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Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware Recently, the New York Times published a fascinating three-part series of articles on arbitration clauses, and how such clauses "buried in tens of millions of contracts have deprived Americans of one of their most fundamental constitutional rights: their day in court." (You can also listen to an interview with the articles' author on NPR.) The articles deal mainly with consumer and employment contracts, in which, according to the Times , arbitration clauses have created "an alternate system of justice" where "rules tend to favor businesses, and judges and juries have been replaced by arbitrators who commonly consider the companies their clients." But arbitration clauses are increasingly common in publishing contracts, too--as well as in the Terms of Use of some major self-publishing platforms. And most authors don't understand their implications. What's an Arbitration Clause? Here's one ex...

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware Since Writer Beware was founded in 1998, we've run a free email advice service to help writers who are looking for info on an agent's or publisher's reputation, or have questions about publishing in general (you can reach us at beware [at] sfwa.org). Two of the most frequent questions we receive: Can you recommend a good agent/publisher? and You publish "Thumbs Down" lists--can't you also publish "Thumbs Up" lists? For obvious reasons, Writer Beware avoids recommending fee-based services (this is why, if you ask us to suggest a reputable freelance editor, we will say no). But we don't feel comfortable providing other recommendations, either. There are several reasons why. - A bad agent or publisher is bad for every writer, but a good agent or publisher is only good for some writers. Just as every writer has their own subject, genre, style, and tone, every agent, publisher, and editor has their own...