[Plura-list] Podcasting "Reasonable Agreement"

Cory Doctorow doctorow at craphound.com
Mon Jun 27 11:36:58 EDT 2022 

Read today's issue online at: https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/27/reps-and-warranties/

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Sponsor me for the Clarion Write-A-Thon! I'm writing 10,000 words on my prison-tech thriller "Some Men Rob You With a Fountain Pen" and raising scholarship money for the Clarion SF/F workshop, which I graduated from in 1992.

https://clarionwriteathon.com/members/profile.php?writerid=293388

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Today's links

* Podcasting "Reasonable Agreement": "On the Crapification of Literary Contracts."

* Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.

* This day in history: 2002, 2007, 2012, 2017, 2021

* Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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🦃 Podcasting "Reasonable Agreement"

This week on my podcast, I read my recent @Medium column, "Reasonable Agreement: On the Crapification of Literary Contracts," about the alarming standardization of non-negotiable (and terrible) contracting terms in freelance writing contracts:

https://doctorow.medium.com/reasonable-agreement-ea8600a89ed7

I started selling to magazines in the 1980s, a moment when Reagan's antitrust deregulation drove waves of mergers in the market. The major magazines were changing owners frequently, and each new corporate overlord brought new contracts lawyers with weird and terrible ideas about the contracts they sent to writers. Lucky for writers, editors were on our side, and were able to help us get around these unfair terms.

For example, one of these mergers resulted in a whole family of magazines changing their contracts to grab rights that had historically belonged to writers (translation, audio adaptation) including some that were rarely exercised but represented an enormous upside for authors (film and TV rights). These new contracts also grabbed *stupid* rights that no one ever bought or sold for short stories, like theme-park and toy rights.

The editors came up with a clever countermeasure: they moved all this objectionable garbage to the final page of the contract, then quietly advised writers to tear off that page, throw it in the trash, and sign the bottom of the page before, where they'd conveniently left room for dated signatures.

But the editors - and us writers - were fighting a losing battle. Corporate contract lawyers figured out what was going on and started to force all contractual variations through their offices, and declared the worst of these clauses to be "non-negotiable" and simply refused to discuss (or change!) them.

This meant that writers like me found themselves in a bind when it came to the editors who liked and sought out our work. For example, in 2009, an editor I'd worked with at the sf magazines got a plum gig, commissioning short fiction for a global, glossy, general-interest magazine and she asked me to contribute. I had loved her other short fiction work and leapt at the chance, writing her a story that she accepted on the spot.

But then the contract came in, and it included a clause that I *never* signed: I had to indemnify the publisher against all claims related to my work, including any that the publisher decided, unilaterally, to settle. This magazine, published all over the world, had exposure to legal systems I knew nothing about, as well as legal systems that I knew all too well to be grossly authoritarian and terrible.

Even though my short story didn't have anything in it that would attract any legitimate legal claims, the magazine wanted me to promise that if some crank in any of these countries sent them a legal threat, they could pay this person *any amount of money* and then send me the bill, irrespective of the merits of the claim.

At the time, these clauses were widespread, but were considered negotiable - any canny writer would simply line them out and initial them, and the publisher's contracts person would initial them, too, and that was that. Not this time. My requested change went all the way up to the CEO, who flat our refused to change the clause or discuss it with me.

The editor was ordered to kill the story, and I was told I wouldn't get a nickle. I worked with @SFWA's grievance committee, who got me a 50% kill-fee and then I sold the story elsewhere for more than the original offer:

https://memex.craphound.com/2010/04/25/in-praise-of-sfwas-grievance-committee/

But I burned that editor, put her in a terrible position with her new bosses. I resolved that henceforth, I'd confirm contracting terms *before* accepting freelance commissions, and I did...but I still slipped up from time to time.

Last year, I got a commission from a major US daily paper who asked me to write an op-ed condemning the bullying legal threats that a giant tech company had just made against some of its critics. As is often the case with op-eds, this had a news hook and they were eager to publish immediately, so I wrote the piece - and they published it - before I saw the contract.

This contract had the same awful indemnity clause, and worse, in this case, they had asked me to take  to their editorial page to criticize a company that sued people who criticized it! Of course I refused to sign, to the distress of the (perfectly nice) contracts person, who had been told that this clause could not be modified under any circumstances.

