creative work, we license. That license should be fair.

Be wary.

Take care out there.

Tag: licensing

A quick update

Terms and Conditions, people.