A freelance writer lives their life day to day by the work contracted out to them. One would consider themselves as an entrepreneur and not having to deal with the overhead of a big company. Another person may say, living paycheck to pay check because sometimes the work is not always steady.
A writer may sometimes carry their worth by the amount of articles published and owned by them. The main way for protection for a writer is to have their work copy written. The site Dictionary.com states the definition as, the exclusive right to make copies, license, and otherwise exploit a literary, musical, or artistic work, whether printed, audio, video, etc.: works granted such right by law on or after January 1, 1978, are protected for the lifetime of the author or creator and for a period of 50 years after his or her death.
Today you have contracts called work for hire, where it states that a company owns the rights to the work done and if one were to publish this as their own its an infringement. There are two ways in which work for hire works 1) an employee creating copyrightable work in the course of his/her employment; or 2) work specially ordered or commissioned. This may seem unfair but as it shows that is how things go. As a writer it is so important to make sure one looks over their contract when working with a company to see if they have this in their paperwork, (Circular 1 Copyright Basics, pg. 2).
As a freelancer and when doing a work for hire, a writer has to make sure it states that in the contract as “work for hire”, if this is not stated than its not work for hire, besides you are an employee of the company in which you are writing for.
As a writer there is a way in which to cover your bases, it would be to register your work. By logging onto to http://www.copyright.gov/eco/. For a small fee of $35 and a copy of the work, you are legally binding this piece of work and showing ownership. It will show the year, the copyright and the name in who owns the work.
Sometimes in order to get what your worth you have to take five steps instead of two. Instead of writing a piece and publishing your work, take the time to register with the library of congress and paying the fee. Also, when working as a collaborative with someone else, take the time to read the contract thoroughly before signing. Generally speaking many want to be known for their writing, but if you don’t have the proper protection no one will know who you are and the value of your writings.
