Confidentiality Agreement
for
Writers & Authors

Confidentiality Agreements, also known as non-disclosure
agreements (1), play a vital role in today’s fast-paced and high stakes
business world. From technology to trade secrets, confidentiality
agreements are helping entrepreneurs everywhere to stake their claim
and protect their ideas and investments.
(1) Link to https://everynda.com/blog/sample-non-disclosure-agreement-template/

Writing is a different world than white-collar
business, though.

Publishing World & Confidentiality Agreements
(2) Link to https://everynda.com/blog/dont-bring-a-nda-vc-meeting/
The publishing world views confidentiality agreements much the
same as venture capitalists (2): most won’t agree to sign the
agreement and many are likely to be turned off if you even ask
them to sign one.

Why?

One professional publisher (3) says that confidentiality agreements
just aren’t part of the traditional publishing culture.
(3) Link to https://janefriedman.com/nondisclosure-agreements/

There are always differing opinions though.
While many publishers will snub the confidentiality agreement entirely,
others are willing to sign (4) a simple (and well-written) one if it makes
the author more comfortable.
(4) Link to http://www.alicemcveigh.com/nda.htm

Sometimes confidentiality is critical, however.

Keep it simple
So, when drafting your agreement, don’t get wordy or complicated.
Make sure your agreement includes the following clauses:
- Demonstration clause
- Promissory Rights clause
- Confidentiality clause

Ghostwriting is a whole other world from publishing.

And because all of this content is business related, much of it is
proprietary. Therefore ghostwriters and their clients are much more
likely to sign a confidentiality agreement than publishers.