Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

Re: Copyright- book into course- what is fair market?

The only way to find out what's a fair price/contract is to find some people (probably online) and see what they have been charged, or what other authors have charged. An attorney is not necessarily going to be your best source for this sort of info.

Re: Copyright- book into course- what is fair market?

We can help you negotiate the terms and put them into a good contract, but the business terms are something you will have to decide based on market research.

Re: Copyright- book into course- what is fair market?

This is like asking, "I'm thinking about buying this house I saw, do you think $250,000 is a fair price?"

Many, many years ago I worked as a contract writer for a vocational educational company, writing manuals for mail-order training courses in the railroad industry. I was paid by the booklet, and although I don't remember how much (it was 40+ years ago), I'm left with the impression that $7,500 is in the "reasonable to low" category.

But just as with "How long is a piece of string?" this is a question with a jillion right answers. In deciding whether a particular offer is fair, you should consider:

1. What someone else would charge to do the work;

2. How many copies you might sell, at what price, and how much of that is profit; and

3. How many hours will it take your writer to do the job, and what does that work out to per hour?

Re: Copyright- book into course- what is fair market?

I agree with everything my esteemed colleagues have said, but want to add a couple of thoughts.

First, the ultimate determination of whether the price quoted is "worth it", must come from you, after careful analysis of the marketplace, the product in question, and projected sales volume, pricepoint, etc.

That said, the author has quoted a fee plus royalty which strikes me as 'in the ballpark', but much depends on the factors I detailed above.

I negotiate this kind of licensing agreement quite often... please feel free to contact me if you'd like more custom-tailored analysis.