Every Guild member knows that an author s responsibilities extend far beyond writing.
They also include entering into contracts, editing and promoting works, monitoring payments, keeping track of papers and manuscripts, and many other time-consuming duties. Many authors designate an individual in their will to manage their works and literary property rights after they die. This person is sometimes referred to as a literary executor, although this term has no legal significance, since it is the actual executor who has the power to administer all of the decedent s assets, including literary rights. In the interests of fulfilling the author s wishes, however, an executor will usually not object to the so-called literary executor s performance of the tasks assigned to her by the author. She will usually carry out her responsibilities on behalf of one or more family members, or other beneficiaries, to whom the author bequeaths the rights to the works and the revenues generated from their exploitation.