Principles of Contracts: You CAN Fight City Hall

Because this one deals a lot with the law again, the usual disclaimers apply: I am not a lawyer. This is not legal advice. This is one man’s opinion on how business is done. Always consult a qualified legal professional when seeking legal advice. — — — — Previous chapter: …

Principles of Contracts: Embrace Your Inner 2 Year-Old

— — — — Previous chapter: Everybody Knows Peggy Lee (Or Should) — — — — Implicit in the early installments in this series was the assumption that when you do a business deal, both parties have something to gain and something to lose. It follows then, that all other …

Principles of Contracts: Everybody Knows Peggy Lee (or should)

Preface: I mentioned this in the first post in this series, but because I’m going to be talking about some specific points of law in this post, I need to reiterate: I am not a lawyer, am not qualified to dispense legal advice, and none of what follows should be …

Principles of Contracts: Market Awareness

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 …

What Every Author Should Know

There’s a conversation going on at the always controversial blog of Dean Wesley Smith. The post itself is interesting for its unconventional wisdom, but it is the comments that are important. In it, several authors with pub credits in the dozens and loads of literary experience talk explicitly about contract …

The Balticon Adventure pt 5: Pontification, Panels, and Parties

Well, I suppose I’ve put it off long enough. The summer since Balticon has been packed to the gills with activity. Lots of writing, lots of strategizing. I don’t think I’ve read as much in one summer in at least a decade, and I’ve written 150k words and still going—might …

Principles of Contracts: Nothing But Net

— — — — 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 …

Principles of Contracts: Self-Interest

— — — — 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 …

Principles of Contracts: The Narrowness Principle

— — — — 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 …