Note to freelance writers: read the fine print, contracts are changing

Although she's not very specific about who is doing what to whom, Vancouver agent and coach Julie Ferguson is raising an alarm about demands by publishers that freelancers carry all the legal liabilities for a published article. In a blog item, she says:

The issue is not the usual rights grab, which is often in contracts, but the clause(s) that deals with indemnification (liability). Suddenly the publishers are expecting freelancers to carry full liability and financial responsibility if the publisher is sued over a freelancer's article. In the past, this burden was most often shared between publisher and freelancer. For a writer to insure for this eventuality can cost thousands of dollars per year, and many cannot afford to take this precaution.

Many writers who make their living freelancing have attempted to change these clauses before signing the contracts, but some publishers are refusing to allow negotiation of these clauses. In this event, most of the writers have chosen to turn down the opportunity to write for these publishers, which include major daily newspapers, top magazines, and a national broadcaster in Canada, as well as similar publishers in the US. (For example, CanWest and CBC.)

One change a freelancer can try to negotiate for these clauses is: "in no case will the writer's liability exceed the value of the contract." Sometimes this works.

She also points readers to interesting material at a site run by screenwriter and lawyer Tim Perrin, who makes available a very good primer for freelancers on how to negotiate contracts.