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Message no. 1
From: Stainless Steel Rat <ratinox@***.NEU.EDU>
Subject: Unsolicited Manuscripts
Date: Sun, 31 Jul 1994 14:31:21 -0400
If you send an unsolicited manuscript to a company, and you don't very
specifically state what said company can and cannot do with said
manuscript, then you are giving that company permission to do as they wish
with it, especially if you don't have a copyright on it. This isn't limited
to T$R or game companies, it's /any/ company that publishes in any form,
including TV and movies.

If you're going to submit a work, obtain a copy of the company's submission
policy, READ it thoroughly, and UNDERSTAND all the legal backflips. And do
it /before/ you submit your work. Many companies will have clauses in their
submission policy that state the company retains control of the work for a
given period (usually a year or two), that they have the right to use your
work in part or in whole and not give you recognition or credit, that
during the control period you cannot do anything with the work including
attempting to have it published or sold to another company, and that if you
do they will sue your ass off and win.

In other words, if you submit an unsolicited manuscript and you don't
/thorougly/ cover your ass, you're screwed; kiss all your work goodbye.

--
Rat <ratinox@***.neu.edu> |"...and I didn't even need pants!"
http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/ratinox|--Dilbert [Scott Adams]
PGP Public Key: Ask for one today! |
Message no. 2
From: "Robert A. Hayden" <hayden@******.MANKATO.MSUS.EDU>
Subject: Re: Unsolicited Manuscripts
Date: Sun, 31 Jul 1994 13:51:35 +0100
I cannot echo Rat's posting loudly enough. Over the past five years or
so, there has been such an increase in intellectual property and
copyright legal cases, that you must do everything in your power to make
sure you maintain TOTAL control over your product until you are ready to
give it up (for suitable compensation or promise-of-compensation).

Most (all?) game companies have submission guidelines available at low or
zero cost (Paramount, while not a gaming company, charges $10 for the
Trek Writer's Guide last I heard.) In it they will lay out precisely
what hoops you need to jump through to get your publication properly
submitted.

If you don't do that, your are, basically, fucked :-)

____ Robert A. Hayden <=> hayden@******.mankato.msus.edu
\ /__ -=-=-=-=- <=> -=-=-=-=-
\/ / Finger for Geek Code Info <=> I do not necessarily speak for the
\/ Finger for PGP Public Key <=> City of Mankato or anyone else, dammit
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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Message no. 3
From: Stainless Steel Rat <ratinox@***.NEU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Unsolicited Manuscripts
Date: Sun, 31 Jul 1994 15:09:04 -0400
>>>>> "Robert" == Robert A Hayden
<hayden@******.MANKATO.MSUS.EDU> writes:

Robert> Most (all?) game companies have submission guidelines available at
Robert> low or zero cost (Paramount, while not a gaming company, charges
Robert> $10 for the Trek Writer's Guide last I heard.)

Something like that; it won't cost you more than about $10 plus postage to
get the submission policy/writer's guide/whatever they call it. $10 was
what it cost my old housemate for the Trek guide two years ago (no, they
didn't use his script). I really can't stress this enough; get the
guidelines, because they'll tell you what they accept, what they don't,
stylistic and grammatic requirements, page layout, and a whole slew of
other things. At the very least, if your submission meets all their
phsyical criteria it won't automatically wind up in the circular file. That
means someone might actually read it.

It's also a good idea to find out if the company is actually uses
unsolicited works, and their history with regards to them (Paramount for
example very rarely uses unsolicited works in any form--I belive there was
one episode of NextGen that wasn't written by their in-house writers, and
that one got rewritten in-house). Contact an agent who's had business with
the company you want to submit to; many companies won't even consider your
submission if it doesn't go through an agent they work with. Retain a
lawyer who's conversant in copyright and publishing laws. Do absolutely
everything you can to save yourself grief latter.

What's often a better idea is to contact someone in the company and tell
them that you've got an idea to do X, are they interested. If they are, and
they're not already working on something similar, there's a good chance
they'll get back to you and negotiate a contract. Once that contract is
hammered out you're golden (that's how another of my housemates got the
contracts for the Star Wars RPG supplements for "Dark Empire" and "Han Solo
in the Corporate Sector"). The benefits for this approach are many. You
don't risk anything because you haven't given away anything other than some
basic ideas. You get a legal, binding contract /before/ you start your
work. And you have access to the company's resources throughout the effort,
which can save you a lot of later editing to fit your work with the rest of
the line (Mike had many opportunities to pick Tom Veitch's brain while
working on Dark Empire, for example).

