Readers’ Letters and Comments for 04/27/18

Readers’ Letters and Comments for 04/27/18

COMMENTS ON:

AUTHOR ALERT!! Is This HUGE Website Violating Your Book’s Copyright? YOU BETTER CHECK!!

Ugh – just like with the other site you alerted us about, this site also has my first book available to “borrow.” I sent a message per your instructions and haven’t seen it bounce back yet (I used both email addresses you provided). How do these folks sleep at night? Thank you Angela for all that you do to support authors – I’m so glad to be part of the Booklocker and WritersWeekly author community!

– Shannon Cutts


 COMMENTS ON:

Writers BEWARE! Avoid these Marketplace Pit Holes – by Justine Klettke

Good advice (e.g., initial fee + commission on future sales). The latter isn’t always practical, unfortunately. Depending upon the situation you are presented with, you may be able to negotiate a retainer to write future materials. This has worked out in one situation. You can always ask, though.

– Wendy Jones
Highlander Imagine – Beyond Infinity
Duncan MacLeod must fight a South American Immortal at Teotihuacan.


COMMENTS ON:

“Can writers use photos from Wikipedia for free?”

I’ve used Wikipedia as a source for many years. They are much better on specifying crediting and use now, — click on each photo you seek details on copyright/use, and you’re taken to a page of rights for that photo. If there is something that I use, I keep a date/time copy of the Wiki page showing that on that particular date the photo was in public domain/attribution-free/etc… That being said, I never use one with a recognizable face as there is no signed model release on any I’ve come across on the site. I generally use only photos from Wiki that are in public domain (worldwide…and there are many differences in copyright conventions from country-to-country).

You may also find Wikimedia Commons another great source of public photos…especially writers who want to get a true feel of a country, its environs and people, foods, culture. Again, photos are available like Wikipedia. And again, caution should rule. In publishing, when all else fails and you just aren’t certain…like the great advice from the Expert here, buy a photo from a legit stock image seller (where your models sign releases) and just use the Wikis for your writing inspiration.

– Crassus Media


Depending on the type of photos you need, you can use any photo taken by NASA, the USGS, the US Dept. of the Interior and the US Forest Service. All of their photos are in the public domain because they are funded by the Federal Government with tax dollars. They do request that you give them a credit line, but it’s not required. On some of these government sites, individuals not working for the government will provide photographs. You will need permission to use those photographs.

Sign up at some stock photo agencies as they will put up weekly photos that you can use for free.

There are also the following sites that have free photographs:

https://pixabay.com/
http://www.photos-public-domain.com/
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/
https://www.instagram.com/usinterior/
https://visibleearth.nasa.gov/

– Jeff Colburn


I have gotten excellent free high quality photographs for my web projects at:

https://www.pexels.com/

They use a great creative commons license you can read here:

https://www.pexels.com/photo-license/

– Ronny Richardson


 

2 Responses to "Readers’ Letters and Comments for 04/27/18"

  1. David Russell  April 27, 2018 at 9:51 am

    Sir or Madam,
    I am considering publishing a short story collection of my own works around August 2019. The work will feature 18 or so stories, around a 20,000 WC total.
    A couple stories will come from an anthology I published on Smashwords in an anthology that has not sold many copies since publication in Sept. 2017. The stories are authored by me. I am going to unpublish the anthology some time this summer.
    Currently, the stories are being revised and edited by a skilled professional.
    My questions: How do I choose which media to publish in and where to publish?
    I like the print-on-demand option and the EBook option.
    I am limited by a vision impairment and reside in what is considered a semi-rural county in lower Michigan. Thus, marketing may need to occur online for the most part. I am reluctant to re-use Smashwords for sales reasons.
    I know others publish at story sites and one can buy an author’s story to read it if interested. Is that a good option? Thank you in advance for your thoughts and for your service to authors like myself.
    David C. Russell

    • By Angela Hoy - Publisher of WritersWeekly.com  April 27, 2018 at 11:00 am

      Hi David,

      We always recommend publishing in print and electronic formats. Most people don’t own dedicated ebook reading devices. If you only publish an ebook, most folks won’t buy the book because the majority of people still prefer print books. On the flip side, people who read ebooks tend to buy and read a lot of books so you don’t want to ignore that part of the market, either. The most popular ebook retailers are Amazon (of course), BarnesandNoble.com, Apple and Kobo (Canada’s popular ebook retailer). BookLocker distributes ebooks to all of these and, of course, offers print on demand publishing services.

      BookLocker’s print books appear on Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, BookLocker.com, booksamillion.com, Chapters.ca and numerous other online bookstores, both domestic and foreign. Any bookstore with an Ingram account (Ingram is the world’s largest book distributor) can pick up Ingram’s feed, so you’ll find your book listed in stores you’ve never heard of. Ingram has tens of thousands of retail customers across the globe.

      Most bookstores use Ingram’s database to find and order books so bookstore customers can ask their neighborhood bookstore to order your book as well.

      BookLocker never forces authors to buy copies of their books. In fact, online marketing is more lucrative than making appearances and selling your books in person. See:
      90+ DAYS OF PROMOTING YOUR BOOK ONLINE: Your Book’s Daily Marketing Plan

      🙂

      Angela