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Elizabeth Sprague wondered: <<where can I find a solid sample of a tech
writing contract that's free?>>
If you don't mind doing a bit of modification to suit the new context, try
the editing contract published by the Editors' Association of Canada: http://www.editors.ca/contract.htm (The link wasn't working when I tried it
earlier today, but I've seen the contract there before, it's still listed on
the home page, and it will likely be available once again shortly. If not,
drop the Webmaster a line and let them know there's a problem.)
Don't forget that contracts are legal matters, and benefit from having an
attorney look them over. What's valid in Canada (in this case) may not be
valid in your particular jurisdiction. If any lawyers in your jurisdiction
have a standard freelance writer's contract, they can modify it to meet your
needs faster (thus, cheaper) than creating a contract from scratch. If you
can't find someone with expertise in this business, create your own proposed
text following "best practices" from other contracts, then hand it to a
lawyer to edit. If the original contracts were well written, the lawyer
should spend less time editing the results than creating them from scratch.
--Geoff Hart, geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
(try ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca if you get no response)
Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada
580 boul. St-Jean
Pointe-Claire, Que., H9R 3J9 Canada
"Wisdom is one of the few things that look bigger the further away it
is."--Terry Pratchett
