I appear to have lost a contract last week because of a disagreement over rights. As a writer and sometime photographer, it’s an issue near and dear to my heart.

When I’ve worked for other companies on salary, there’s been no question – what I produce during my working hours is “work for hire” and belongs to the company paying for my time. As freelancers, the issue needs to be worked out in a contract – whether a formal, legal document or a informal agreement through email.

Last week I had interesting negotiations with a publisher who seemed to want me to work for him. He offered a dollar amount per post that looked reasonable for the number of words and time involved but nothing extra for the photos. I was willing to take a chance on it, try it out because it would seed other business – get me into places and in front of people who could be the subject of articles for other publications.

Turns out this publisher wanted to deem my work for him as “work for hire” and own all rights. He said that was “standard” in the industry and asked, “Why would I pay you for something if I wasn’t going to own it?”

I think this guy is behind the times. Sometimes I do work for publishers and sell them all rights to the work, but when I do that, the price is right. If I sell someone something for $200/800 words, I expect to get more mileage out of what I’m writing at some point in the future.

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