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It's Your Talent, but be careful what you sign


As a talented singer, writer, inventor, poet, you're likely to be offered a deal sooner or later. But be careful! As well as the point mentioned on the page of clauses about being offered a contract, there's also something which can happen where you appear to be offered an opportunity where your talent is recognised, and it's very tempting, but it might not be genuine.

Although it's true that some companies will write to you with an information pack and get you to apply with your ideas, talent spotting companies looking for your potential performing ability and writing skill, and they may seem to be interested and will flatter you, it's a fact that some of them aren't looking for talent or ability or a good idea, and instead are hoping to lure you into paying them!

Poets are especially targeted and may receive glowing appraisals, as the work is claimed to be so good that it must go in a compendium of works by leading poets, or some such thing, but the key question comes when the company expects the poet to pay towards the publishing! That is what's known as Vanity Publishing, and it's the poets that pay, rather than the buyers of the poetry books.

Similarly, inventors can expect to receive documents suggesting that a company will help to put their ideas to good use and there will be money to be made. Unfortunately, some of these companies aren't actually in the inventing business or in the business of putting good ideas to work, and instead they whole thing is a scam to get the inventor to pay for a marketing campaign.

Musicians, singers, artistes in the performing arts, have been known to be acclaimed so well that they are offered "half a scholarship" for coaching so they can then sign a contract. Half a scholarship? And the artist has to pay for the other half? Are they joking? No, they are playing on people's emotions and beliefs.

With all of these offers, the theme is repeated across many genres, the offers look tempting, and it's easy to be fooled. You want to be a success so much that you might choose to believe by faith that it's true, but, sadly, it's often a scam. But you don't have to take my word for it; There is an easy test to see if an offer is genuine or not. The test is this: Does the company make money if the artist/inventor is no good? I mean, even if we all know YOU are brilliantly talented, but what if the company offered someone less talented the same offer? Would they still make a profit? If the answer is yes, then in theory the company could make a profit publishing any old rubbish, and therefore it's not a genuine offer. Avoid!

As an alternative, and as I like to end these pages on a cheerful positive note, if you are genuinely talented, companies will pay you and there will be no need to pay vanity publishing places! And, if you are talented but other people don't realise it yet, the better way forward is to go for a production run of your own. Although this means you'll be paying a printer / CD-pressing factory / factory etc for producing your work, the difference is that you are in charge of the commissioning of the project, and you've got the production run done separately from any form of talent appraisal. That way there is no conflict of business interests, and in the end the judge of your talent will be the buying public. ... One good contact for mass-producing your own pressed CD or DVD is Mixonic

Also see how to copyright your works, how to run a business, music, poetry, inventing, advice, how to get your own website, clauses in contracts, etc.