Don ' t walk on
Ronald Turnbull on negligence , harsh contract clauses , and
Hedgehogs , look away now
Do you have these warranty clauses in your book contract ?
15.1 ix ) The Author guarantees that no statements , instructions or recipes in the Work will cause death , illness or injury to the reader
15.7 xIII ) The Author indemni�ies the Publisher against any actions , claims , damages , legal expenses and costs arising out of any breach of these warranties , including any out-of-court settlement made by the Publisher on the advice of its legal representatives
The answer ' s yes . In my experience , every book contract contains clauses like this . So what , if anything , did you do about them ?
Let ' s illustrate these clauses with a story . Which comes with a preliminary warning . The scenes described may cause distress and anxiety in the reader … especially if you happen to be an author . Or a hedgehog .
My guidebook entry for Cat Bells contains a minor typo which has the unfortunate effect of totally altering its meaning . Yes , I meant to write ' Walk on to the lake '. Until an alert editor rejigged my prepositions . A reader , one Mrs Tiggywinkle , immersed herself in Derwent Water and as a direct result lost all of her rolede�ining prickles . ( Well she says it was a direct result .) She sues my publishers , Goliath Corp .
Goliath ' s lawyers , the well established �irm of Sue and Settle , advise Goliath to settle out of court . As a �ictional character in a deeply loved children ' s story , Tiggywinkle ' s mishap , if known to the public , will do huge damage to Goliath ' s reputation ( already tarnished by the tasering episode involving Mr Plod the Policeman ). So S and S settle with Mrs T for a warm £ 2 million . After all , the insurers will pay .
And who will pay the insurers ? Goliath ' s insurers , the giant Multiple Exclusions Corp , peruse the author contract , and their eyes light on Clause 15.7 xIII ). Great , guys , this is really good of you . We insisted you take every precaution against the author ' s negligent misstatement , and you took us at our word . This author , now , what ' s his house worth ? And it ' s in joint names with his husband , oh , good-ee , we get it all ! And he recently received a legacy from his old Granny , and he ' s put his life savings into an ISA ! And his pension plan ' s got draw-down !! Lovely-dovely !
Fortunately for me , post-bankruptcy there ' s a vacancy just arisen for a washerperson at Little Town , Newlands . Best of all , they pay cash down . In sixpences .
So far I ' ve managed to somewhat improve this clause every time it ' s come along . But it ' s still a standard clause , which suggests lots of authors must be signing up to it .
In short , insure ?
A very serious risk , that ' s very unlikely to happen : this is the sort of thing we insure against . And the Public Liability Insurance offered to members of the Society of Authors at £ 10 a year looks just the ticket . Unfortunately , it ' s not . It covers for if you drop your very heavy book on a reader ' s toe at a book-signing event . But it doesn ' t cover Mrs Tiggywinkle . Instead , we ' re looking at ' Professional Indemnity Insurance '. Top of Google is Direct Line Insurance . I �ill in the boxes , income not too frightening , profession author . Ah …. profession ' author ' makes the ' professional indemnity ' box grey out . Someone ' s told them about those contract clauses .
First one after the sponsored results , though : Jensten Insurance – to be precise , the Financial and Professional Risks Division . Jensten has a product speci�ically aimed at us authors . I estimate my income level , still not huge , click a box saying I ' m a member of the Society of Authors , and go for the £ 1 million level of cover . That might not cover Mrs Tiggywinkle ' s serious pain and distress plus lawyers , but it ' s the highest level they have . And out pops the premium . Seven hundred pounds .
So I go back to the SoA , as they also have a bespoke and discounted Professional Indemnity offering .
Ah yes , Ronald . It ' s not cheap , but worth it for peace of mind , obviously . And they ' ve offered us a very competitive price . They ' re called , let me see , Jensten Insurance .
The very competitive price – seems like I already found it .
The royalties of my second-best book
So , are all the outdoor writers devoting the royalties off their second-best book to their insurance policy ? I suspect not . I suspect we ' re following the simpler and cheaper policy of just not reading the contract . Or the somewhat more harrowing option of reading it and then signing it anyway ….
8 outdoor focus / autumn 2022