The Work For Hire Agreement
Almost always, when hiring a ghostwriter you will want to assert “work for hire” rights, which is most easily done with a simple agreement.
What “work for hire” means legally is simply that the producer of the materials assigns all the rights in that material to you – unlike for example when an author writes a book and Alfred Knopf publishes it, the copyright in that book is typically shared, sometimes in a fairly complicated way.
With “work for hire” rules, you pay for it, you own it. Simple as that.
You can find sample work for hire agreements all over the place, including, along with a lot of good legal advice and self-help products, www.nolo.com.
Bear in mind that ghostwriters are a form of freelancer which are a category of what legally known as “independent contractors” so much of the legal material that applies to these relationships will be listed under that term at your library, in a local bookstore, or of course, online.
If you aren’t comfortable preparing your own agreements, discuss how to hire an independent contractor with your attorney.