Johnny Van Zant Quotes

I don't sign contracts for my books.

Some people are just so happy to get published to, they sign anything. Next thing you know, they've signed over the rights to their book.

Authors need to decide if they want to keep forever to themselves, or share forever with a publisher who takes over half the cover price.

We are forced by the major publishers to include electronic rights in the contracts we make with publishers for new books. And there's very little we can do about that.

Their argument, and I think it's a correct one, is that they'll make more money from the trades and the hardcovers if nobody messes with the creative team.

Because we self-published 'Draculas,' we control the rights. Not just for now, but forever.

Don't sell your publishing.

If you have sold the film rights to somebody, take your money and leave. If the producers need you, they will call you. But you have to be careful about who you are selling your book to, and ensure that it is not tampered with.

I got into an argument with my original publisher. They wanted me to do 'Kitty' and nothing else. I wanted to do lots of things, not just 'Kitty' books.

Certainly, my many years working in the comics industry, creating products that I do not own, has made me rather fierce on the subject of giving up rights.

Make sure you know what you are signing when you sign a recording contract.

Typically, when you sell your story rights to a movie production company, they can do whatever they want with it. The writer is typically not involved anymore.

Copyright is too valuable to be wholly renounced.

I don't care what they do with my book so long as the flippin check clears.

It's hard for new artists to keep hold of what they own.

The standard publishing contract is replete with clauses that strip authors of control over their books.

My strongest message is: 'Never give your songs away. Never sign a contract you can't get out of.'

An author who gives a manager or publisher any rights in his work except those immediately and specifically required for its publication or performance is for business purposes an imbecile.

The Constitution wanted artists to have control over their works because they knew it would create incentive to create more works. That is clearly still the goal.

Get a lawyer to look at your contract or beware. Because no company - evil or not - is going to do it for you.

I've thought of publishing a book of my hate mail, but I don't own the rights to the letters.

As an author on a corporate press, you have a lot less control over the finished product. I figure if I spend a couple years writing something, I want to be able to decide what the cover looks like and how it's going to be presented.

But here's the thing: what you do as a screenwriter is you sell your copyright. As a novelist, as a poet, as a playwright, you maintain your copyright.

Before our albums are released I feel like we still own it, that we have control over our music. But once it's out there in the world it's no longer ours.

Traditional copyright has been that you can't make a full copy of somebody's work without their permission.