You walk into the grocery store to buy apples, but when you reach the produce section the apples are twice what they are across town, and the quality isn’t quite as good as you remember them from the other store. Do you buy them? Maybe, if you’re in a rush and apples are a must [...]
— — — — Previous Chapter: Interlude: Think Contracts Don’t Matter? — — — — Most of this series concentrates on general contract principles. This week’s entry is a little different. It’s devoted solely to the creative industries (businesses like films, music, books, theater, etc. which depend on artists for their grist), and I’m posting [...]
— — — — Previous Chapter: The Narrowness Principle — — — — All business deals are based on trust, and it’s a trust backed up by a trustworthy legal system. Without trustworthy courts, high trust between people in a culture, and an environment characterized by trust and reciprocity, business is impossible. “Trustworthy! Dan, what [...]
— — — — Previous Chapter: The Third Cousins Rule — — — — “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.” Matthew 7:13, NIV Seldom, if ever, have the words above been truer than when negotiating a contract. [...]
As a writer, like most writers, I have one giant terror point. For some people it’s the writing. For some people it’s showing your work to friends, or to strangers. For some people it’s marketing in general. For me, it’s marketing fiction to editors. I don’t have a problem with nonfiction (as my bibliography demonstrates), [...]
If you’ve been following my activities around for the last several months, you’ve noticed a growing theme in my activities. Starting with my blog posts If You Build It, Will They Come? and It’s Time to Bust It Open, I’ve talked more about the intersection of business with podcasting, writing, and new media. The response [...]
— — — — Previous Chapter: What is a Contract? — — — — Disputes and Contingencies So, contracts are legal documents that obligate the signers to particular courses of actions in the event of enumerated contingencies. What about disagreements? After all, as a legal document, it’s always possible contract could wind up in court [...]
— — — — Previous Chapter: Introduction — — — — A contract is probably not what you think it is. It’s not an ironclad dictate that you must sign or die. It’s not something that strips you of your rights. It’s not even a piece of paper (although the paper is an important part [...]
Why Contracts Matter Money is truthful. When a man speaks of honor, make him pay cash. -Robert A. Heinlein, speaking as Lazarus Long, Time Enough For Love, 1973 The Concert In the early part of this century, I participated in a charity event to benefit the family of a dead hippie. The event was an [...]
