I personally never need those forms. If I am a ghostwriter I just never use that material elsewhere. But others may want a contract of some sort. It's up to you to decide what you want to do.

Thanks for your response.

I'm just concerned about the legal repercussions. Like could I, as a seller, get in trouble if I don't have legal proof that they told me I had rights to sell it without paying them a portion of it, after buying the work originally.

My company covers this in the Terms of Service on our site. Basically, it says once you've paid in full for the work, you have the full copyrights to it.

Quite honestly, though, it all comes down to working with someone you trust. If you don't trust a writer to be truthful about who owns the content you're buying, do you really want them writing for you in the first place?!?

You issue an affidavit that your ghost writer will have to sign. The signed document will be scanned so it can be emailed to you. This will serve as a contract/agreement between the two of you as an employer and as a ghostwriter wherein he or she cannot claim any ownership of the ebook/articles written for you.

I've found some good info about this subject here, and you can find sample contracts here and here and here.

I do a lot of ghost writing, and I've had to sign those types of things many times. There are generic ones you can find online for free that work well. While most of my clients just trust me when I tell them that once they've accepted the completed work I will delete all copies off my systems, some still want the legal assurances.

They email me a form, I sign it and scan it and email it back to them. Or fax it to them, whichever they prefer.

Hope that helps.

Michael

As long as you have emails showing the terms or it is understood from the email that this is work for hire, you should be fine. Most ghostwriters know they don't retain any rights.

Thanks everyone for the feedback

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I guessed that would actually closed by asking to signed a contract. there are a lot of good writers out there who keep their identity hidden, and they work for celebrity, or people who are well loved and admired by everyone, others just love to see their work be published , other's do it for money. so it would all be in how you two talk things

One small detail to add. You, as the buyer are NOT the employer. An employer is liable for taxes paid on wages, as well as withholding FICA. The relationship is that of an independent contractor. The contractor is responsible for paying any taxes on his/her earnings.

Dee

I used to create a custom NDA for each client I worked with. It detailed the prices, the rights of the buyer , the rights of myself and consequences both parties have. I used it for over 5 years and it worked perfectly.

NDA was implied for orders from Fiverr however.