Should Authors Write an e-will?

As Pink Floyd sang on the iconic Dark Side of the Moon …

Waking Up to a Reality Check

I’m just about reaching that age when I’ll finally receive my Old Age Pension soon and following attending a funeral recently I woke up realising I needed a reality check. I was also prompted by an article by Holly Mead, the Deputy Money Editor in Saturday’s Times. Not only do I need to update my will but I need to write an e-will.

Including Publications in a Will

I have already vaguely mentioned my published books in a previous will, but this needs to be updated. What about the following though?

• Unfinished Manuscripts
• PDF’s
• Passing on relevant PDF’s to charities (The Healing Paths of Fife for example) and giving them permission to use them if they wish. ‘Passing on the Rights’ in other words.
• Paperback copies in my stock cupboard.

But it needs to be clear who would administer this. At present I have a solicitor acting as Executor which makes sense, and less work for any family members.

Writing an e-will

This is a bit more tricky, but here is my list I’ve thought of so far:

• Passwords to Facebook, Blog, Twitter (it will always be Twitter to me!) and Goodreads
  • A short post to explain that I have died and then close the accounts
• There are a plethora of other sites. Here are some I have accounts with.
  • Draft2Digital, Storyorigin, Smashwords, Booklinker, Bookbaby…
• I need to close obsolete accounts now such as Instagram and Pinterest which I have never really got into.
• I need to pass on a contact for my website

Contact the Publisher

In my case, I am part of a small Indie Publisher ~ An Author Collective ~ a supportive bunch of authors, more like a family, but I can’t assume someone will step in and sort all of this out. I need to think carefully and ask someone, who would agree to deal with:

• Unpublishing books in print or e books
• Calculate any outstanding royalties
• Contact Public Lending Rights

In fact, this is a discussion we all need to have.

Other organisations

In my case The Society of Authors, The Alderney Society, Shuttleworth, The Guernsey Society.

Anything Else?

The lists above are by on means exhaustive. If you can think of anything important I’ve missed then please let me know.