Hi I am wondering If I hire a freelance writer to write a book / guide for me am I allowed to put my name on the cover of the book as the sole author without giving credit to the freelancer? Or do I have to say it has been ghost written? Just curious if there are any legal issues regarding this.
I had this expirience last year...It really depends how you work it out with the writer...I paid a writer to write me an article and he did not specify he wanted his name on it etc...After a few hours of arguing we worked it out
You definitely have to work this into your contract with the writer and be completely upfront about it from the start. If you're using a freelance site, just say you are looking for a ghost writer to write a book about whatever... It's a fairly common practice, but be prepared to pay significantly more for it.
Yeah ghost-writing is quite common. The majority of books written by celebrities and athletes have a ghost writer.
As a work made for hire you are the rightful author and only person with a claim to copyright. HOWEVER - a Transfer of Copyright MUST be annotated with your name as the author, that spells out 'all your exclusive rights' and then signed by both you and the person originally authoring and being paid for the work made for hire. All 'crediting is really up to you as you are commissioning the work to be done for your own benefit' (not the other way around) but the original author must agree to it... in writing. It's worth noting that should the above transfer NOT occur any dispute arising from copyright infringement by a third party only the author has a right to claim... meaning if you don't gain any exclusive rights and the originating author does not wish to persue court action... you are up shit creek. I learned this lesson the hard way. Prior to any work being commissioned and any fees paid have the transfer signed... if the writer does not wish to give up copyright (at least to a level that protects your own commissioning interests without the need of the writer) make them pre-register the copyright or don't hire them. You will hear many say a C&D, and provisions under DMCA with take care of any infringement... in many cases maybe so... but these actions are in fact only a preamble to filing court action in a disputed case (and a court of law is the only measure of actual protection). If and when the writer can't be bothered to go to court to protect their own rights, yours just went out the window.