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cbonsra
Community Member

Ghostwriting Used as Samples?

Hello,

 

If I am doing ghostwriting and no longer own the rights to my work, can I send those pieces as samples to future clients?  I am not posting them anywhere on my profile, just submitting them with proposals.

 

Thanks!

7 REPLIES 7
ahmad2474
Community Member

You can ask your client for whome you worked if client allows you can submit your work in portfolio.

Getting client's permission will be good.

p_serechenko
Community Member

Hello Christine,

I would suggest this:
If you have signed an agreement between yourself and your client, you must get written permission from your client to share samples.

If you don't have signed an agreement with your client, you may show just parts of the content and NEVER the whole.

Best wishes,

Polina


Polina S wrote:

Hello Christine,

I would suggest this:
If you have signed an agreement between yourself and your client, you must get written permission from your client to share samples.

If you don't have signed an agreement with your client, you may show just parts of the content and NEVER the whole.

Best wishes,

Polina


On what basis do you suggest using content one does not own and for which one cannot without express permission claim authorship?

I think you didn't read carefully what I wrote.
It is on the basis of having a written agreement with the client or not.


Polina S wrote:

I think you didn't read carefully what I wrote.
It is on the basis of having a written agreement with the client or not.


Exactly.

If you have permission, you can use it.

If you don't have permission, you can't use *any* of it. Not a part, nothing.

 

You suggested that using a part without permission is fine.

 

That's like stealing part of a cake from a bakery, and thinking it's fine because you didn't steal the whole cake.

 


Polina S wrote:

I think you didn't read carefully what I wrote.
It is on the basis of having a written agreement with the client or not.


Except, of course, that if you are working through Upwork, the default terms pass all rights to the client. So if you DON'T have an explicit contract that says otherwise, you definitely DON'T have the right to do anything at all with the content without permission.

luigic2020
Community Member

Christine, you highlight an interesting conundrum. People ask for examples of your work, but if you don't have the right to share examples of your work, you can't provide evidence. 

I think, knowing that now, the option (and I am noting it for my own reference) is to ask people when you finish an assignment if they will allow you to show parts of your work to future clients, solely in order to help them in establishing your suitability for their projects. That then benefits everyone and also increases the chances they will agree and you don't have to chase them after the event. Just make it a standard practice and ONLY use it for the specific purpose they approved.