Onslaught of Relatives!
Over the river and through the woods to OUR house they all come…
13 Signs You Shouldn’t Include That Risky Content In Your Book
Hi Ang:
As always, your advice this week regarding “13 Signs You Shouldn’t Include That Risky Content In Your Book” is excellent. I can give you two personal examples of situations where distance didn’t mean a thing in cases of plagiarizing someone else’s work. One was intentional and one was an innocent mistake (although I should have been more diligent in finding out if a copyright still existed). Thankfully, they both had happy endings but they could have caused a lot of financial grief. Strangely enough, they both involved published material from England.
In the first case, I was just an innocent bystander. I was Editor of a weekly newspaper and my Publisher sold a lot of the advertising and was also the chief layout artist (did I mention it was a very SMALL weekly?) Anyway, his highest-paying advertiser owned a fancy subdivision that included a riding stable. He wanted to feature the stable in his full page ad that week and, as artwork, the Publisher photocopied a cartoon featuring a cute little English girl decked out in full riding habit and riding a Shetland pony. It was from a book of English cartoons someone had given his daughter as a Christmas gift. As I recall, the character – from a long-running English cartoon strip – was called Penelope.
When I pointed out that the drawing was probably subject to copyright and shouldn’t be included in the ad, the Publisher snorted and said: “This book comes all the way from England. The artist doesn’t have access to our paper. He’ll never see it.” Wrong! Within a week, we got a “cease and desist” letter from the artist’s solicitor in England. Obviously one of our readers was familiar with the cartoon and had sent the ad to the artist or to the publishing firm that produced the book. That was the first and last time the cartoon was used and, fortunately, we never heard another word about it.
In my book Some Sunny Day, the title comes from the World War Two song We’ll Meet Again. My Dad used to sing the song at family gatherings and, since the book was about life after his return from overseas following the war, I thought it would be appropriate to include the first verse in the book. Naively, I figured that so much time had passed since the song had been written, it was probably in the public domain and I was free to use it.
I must have had a horseshoe in my back pocket at the time because, by an almost unbelievable coincidence, an English friend of mine bought several copies of the book and sent them to friends and relatives in England as gifts. Shortly thereafter, she got a note from one of her nieces pointing out that her husband, C. Ross Parker, owned the rights to the song, which his father, Ross Parker, had written. I wrote Mr. Parker a letter of apology and he sent back a nice note giving me permission, after the fact, to use the verse. Needless to say, a line indicating this permission was inserted in the next and subsequent editions of the book.
Keep those words of advice coming, Ang. You’re providing an invaluable service.
Bear hugs,
Tom Douglas
Author, Editor, Freelance Writer
Recipient – Minister of Veterans Affairs Commendation 2012
https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/department/mincom/bio/1061
https://www.tomdouglas.typepad.com
From Belieber to Believer: Writing Success in 140 Characters or Less By Akil Wingate
How do you as a writer get the golden goose of being published in today’s social media market? Become a Belieber…
Want to Get Sued? Write About Your Ex!
Well…my dilemma is that the person I would write about is my ex-husband, who would probably pursue vengeance on me, but there is a chance he might not. I am not going to pursue any vindication on him or try to slander him, but only to convey my testimony as to how I became a better person because of my experiences with, through, and because of him.
I don’t want any potential lawsuit, but I also cannot publish under another name or deny the truth that I want to write. In other words, I don’t want to hide. Perhaps as I write, I will end up fictionalizing it, but I won’t know until I am finished writing if that will be the result.
I want to share my story and I hope it will help people. I have asked other authors what they know about lawsuits on this, and they don’t know or they say to trust and write it anyway. Do you have any other information in addition to that other article?
You Never Know Who is Reading You on Forums! By Kim Pezza
Almost everyone is on some type of online forum with people of similar interests. Usually it is a hobby or lifestyle. Sometimes it is job related.
When you are on “fun” forums, you may tend to let your guard down, not do your best, writing wise, and maybe not pay attention to your spelling. However, this is exactly what you should be doing. You never know who may be on those forums reading what you (and others) have written…
Wedding Cake Assistant for a Day = High Blood Pressure!
Our daughter, Ali, is a pastry chef. She had a wedding cake job this week and the entire family pitched in. In the final hours, our kitchen looked like one of those crazy Food TV reality shows…
NEW PRINT ON DEMAND (P.O.D.) PRICE COMPARISON!
We have completed our annual update of the P.O.D. Publisher Price Comparison Chart.
My BookLocker Books are Beautiful!
Two weeks ago, I showed at the Schoolhouse Art Fair, where I had a table with both of my books. The books sold well and a few self published authors mentioned how beautiful my books were! Having only worked with you, I didn’t know what they were referring to. Of the five I had lengthy conversations with, each had complaints: slanted printing, blurred printing and one even had a blurred jacket cover.
Wow! Am I happy I am with BookLocker.
Rosemary Gard
Destiny’s Dowry
Destiny Denied
How You, the Writer, Can Become a Consultant for Writers By Rose Walker
When I walked away from my corporate career to become a writer, I not only walked away from a steady income, but I walked into a field I knew nothing about…
Another Question on Using Song Lyrics
My question – because my new novel is devoted to lines from various songs, does it matter how old the song is? What about songs from the 40s, for instance?