Answer to Question #59493 in Finance for nazish

Question

Hilary is a well-known mountain climber. The Daily Terror

newspaper offers her $10,000 for her life story, if she will write it.

Without the assistance of a ghost writer, she writes a story and

assigns all her right, title and interest in the copyright for $10,000

to the Daily Terror. The story is published and she is paid. She has

never written a story before. She also sells the manuscript to the

Mitchell Library for $5,000 and several photographs that she took

while mountain climbing for which she receives $2,000.

Requirement:

Discuss whether or not the three payments are income from

personal exertion. Would your answer differ if she wrote the

story for her own satisfaction and only decided to sell it later?

Answer 1

The Daily Terror newspaper offers her $10,000 for her life story, if she will write it, and she writes a story and assigns all her right, title and interest in the copyright for $10,000 to the Daily Terror. She also sells the manuscript to the Mitchell Library for $5,000 and several photographs for $2,000.
Answer:
These three payments are income from personal exertion, because the book was written personally and the rights, manuscript and photos were sold in accordance with the law. If she wrote the story for her own satisfaction and only decided to sell it later, the situation will be the same.