The single biggest mistake made by publishers and authors is their failure to acquire exclusive rights to the work of cover artists and illustrators. The single biggest mistake! The failure to do so not only signals a total lack of entrepreneurial vision but also results in the likely loss of substantial monies.
In what appears to be a frequently occurring situation, publishers seem to pay cover artists and illustrators to do work on the publisher’s books without having a legally sufficient writing covering the issues about who owns the rights to the artist’s/illustrator’s work as well as other important provisions. Or no agreement at all. In such a situation, the publisher loses and the artist/illustrator wins. I will, in this article, refer to this legally sufficient writing as an “agreement” but it does not necessarily have to be a formal agreement or writing although it is much, much better to have a formal agreement. READ MORE –>>