The copyright in your work will outlive you by 70 years if you live in the United States, longer in some countries, shorter in others.

photo credit: Gerd Altmann

Think of this extra time as a bonus, a kind of gift of longevity (at least for your creation, if not for yourself), given to you by a statute in your country.

The question is, what are you going to do with that extra time, that additional opportunity to generate revenue from your lifetime of creative energy?

The world is producing an impressive number of successful independent authors and self-sustaining visual artists whose work will continue to generate income from multiple revenue streams even after their deaths.

Recently, I was a guest on The Creative Penn and Joanna Penn and I talked about estate planning for creative professionals. It’s an important topic to consider as you build your portfolio.

Here’s the video of our conversation.

If you’d rather listen to the conversation as a podcast or read the transcript, you can get either one on The Creative Penn.

Be sure to spend time exploring Joanna’s site. She’s a leader in the self-publishing industry and has a wealth of knowledge for you.