I stuck to my guns, pointing out that they'd already published and had no leverage over me, and that the couple hundred bucks they were offering to pay me wouldn't cover a month's worth of media insurance to back up the indemnity they were seeking, and since I have very few assets and very little savings, I was literally financially incapable of indemnifying them. Signing that clause might ruin my life and drive me to bankruptcy, but it wouldn't actually protect them in any way.

The newspaper caved and the "non-negotiable" clause was removed from the contract I'd signed, but - once again - I'd burned an editor whose only sin was enjoying my work enough to commission me to write for them.

I'm more careful these days. There are seven contractual terms that I negotiate *before* I take an assignment:

I. Binding arbitration. This is the bullshit practice of forcing writers to surrender their right to sue publishers, even in the face of fraud or other illegal acts. Instead, writers have to take their claims to a corporate arbitrator - a fake judge whose fees are paid by the publisher. There is no legitimate reason for a publisher to demand binding arbitration. I won't sign these, period.

II. Blanket warranties. I'm not a lawyer, and while I'm familiar with California and US federal law, I don't know what other legal systems your publication is exposed to. It's unreasonable to ask me to warrant that my work doesn't violate "any law." I replace this with "any US or California law." If you are worried that my work creates legal jeopardy for you, you should ask competent counsel, not me.

III. Blanket indemnities. I'm not wealthy, and my insurer won't cover claims that you settle without their consent. Asking me to indemnify you against "all claims" exposes me to the risk of bankruptcy - and still doesn't protect you. I change this to "all finally settled claims."

IV. Confidentiality. It's rare for a publisher to expose me to confidential business information, but if you are going to, then crisply define what that is (and don't ask me to do so - I don't know your secrets, because they are *your* secrets).

V. Noncompete. Most of my freelance commissions relate to issues that I've written about for 20+ years. I'm not going to promise you that I won't write a similar piece for someone else. If you're commissioning me to write on a new (to me) subject for a major feature, then a short period of exclusivity (6-12m) is okay.

VI. Rights. The standard deal is 6-12 months of exclusive rights, then indefinite non-exclusive rights, and I get the right to resell, reprint, or anthologize the piece.

VII. Derivative works. If you want TV or movie rights, you'll have to talk to my agent at WME and negotiate for an option. If you want translation or conversion rights, that's fine, but you need a plan to use them. I won't give you exclusive French rights if you don't have a French publication or a relationship with one (why would you even want that?).

These principles reflect the standard contracting terms among *all* publishers when I started my career. I'm lucky that I can stick to these today because the income from my books lets me to walk away from commissions on unfair terms. I write a lot of books - I have *eight* in production right now.

One of those books is *Chokepoint Capitalism*, co-written with @rgibli, a book that explains how to reverse unfairness in creative labor markets. The book explains how mergers in every part of the creative supply chain - publishers, studios, labels, distributors, retailers, and online platforms - create #monoposonies, buyers' markets for creative labor.

http://www.beacon.org/Chokepoint-Capitalism-P1856.aspx

Along with this analysis, we uncover the vulnerabilities in Big Tech and Big Content, and offer a buffet of actions that individuals, artists groups, municipalities, and regional and national governments can take *right now* to materially improve the livelihoods and security of creative workers.

Throughout that book, we stress the importance of solidarity - between creative workers, with audiences, and with workers in similarly concentrated industries who face similar challenges. It's not enough that *I* have the security to demand better terms - we need to work to provide better conditions for *all* creative workers..and all workers, period.

A good contract is a thing of beauty, a crisp articulation of the mutual expectations of two consenting parties. A contract that demands that you provide things you are *incapable* of providing (such as blanket indemnity against unilaterally settled claims) is a mockery of the idea of contracts.

When I sign a contract with a publisher, I *mean it*. I am promising to do everything in that contract. I am baffled that corporate contracts lawyers want their writers to sign contracts that everyone *knows* they can't uphold.

I have various theories for this, including the possibility that it's just sadism. The legal profession definitely has a sadism problem, with some attorneys deriving twisted pleasure from dominating their adversaries:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/10/duke-sucks/#devils

But writers aren't the adversaries of publishers. Or at least, we shouldn't be. It's a frankly bizarre circumstance when writers take contracts more seriously than the publishers who write them.

