This weekend, we are recording a new episode of the WritersWeekly Podcast. We are soliciting legal questions from authors and writers about publishing because our special guest will be attorney James M. Walsh.
You can type your questions in the comments box below or you can use our Contact Us link. If your question is chosen, we will only use your first name in the podcast. 🙂
All of the articles below were written by James.
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- How to Tell if That So-Called “Publisher” is REALLY Located in the U.S.! By James M. Walsh, Esq.
- FRAUD ALERT: Why 5-Star Reviews on Trustpilot Can NOT Be Trusted – by James M. Walsh, Esq.
- COMPLAINTS about Publishing Mojo / PublishingMojo.com – by James M. Walsh, Esq.
- WHEN WILL IT STOP?! Meta (the owner of Facebook and Instagram) Now Accused of Profiting from Human Trafficking! – by James M. Walsh, Esq.
- Fraudulent “Recovery Firms” and “Law Firms” Are Scamming Previously Scammed Authors By James M. Walsh, Esq.
- Author Sells 60K Copies in 1 Week AND Testifies Before the U.S. Senate – by James M. Walsh, Esq.
- Why Some Authors Forget Their Common Sense in the Drive to Get Published – by James M. Walsh, Esq.
- Do NOT Complain to People Who Have Honestly Exposed Your Illegal Activities Online – by James M. Walsh, Esq.
- COMPLAINTS about Ingram Spark / IngramSpark.com – by James M. Walsh, Esq.
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I am 81. Back in the mid-60’s, while stationed in Germany, I wrote a poem concerning my childhood experiences in a one-room country schoolhouse. I have since tried to get it published in various journals over the years; it has gone through several versions as it is a long poem of six pages, in a semi-scattered format on the pages… but while I think it is a sterling piece of Americana, no one has ever accepted it, nor given me any reason why not. Within the poem I used the teacher’s real last name, as well as those first names (nick names) of some of the students, and even such references as to Mrs. Klepper’s china closet that was on sale at an auction nearby, and the names of some local farmer’s where the school did business or us kids passed by. Now I am hearing that I cannot do that — even if most of those particpants are long ago deceased — unless I would have those people’s or their relatives’ legal permissions to do so. I think this is ridiculous, as it is a memoir-piece, and no one was in any way defamed in the poem. It is also the last poem in a planned to be self-published book one day, and is sort of important to be included in the ms. What is the rule on this?
Further, is it also illegal to use the term Kleenex in a poem, instead of the innocuous term “tissue?” Which ruins the whole “sound” of the poem if read aloud or was even in print?