What Happens to Your Work When You Are No Longer Here?
Books, manuscripts, copyrights, contracts, royalties, recordings, websites, and digital accounts do not manage themselves after an author’s death.
Without planning, heirs may not know:
- What the author owned
- Where contracts are stored
- Which publishers owe royalties
- When rights may revert
- Who controls unpublished work
- How to access digital accounts
- Whether archives should be preserved
- Who should approve adaptations
- Whether the author wanted unfinished work published
Build a Literary Legacy File
Your file should identify:
- Published works
- Unpublished manuscripts
- Copyright registrations
- Publishing contracts
- Licensing agreements
- Royalty accounts
- Business entities
- Pen names
- Websites and domains
- Email accounts
- Social-media accounts
- Audiobook files
- Cover and design files
- Literary agents
- Publishers
- Attorneys and accountants
- Preferred literary executor
- Archive and donation wishes
Do not place passwords inside an ordinary will that may become public. Obtain professional advice concerning secure digital-access instructions.
Consider a Literary Executor
A literary executor is a person authorized to manage literary and intellectual-property matters after an author’s death.
This may involve:
- Collecting royalties
- Managing copyrights
- Negotiating licenses
- Approving new editions
- Handling adaptations
- Organizing archives
- Communicating with publishers
- Protecting the author’s reputation
- Preserving unpublished material
The person best suited to manage personal property may not be the person best suited to manage intellectual property.
Business Planning and Estate Planning Must Work Together
An author who owns work personally has one succession problem.
An author whose company owns or licenses the work may have several:
- Who inherits the company interest?
- Who inherits the copyright?
- Does the license continue?
- Who controls company votes?
- Can heirs sell their interests?
- Does the artistic mission survive?
- Can the company continue without the artist?
These questions should be answered before a crisis.