Here's the podcast episode:

https://craphound.com/news/2022/06/27/reasonable-agreement-on-the-crapification-of-literary-contracts/

Here's a direct link to the MP3 (hosting courtesy of the @InternetArchive, they'll host your stuff for free, forever):

https://archive.org/download/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_430/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_430_-_Reasonable_Agreement.mp3

And here's the RSS for my podcast feed:

https://feeds.feedburner.com/doctorow_podcast

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🦃 Hey look at this

* Good God, I can’t publish this… https://thecritic.co.uk/good-god-i-cant-publish-this/ (h/t Naked Capitalism)

* Mushroom-shaped duplex villas https://www.yankodesign.com/2022/06/26/these-mushroom-shaped-duplex-villas-with-their-own-swimming-pool-offer-the-ultimate-glamping-experience/

* Mick Lynch: rail union bruiser who’s more than a match for the media https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jun/23/mick-lynch-rail-union-bruiser-whos-more-than-a-match-for-the-media

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🦃 This day in history

#20yrsago Meetup: Meatspace camaraderie for Internet shut-ins https://www.meetup.com/

#15yrsago Rolling Stone: the record industry committed suicide https://web.archive.org/web/20070626045150/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/15137581/the_record_industrys_decline/print

#15yrsago I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets! https://memex.craphound.com/2007/06/26/i-shall-destroy-all-the-civilized-planets/

#10yrsago TSA dumps Grandpa’s cremains all over airport, laughs at distraught relative as he picks bone fragments off the floor https://web.archive.org/web/20120627102524/http://www.theindychannel.com/news/31224633/detail.html

#10yrsago Rasputin’s Bastards: epic, psychic cold war thriller https://memex.craphound.com/2012/06/27/rasputins-bastards-epic-psychic-cold-war-thriller/

#10yrsago Anti-cheating ring brands I’M MARRIED into the flesh of your finger https://web.archive.org/web/20120121065435/https://thecheeky.com/anti-cheating-ring

#10yrsago King City: awesomely weird, silly/funny sf comic https://memex.craphound.com/2012/06/26/king-city-awesomely-weird-silly-funny-sf-comic/

#10yrsago Bruce Sterling on Alan Turing, gender, AI, and art criticism https://web.archive.org/web/20120630111115/http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2012/06/turing-centenary-speech-new-aesthetic/

#10yrsago Final episode of Search Engine podcast https://web.archive.org/web/20120731102616/http://searchengine.tvo.org/blog/search-engine-blog/audio-podcast-143-last-episode

#5yrsago Australia announces plan to ban working cryptography at home and in the US, UK, New Zealand, and Canada https://memex.craphound.com/2017/06/26/australia-announces-plan-to-ban-working-cryptography-at-home-and-in-the-us-uk-new-zealand-and-canada/

#5yrsago A non-scientist’s guide to reading scientific papers https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2016/05/09/how-to-read-and-understand-a-scientific-paper-a-guide-for-non-scientists/

#5yrsago Millennials, women and college grads are most prolific library users https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/06/21/millennials-are-the-most-likely-generation-of-americans-to-use-public-libraries/

#5yrsago Public Enemy’s sign-language interpreter is AMAZING https://imgur.com/69SrHIa

#5yrsago Republicans are the primary beneficiaries of gerrymandering https://apnews.com/article/elections-race-and-ethnicity-voting-rights-census-2020-election-2020-fa6478e10cda4e9cbd75380e705bd380

#5yrsago Thailand’s thin-skinned king demands Youtube take down Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator” https://globalvoices.org/2017/06/27/at-thailands-request-youtube-blocks-video-clip-of-charlie-chaplins-the-great-dictator/

#5yrsago How an obscure law allowed white, rich developers to steal African-Americans’ land for a century https://web.archive.org/web/20170628235307/https://www.thenation.com/article/african-americans-have-lost-acres/

#5yrsago EU fines Google €2.42B for anti-competitive behaviour https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jun/27/google-braces-for-record-breaking-1bn-fine-from-eu

#5yrsago A new ransomware strain is seemingly using a leaked NSA cyberweapon to race around the planet https://www.vice.com/en/article/qv4gx5/a-ransomware-outbreak-is-infecting-computers-across-the-world-right-now

