Inheriting Your Websites Eventually?
Who is going to inherit your creative work?
This question came up for my husband Kelly and me this week. A friend who is about our age (70s) was over for dinner and then we showed her a 40-minute film called Nowsreal that he had collaborated on back in the sixties. It's about the San Francisco Diggers. (If you google the title, it can be found and watched on the archival Diggers website.)
Anyway, the next day Kelly and I talked about it and about the other creative works we've made. Our wills leave them to his daughter but she isn't really into making websites though she could remember to renew the domain names, I think.
We have some websites that really don't matter but we have several that a lot of work has gone into AND they are valuable both for the content and for their incomes. Of the various videos that Kelly has made, there are a couple more worth preserving going forward -- one historical program about a trip he made to then-Soviet Union in the 80s and one on training llamas. He's got some how-to books on natural building out as paperbacks and kindles, and I have a series of cozy mysteries and my memoirs in those formats too. All these are in our LLC.
So this is to set the stage for the question I began with. What have you done, what should you do, with your creative works? Hey, it could also be art... But as life goes on, this matter will come up for all of us.
Some of you are lucky to have family members to take them over, people who would have a clue what to do with them. But otherwise, what?
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Great post!
It's important to think about that. Our work can always be used to help our loved ones.
Ingrid
I have asked a friend here if she will instruct my son where to find the place where he can sell my websites. At least he will get something out of them.
A question that is not on too many radars I suspect.
Epic angle for a niche?
One of the hardest bridges for creative's to cross is letting go of their creations.
Looking at the succession process in 2020, it takes a lot of planning and training to create that transition.
A farmer can only farm when they learn how to farm.
It can be about introducing family members or associates into your web properties.
Remembering that there needs to be a vetting process built in.
Online marketing is not for everyone.
Selling web properties and assets can be an option, a good place to start can be seeking expressions of interest.
In philanthropic mode, web assets can be gifted.
A huge topic one that requires measured thought.
Following the thread.
I believe that copyright exists for 50 years after the creative's passing?
Alex.
AH, Alex, this is the kind of conversation I was hoping for when I wrote the post.
Selling websites is something I've only done a couple of times, and it was with small unimportant sites. BUT one thing Kelly and I could do would be to give our inheritor his daughter a page of instructions about how to do that.
I don't have time right now to check on how long copyright exists, gotta go to a birthday party of a friend who is being secretive about how old she turned today! Not sure if you have that exactly.
With a bunch of memoirs still to write, I won't take this on as a niche or even here as a training. Anyone else is welcome to.
I've not thought that far ahead Rosana and I've only got one site up and running so not much equity to "leave" and when i'm gone it will be the last thing on my mind....
BUT both my children 9yr and 12yr old are aware of my website, my son often reviews my posts before I publish them to identify any errors or simply check that the content makes sense...plus he's hopefully absorbing the positive messages along the way ;-)
It's an interesting topic and one that I think will evolve as the need for this issue to be addressed becomes more prevalent. I can imagine companies being set up as 'custodians' who will look after the sites. Maybe even the bigger hosting sites offering longer term contracts.
I really hope that I'm around for a very long time, and, looking back on where technology has come in my lifetime, I wonder where it will be when eventually my life is over. But having said that i really hope that there will be someone to take over my business when I leave. ... maybe my baby granddaughter Evie or her sibling who is not yet born.... 😁
A website is a part of your estate as much as any physical item. If it is an income generating asset then it is definitely worth including in any formal will.
Yes, I agree, but what I'm wondering mainly is who people are giving their creative assets to.
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Excellent topic for discussion. I hope to one day have something worth selling. I haven't even started just yet....but perhaps one day....