--
Rat <ratinox@***.neu.edu> |"Good, bad... I'm the guy with the
gun."
http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/ratinox|--Ashe, "Army of Darkness"
PGP Public Key: Ask for one today! |
Message no. 4
From: "J.D. Falk" <jdfalk@****.CAIS.COM>
Subject: Re: Unsolicited Manuscripts
Date: Sun, 31 Jul 1994 23:00:38 -0400
Rumour has it that Wizards of the Coast is looking to spend some
of their vast 'Magic: The Gathering' fortune on new game systems and
such. They've already bought a few systems that other relatively small
gaming companies had given up on, and they're laying in the groundwork
for the creation of a fiction arm.
That's about all I know -- WotC has more 'net presence than any
other gaming company (including, oddly enough, Steve Jackson Games), so
you can get info pretty quickly by EMailing <questions@*******.com>.
Message no. 5
From: Hamish Laws <h_laws@**********.UTAS.EDU.AU>
Subject: Re: Unsolicited Manuscripts
Date: Mon, 1 Aug 1994 17:39:39 +1000
Stainless Steel Rat writes

>If you send an unsolicited manuscript to a company, and you don't very
>specifically state what said company can and cannot do with said
>manuscript, then you are giving that company permission to do as they wish
>with it, especially if you don't have a copyright on it.

Copyright is inherant in anything original that you produce. If you
write it you own it.

> This isn't limited
>to T$R or game companies, it's /any/ company that publishes in any form,
>including TV and movies.
>
>If you're going to submit a work, obtain a copy of the company's submission
>policy, READ it thoroughly, and UNDERSTAND all the legal backflips.

Always good advice. It's also a damn good idea to send a query
letter as well before sending them your work. This includes a brief
statement of ideas.
>And do
>it /before/ you submit your work. Many companies will have clauses in their
>submission policy that state the company retains control of the work for a
>given period (usually a year or two), that they have the right to use your
>work in part or in whole and not give you recognition or credit, that
>during the control period you cannot do anything with the work including
>attempting to have it published or sold to another company, and that if you
>do they will sue your ass off and win.

Disgusting habits, aren't they? So much for morals.

Always keep a copy in an envelope which is dated, sealed and signed
by at least two other people who witnessed the sealing. Then have someone
reputable and unconnected with you keep the envelope. This means that
no-one can accuse you of producing it after it has been published.

>
>In other words, if you submit an unsolicited manuscript and you don't
>/thorougly/ cover your ass, you're screwed; kiss all your work goodbye.

But let everyone you can reach know about it. Hopefully word will
get back to the company from enough sources that they will change their
piracy, I mean policy.


*************************************************
There has to be an optimist around here somewhere
*************************************************

Hamish Laws
Message no. 6
From: Stainless Steel Rat <ratinox@***.NEU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Unsolicited Manuscripts
Date: Mon, 1 Aug 1994 09:38:11 -0400
>>>>> "Hamish" == Hamish Laws
<h_laws@**********.UTAS.EDU.AU> writes:

Hamish> Stainless Steel Rat writes
>> If you send an unsolicited manuscript to a company, and you don't very
>> specifically state what said company can and cannot do with said
>> manuscript, then you are giving that company permission to do as they
>> wish with it, especially if you don't have a copyright on it.

Hamish> Copyright is inherant in anything original that you
Hamish> produce. If you write it you own it.

Until you give it away. Inherent Copyrights are difficult to prove because
there's no paper trail. If you rely on it, you /will/ get hosed because the
company will have "proof" of Copyright (they'll have filed the papers and
everything). If they have paperwork and you have nothing, you loose.

[...]

Hamish> Always keep a copy in an envelope which is dated, sealed
Hamish> and signed by at least two other people who witnessed the sealing.
Hamish> Then have someone reputable and unconnected with you keep the
Hamish> envelope. This means that no-one can accuse you of producing it
Hamish> after it has been published.

Get a Notary Public to do it. It's not a perfect out, but it does help.

--
Rat <ratinox@***.neu.edu> |Stay away from them. They're dangerously
http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/ratinox|volatile, and have a nasty tendency to
PGP Public Key: Ask for one today! |_not_ stay crispy in milk.

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