Question about non-fiction writing

[Mums-The-Word]

Hello everyone!

Well I'll just jump right in here with my question - I am having a ball reading through everyone's posts - but keen to hear everyone's thought on my problem.

I am writing a non-fiction book for mothers. In it, I hope to use anonymous "stories" from a couple women that I have interviewed (and many more I am yet to interview) to give the book a "human touch" and base it solidly in real life events and reality.

My question is this - should I be paying these "contributors"? If I am to go on the "recruitment rampage" for more women's stories/tales, should I be offering a fee for their involvement? How much? What if I don't use their story in the book?

Any advice (or direction) would be most appreciated!

Jus

 

[StarFields]

I would suggest to get written permission from the people in question just in case of trouble later for you to use the stories, but unless the story or case story or history is significant and makes up a huge amount of the text or content, there are no payments involved.

Depending on the level of contribution, I might give someone a free copy, signed, or if it's major, a personal mention on the dedications page, as in:

... and many thanks to Petra, Doreen and Shahey for their wonderful stories which helped bring this book to life.

Royalty payments normally only arise if the person who contributed the story also wrote it themselves, and they are named and listed as co-authors or contributors in an anthology.

Hope that helps,

Silvia