Will your writing vanish after you’re dead?

[Hopscotch]

Advice on leaving a legacy as a writer or artist, from The Guardian (17 July 2024) article cited below:

“…be honest about the artist’s desires and have an estate plan. In the UK and the US, this generally means drafting a will or planning a trust’…”

An artist’s “biggest fear is that all his paintings will end up at the local thrift shop” or on the remainders table

“…creators should contextualize their work so that those who find it can better understand it,” something that will help relieve the “emotional labor undertaken by those who care for an artist’s estate”…

“This could be done through journaling, recordings of oral histories, or even sharing their artistic process on social media….”

Then take the “time to organize, sign, date and inventory” all work “as well as catalog and archive.…”

Of course, an artist can choose to destroy the work:  “‘I have no cultural responsibility to give all my art away’” says the artist featured in the article.

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/article/2024/jul/17/preserving-art-artist-careers-legacies

[TimothyEllis]

My books are the subject of a clause in my will.

KDP has a procedure for an heir to claim the books to their own account. They need a death certificate, evidence of who the heir is, and the heir then needs their own KDP account. They will then move the books to the new account.

In theory, as long as someone in the family does the upkeep on keeping the books for sale, they could continue indefinitely.

It's one reason I'm an advocate for copyright extension, where it remains in force until the books have no longer been on sale for a long period.

[Bill Hiatt]

Yes, including a provision in the will that makes clear who inherits the intellectual property rights is crucial. I'd do that even if there is only one heir, but certainly with multiple heirs, it's essential. There have been some cases of people's work becoming completely unavailable because of disputes over who held the rights to it.

[Post-Crisis D]

It's one reason I'm an advocate for copyright extension, where it remains in force until the books have no longer been on sale for a long period.

I'm happy with life of the author plus xx years.  I believe author's should have control over their works (unless they freely decide to sell their copyright interest) during their lifetime.  Plus, give any heirs some time to benefit as well.  Let's say an author wrote a book at 30 and died at 80.  They had fifty years to benefit from that book and that might include feeding their family.  But, if they wrote a book at 75 and died at 80, then they only had five years to benefit from that book.  If their copyright ends with their death, then their family misses out (in this case) on 45 years of benefiting from the book.  Better to have a copyright term that extends past the author's life.  Some people will cry that it's unfair or whatever because it means the author wrote at 30 has the same copyright term as the book the author wrote at 75, but it's a reasonable trade-off.

In some cases, a book written years ago might not become popular until years from now.  You never know.  It's just easier and better for the author to hold their copyright during their lifetime plus some additional years for the reasons previously mentioned.

I definitely do not like the idea of copyright expiring within the author's lifetime.  The last thing I would want would be for one of my books to enter the public domain during my lifetime and then have some company like Disney turn around, take my book, make it stupid and make a movie or TV show out of it that makes them some money and all I get is to see my characters ruined and not receive any compensation at all.  So, no, copyright should not expire during an author's lifetime.

Now, if I did something stupid like sell the rights to Disney, then that's a different story because at least I got paid before they made it stupid.

[TimothyEllis]

It's one reason I'm an advocate for copyright extension, where it remains in force until the books have no longer been on sale for a long period.

I'm happy with life of the author plus xx years.  I believe author's should have control over their works (unless they freely decide to sell their copyright interest) during their lifetime.  Plus, give any heirs some time to benefit as well.  Let's say an author wrote a book at 30 and died at 80.  They had fifty years to benefit from that book and that might include feeding their family.  But, if they wrote a book at 75 and died at 80, then they only had five years to benefit from that book.  If their copyright ends with their death, then their family misses out (in this case) on 45 years of benefiting from the book.  Better to have a copyright term that extends past the author's life.  Some people will cry that it's unfair or whatever because it means the author wrote at 30 has the same copyright term as the book the author wrote at 75, but it's a reasonable trade-off.

Digital changed everything.

Books and their IP are now an asset exactly the same as homes and property are an asset.

As long as the book remains an asset and continues to provide income, it should have the same protection as the family home has, being passed down generations.

[writeway]

I don't have any heirs. I don't have kids and not married either. The only person I would leave anything to is my father who is a senior of course. Outside of that, I don't know. I'm an only child too and my mother passed years ago. My only option outside of my dad would be an aunt/uncle or cousin or someone, which is why I never gave much thought to this.

