The Shocking Truth About Letting Your Editor or “Author Rep” Sign Your Publishing Contract—What They’re Not Telling You!
In the first case, the author didn’t know her editor had made herself the beneficiary. In the other case, the author rep had promised to distribute royalties to the author’s children if she died. I called B.S. on that one!
In EPISODE 16 of the WritersWeekly Podcast, Brian explains that, while lawyers have a fiduciary responsibility to you should you put them in charge of your estate (they can be criminally prosecuted if they do you or your heirs wrong), an editor or author rep has no such responsibility, and they can take that money and run. And, if nobody ever knows that they completed your contract for you (with no power of attorney), they will be able to keep your heirs’ money (and your copyrights) after you die.
