Aligning Expectations: Contracts Between Editors and Indie Authors

with Karin Horwatt Cather

When: Saturday, March 11, 2023, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm PST

Where: Online via Zoom

“Aligning Expectations” will discuss the need for a contract between an editor and an author. This webinar is for freelance editors who are interested in protecting the rights and responsibilities of both editor and author with a written service agreement. A clearly worded service agreement aligns the expectations of both authors and editors, which prevents disagreements and hard feelings on both sides. Aligned expectations between the parties prevent editors from feeling exploited and authors from feeling ripped off.

Please note that nothing in this webinar constitutes legal advice and we do not have an attorney–client relationship. Each student is strongly encouraged to consult a legal professional of their own choosing for advice on drafting your service agreement.

This webinar will cover the following:

• what a service agreement is
• the pitfalls and “left turns” in editing projects
• potential red-flag clients
• potential scammers
• the impact of the above on your professional relationship (and your sanity)
• writing your service agreement
• ambiguous service agreements
• nondisclosure and noncompetition clauses
• clients in breach
• what to do if you’re accused of being in breach
• appropriate editor–author communications

In the discussion section, students are encouraged to share “war stories” and discuss what terms in a service agreement would prevent these problems.

At the conclusion of the seminar, students will be able to identify areas of concern unique to their practice and craft their service agreement terms to protect against these concerns. They will also learn how to respond to problems caused by the author breaking the service agreement or if the author accuses the editor of breaking it and how to craft an appropriate remedy, if any.

Participants will need an internet connection and access to Microsoft Word or Google Docs in order to read the supplemental materials provided (a sample service agreement, sample request for payment, sample communications to authors). No previous editorial experience is required, but it can’t hurt.

Karin Horwatt Cather is a former prosecutor and child welfare attorney who left the practice of law in 2013 in order to care for a disabled family member. Karin earned a certificate from UC Berkeley Extension online in the professional sequence in editing (a one-year program), read widely, and lurked heavily on Facebook editing pages before opening her virtual doors in early 2015. Karin also attended the Editing Goes Global conference sponsored by Editors Canada in 2015. Karin was the project manager for a book entitled From Contact to Contract: How Editors Get Clients to Work With Them (published by Editors Canada) and co-authored a book with Dick Margulis entitled The Paper It’s Written On: Defining Your Relationship with an Editing Client. Karin specializes in developmental, structural, line, and copyediting, as well as manuscript evaluations of detective fiction, dystopian fiction (also known as Tuesday), fantasy, science fiction, speculative fiction, and memoirs written by first responders and attorneys. Karin also ghostwrites novels in those genres.

Karin’s police procedural/science fiction crossover, A Million Monkeys,is currently on the virtual desk of a developmental editor, and the sequel, Sick Puppies, will be ready for editing in February. Karin has a black belt in a martial art called Tactical Black Krav Maga and relies on that training in evaluating the accuracy of written violence in fiction.

Seminar Recording Notice:
Editors BC will be recording these sessions using Zoom’s record feature. The data captured may include your image (including your name if it appears in your video image) and voice recordings. The Zoom recordings will be made available to registered seminar participants for a period of two weeks following the session. After that time, the recording will no longer be available to participants. If you have any questions or concerns about the recording, please contact Claire Majors at pd@editorsbc.ca. Session participants are not permitted to make their own recordings, by any means, and are forbidden from distributing the recording they receive from the session.