[Post-Crisis D]

You can also leave the rights to your books to a charity if you're so inclined.  For example, J.M. Barrie (while still alive) gave the copyright to his Peter Pan stories to the Great Ormond Street Hospital.

[Bill Hiatt]

Though there are people who are genetically related to me, I don't know any of them. My heirs are people I grew up. (Our parents were best friends in high school, so the relationship goes back literally to our births.) Anyway, one of them has two kids who are both avid readers. I think my books will be in good hands.

The charitable organization angle also works--if you can find a charity that understands intellectual property. At one point, I was contemplating leaving everything to the education foundation in the district in which I worked. The community had a lot of ties to both entertainment and publishing, as well as many community members willing to do volunteer work or to charge little for their services. My work would have been in safe hands there too.

[PJ Post]

This is a cheerful subject.

 

Seriously though...we should all have something in our wills or papers explaining our IPs, how to access the platforms and our long-term preferences regarding them. If for no other reason than to make our survivor's lives easier. If the IPs are worth money, then Tim's right, it's an asset and should be discussed in the will just like a house - all legal and proper.

[spin52]

I don't have any heirs. I don't have kids and not married either. The only person I would leave anything to is my father who is a senior of course. Outside of that, I don't know. I'm an only child too and my mother passed years ago. My only option outside of my dad would be an aunt/uncle or cousin or someone, which is why I never gave much thought to this.

It doesn't have to be a relative. You could leave the rights either to a charity or a friend who has been supportive of your writing. In either case, however, it's probably a good idea to make sure they'd be willing to take on the responsibility.

[Hopscotch]

Every now and then I re-read Nicholas Monsarrat's The Cruel Sea pub 1951, a novel still on bookshelves 50yrs after his death when his other books are forgotten.  I want to write a book still read 50yrs after I've shuffled off.  But I need some after-life help doing that.  This thread's suggestions all very helpful.         

[LilyBLily]

On KBoards there used to be a poster who had inherited the rights to publish Leonard Wibberley's funny novels that were big in the 1960s, chiefly The Mouse That Roared. Looking at that title on Amazon tonight, it's #73 in Classic Humor Fiction although 298,829 in the store. Fascinating category, by the way.

So, yes, there can be life after death.

I see ads on BookBub all the time for classic detective fiction by Christie, Marsh, and others. Some of their books are in public domain and available free from Project Gutenberg, but clearly, at the $1.99 price point, they also sell.

[Post-Crisis D]

I wonder about the possibility of setting up a non-profit organization or possibly a business that would manage IP rights for deceased authors, taking a percentage in management fees, and directing the funds to the authors' families or charities of choice.

Not all charities or families know what to do with IP assets like books and this could be a possibility for them where they do nothing but collect the money and the organization/business manages sales channel accounts, licensing and all that.

I am just throwing this out there as an idea.  I'm not volunteering to do it and I'm not suggesting we try to form this as a group project or anything.  Just putting the idea out there.

[TimothyEllis]

I wonder about the possibility of setting up a non-profit organization or possibly a business that would manage IP rights for deceased authors, taking a percentage in management fees, and directing the funds to the authors' families or charities of choice.

I did this in a novel.

My first AI runs a publishing company, resurrecting all the old books, and paying royalties back to the descendants of those who wrote them.

Of course, copyright got extended to indefinite 500 years earlier, which enables this.

[LilyBLily]

In another lifetime I dealt with agents who controlled the rights to various authors' properties. If the author was traditionally published and had an agent, that's a perfectly viable way for the family/heirs to deal with the assets. However, the results should be regularly audited. I have to assume that the people republishing Agatha Christie's novels as ebooks are under some supervision. Only her oldest titles are out of copyright.

[cecilia_writer]

In another lifetime I dealt with agents who controlled the rights to various authors' properties. If the author was traditionally published and had an agent, that's a perfectly viable way for the family/heirs to deal with the assets. However, the results should be regularly audited. I have to assume that the people republishing Agatha Christie's novels as ebooks are under some supervision. Only her oldest titles are out of copyright.

There's some family involvement in the case of Agatha Christie - one of her grandsons (I think) seems to speak on their behalf quite often.