Preface
\"The glorious uncertainty\" is how one writer defined the law， and if
there is one certainty， it is that the law will change. The Writer s
Friendly Legal Guide reflects those changes， For example， a
sustained effort by writers and artists to get an amendment to the
1986 Tax Reform Act passed by Congress paid off In October 1988
and is detailed in Chapter Thirteen in this book. The original act
brought cries of outrage from writers and artists who had to with-
hold deducting their expenses until they could apportion each ream
of paper and tube of paint to a specific published or paid for bit of
creative work. The Act has now been revised to allow deductions to
be taken as they are Incurred. The caveat remains， however， that you
must make a profit In three out of five years for your writing to be
considered a business， not a hobby. There are other changes worth
noting， too:
In March 1989， the United States joined the worldwide Berne
Copyright Convention so those changes affecting writers are included
in our chapter on Copyright (Chapter Seven).
The Writers Guild strike of 1988 brought changes in the rates pro-
ducers pay screenwrlters for film and teleplay scripts， and you ll find
those In the charts In Chapter Eleven.
Changing author relationships with book publishers reflected in
the advances now being paid and the percentages offered for subsid-
Iary rights are detailed In Chapters Nine and Ten.
~ew Format. As the title of this book Implies， we have made the up-
dated Information from previous editions of this book (formerly Law
and the Writer) more accessible to the reader in several ways: (I1 A
page and type design that permits you to quickly see the salient
points of each chapter; (2) A brief introduction to each chapter that
highlights the contents and a.summary review at the end; (3) A pre-
view of the more detailed General Index--a Quick Information Finder
--which zeroes In on the points you ll most likely want to refer to.
The Writer s Friendly Legal Guide is designed to present an intro-
duction to major areas of concern--freedom of speech， libel， privacy，
eol~yright--and to alert the writer to laws and regulations afleetlng his
\"~tmlne.ss\" of writing. The Bibliography shows where to look further
~Ftrtdtr!g a Lawyer. There is no substitute for a lawyer when a wrller
has ~egal problems. The writer， though， can avoid most legal dlfficub
~los Oyb.elng aware of troublesome areas and having a general under
~tll!ldlrlg of the laws relating to them. That Is the purpose of this book
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