Licensing a world means someone else writing in it, and the arrangement succeeds or fails on documentation rather than on contract terms. A licensee who knows what is fixed can write freely inside it; one who does not will either check everything, which is slow, or guess, which is expensive to correct.
What to supply
| Document | Purpose |
|---|---|
| The published books | The only authority on what is established |
| Established facts, with sources | What binds them, and where it is stated |
| Term and name list | Spellings, which must not vary |
| Naming system description | So new coinages fit |
| Pronunciation guide | For audio and for consistency |
| Character voice notes | So dialogue sounds like the same people |
| What is open | Where they may invent freely |
| What is closed | The short list of things that cannot change |
The last two rows are what makes the licence workable. A licensee needs to know both boundaries, and the open list is as important as the closed one, because it tells them where they can do their own work.
What to keep
- Approval over changes to canon, in writing.
- The naming register, so new names are checked before use.
- A route for questions, with a person who answers.
- Review at outline and at draft, not only at delivery.
- The right to require corrections where canon is contradicted.
Point four is the economical arrangement. Catching a canon contradiction at outline costs a conversation; catching it at delivery costs a rewrite.
The reconciliation on delivery
The Novel Kit reads the delivered manuscript and returns its proper nouns and unusual terms with counts, which reconciled against the register shows what was introduced and whether existing names were spelled correctly. It is the mechanical half of a canon review, and it makes the editorial half faster.
The register itself is covered in a naming index for a shared universe.
A practical next step
Write your closed list: the five things about your world that cannot change. It is the document a licensee most needs and the one authors find hardest to produce.
Sources checked
- Handing a series to another author
- A series bible for a shared world
- Handing your world to a ghostwriter
Frequently asked questions
What does a licensee actually need?
Established facts, the naming system, pronunciation, voice notes, and a clear statement of what they may and may not change.
What should the author keep?
Approval over canon changes, the naming register, and a clear rule about what cannot happen to the core characters.
What goes wrong?
Underspecified boundaries. A licensee who does not know what is fixed will either be paralysed or will contradict something.