#5yrsago Verizon bought Yahoo, so Flickr and Tumblr users with AT&T email addresses are being cut off https://lifehacker.com/flickr-and-tumblr-users-with-at-t-emails-are-about-to-l-1796428637

#5yrsago China orders mobile app stores to remove VPN apps https://globalvoices.org/2017/06/27/chinas-great-firewall-grows-ever-stronger-as-virtual-private-networks-disappear/

#5yrsago Desperate Toronto hotelier pays millions to take Trump name off its business https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-27/trump-hotel-owner-in-toronto-reaches-deal-to-remove-trump-brand

#1yrago ISP announces 86% slowdown "in line with others" https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/27/immortan-altice/#broadband-is-a-human-right

#1yrago New York City's 100 worst landlords https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/26/wax-rothful/#nyc-landlords

#1yrago How Peter Thiel gamed the Roth IRA for tax-free billions https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/26/wax-rothful/#thiels-gambit

#1yrago The Overlapping Infrastructure of Urban Surveillance https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/26/wax-rothful/#surveillance-infographic

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🦃 Colophon

Today's top sources:

Currently writing:

* Some Men Rob You With a Fountain Pen, a Martin Hench noir thriller novel about the prison-tech industry. Friday's progress: 645 words (19648 words total)

* The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation, a nonfiction book about interoperability for Verso. Friday's progress: 535 words (16230 words total)

* Picks and Shovels, a Martin Hench noir thriller about the heroic era of the PC. (92849 words total) - ON PAUSE

* A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING

* Vigilant, Little Brother short story about remote invigilation. FIRST DRAFT COMPLETE, WAITING FOR EXPERT REVIEW

* Moral Hazard, a short story for MIT Tech Review's 12 Tomorrows. FIRST DRAFT COMPLETE, ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION

* Spill, a Little Brother short story about pipeline protests. FINAL DRAFT COMPLETE

* A post-GND utopian novel, "The Lost Cause."  FINISHED

* A cyberpunk noir thriller novel, "Red Team Blues."  FINISHED

Currently reading: Analogia by George Dyson.

Latest podcast: Monopolists Want to Create Human Inkjet Printers https://craphound.com/news/2022/06/20/monopolists-want-to-create-human-inkjet-printers/

Upcoming appearances:

* A New HOPE (NYC), Jul 24
https://www.hope.net/

Recent appearances:

* Supp-Lie Demand (Bad Faith podcast with Briahna Joy Gray):
https://www.patreon.com/posts/67550669

* The Sci-Fi Feedback Loop: Mapping Fiction’s Influence on Real-World Tech
https://csi.asu.edu/calendar/events/the-sci-fi-feedback-loop-mapping-fictions-influence-on-real-world-tech/

* Privacy is the New Celebrity
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1806101/10643084

Latest book:

* "Attack Surface": The third Little Brother novel, a standalone technothriller for adults. The *Washington Post* called it "a political cyberthriller, vigorous, bold and savvy about the limits of revolution and resistance." Order signed, personalized copies from Dark Delicacies https://www.darkdel.com/store/p1840/Available_Now%3A_Attack_Surface.html

* "How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism": an anti-monopoly pamphlet analyzing the true harms of surveillance capitalism and proposing a solution. https://onezero.medium.com/how-to-destroy-surveillance-capitalism-8135e6744d59 (print edition: https://bookshop.org/books/how-to-destroy-surveillance-capitalism/9781736205907) (signed copies: https://www.darkdel.com/store/p2024/Available_Now%3A__How_to_Destroy_Surveillance_Capitalism.html)

* "Little Brother/Homeland": A reissue omnibus edition with a new introduction by Edward Snowden: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250774583; personalized/signed copies here: https://www.darkdel.com/store/p1750/July%3A__Little_Brother_%26_Homeland.html

* "Poesy the Monster Slayer" a picture book about monsters, bedtime, gender, and kicking ass. Order here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723627. Get a personalized, signed copy here: https://www.darkdel.com/store/p2682/Corey_Doctorow%3A_Poesy_the_Monster_Slayer_HB.html#/.

Upcoming books:

* Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin, nonfiction/business/politics, Beacon Press, September 2022

This work licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution.

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