Support for Indie Authors discussion

Authors of a certain age -
Have you bequeathed your intellectual property?
In a will, trust, or...

Given that my family doesn't seem much interested in my books, or in reading unless it's school work, I occasionally wonder what will happen to them.

Wanjiru, I understand what you are saying. I inherited my father's life-long work (from 1944) of paintings and sculptures, beautiful artwork that I have no idea what to do with it. And yet...it now consumes my home and my kids' homes. My grandchildren know a lot about him and it will be passed on...from generation to generation. Okay, we'll be gone by then, but guess what? Your writings, and mine, will not be forgotten and you will be talked about among your forever family if not further....:)

I don't much care what happens to my work after I'm gone. After all, I'll be gone, and no one else will care about it. I do get a bit saddened when I think about the projects that will remain unfinished after I'm gone. I do hope somehow people can continue to read my work, but I'm not concerned about it beyond that.

I think Gail's comment echoes my thoughts and experience. I am much more interested in my parents' lives now that they are gone.

My son has all my books (as a gift from me, of course) tied together in his bookcase so it looked like he hadn't read them. He says he'll enjoy reading them when I'm gone and hinted at the idea of my being with him then.

As for bequeathing the copyright - yes, we need to do that. One never knows how others might treasure our thoughtfulness. Dwayne, you do so much for this group and we don't want you to think that no one will care about your work. You have probably touched many lives and not been aware of it; you have standards that some of us have noticed. Many will have approved. And your books will speak for you when you're gone.

Dwayne wrote: "I don't much care what happens to my work after I'm gone. After all, I'll be gone."

As a convinced atheist and afterlife skeptic, I see it like this. All I know about what may happen after my life ends is that I want to donate my body to science or medical training. Apart from that, I don't really care.
Another point is that I don't have children of my own (at least not yet, and there's no change to that on the horizon), so there's none to inherit it anyway.

It's lovely that families will have and cherish your written legacy. It's also a good idea to have it set up legally. You just never know . . . Stieg Larsson died at 50 and his long-time partner Eva Gabrielsson had/has little or no claim to anything - they weren't married and the partnership he had envisioned didn't happen.
No one I know has written another The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo . . . but who can say? Just suppose your writing ends up very profitable but the money goes to the wrong person, or the government?

You could leave it to your family or, if not, maybe an organization or something like that.