Writers Must Monitor Licensing

Recently, I wrote about Fair Use, the concept of using certain material for review, research, critique, etc.

What I want to relate to you today is not about Fair Use per se, it is about the need for writers to monitor what is done with their work, i.e., Fair Use, as well as how licensing agreements are executed.

A couple of years ago, Jon Krakauer sued Houghton Mifflin Co. and RR Donnelley & Sons Co. He alleged that they had infringed his copyright for the best-selling novel Into Thin Air. They had contracted with him to reprint several thousand copies of an excerpt from his novel to be included in a ninth-grade textbook. Instead, they reprinted more than a million.

Writers need to monitor the results from contracts to make sure the licensing activity is that to which they have agreed. This is one of those situations where you know what to do, but you don't know how to precisely go about it. If you're a big name author, high up on the food chain, it's easier because you have an agent and probably legal representation who can follow up on these issues.

For midlist and below, this is a DIY project that may be next to impossible.

Takeaway Truth

It's not enough to be a good writer. One must also be an astute business person as well.

Halloween

Quote for the Week

This is the week that ends with Halloween. Ghosts and goblins, princesses and ninjas, and a good assortment of other pop culture-based costumes will appear on doorsteps everywhere and cry the words that strike delight in most adults' hearts: "Trick or treat."

Of course, if we're talking real fear, let's look to what Arthur Conan Doyle said: "Where there is no imagination there is no horror."

Horror writers everywhere depend on readers having an imagination. Of course, what Arthur Conan Doyle said is why I don't watch horror movies or read very many horror novels: my imagination is simply too vivid and all-encompassing.

Recently, I wrote about Horror on my other blog. I should have included this quote by J. M. Barrie: "A house is never still in darkness to those who listen intently; there is a whispering in distant chambers, an unearthly hand presses the snib of the window, the latch rises. Ghosts were created when the first man awoke in the night."

In this country, Halloween, as most of us know it, is for kids to dress up and get candy. Lots of candy. No bump in the night for the little ones. At least I hope not. It's not nice to scare little kids.

Takeaway Truth

I think we all agree with Steve Almond, "Nothing on Earth is so beautiful as the final haul on Halloween night."

Does Email Promtion Help?

Writers who have been in the promotion trenches for a long time have a lot to teach business owners who are thinking about using email or email newsletters to promote their product and/or their businesses.

Valuable Clutter

I reached this conclusion as I reread articles from last winter's Authors Guild Bulletin. You see, we're in the 4Q of the year so it's time to start clearing out the clutter of accumulated magazines and newsletters that still arrive in my mail box. Don't get me wrong. I like these hard copies because I can read them at my leisure instead of on the computer monitor. I like to stack them on the bedside table for reading in bed.

Of course, I hang onto them for most of the year too. I like to refer back to them and again read the particularly good articles. The subject of one such article is what I want to talk about today.

Email Newsletters

If you're an author, or you're in business, chances are you either publish an electronic newsletter, or you're thinking about publishing one because the buzz is that it helps sell books or whatever product in which you have a vested interest. At the very least, you think it may help fix your name, product name, or business name in the minds of the reader.

Authors Guild Also Wondered

Authors Guild, of which I'm a member, also wondered if email newsletters helped so they did a survey and published the results in last winter's Authors Guild Bulletin. (I'm always pushing membership in the Authors Guild because I think they do great work on behalf of writers. If you're eligible for membership, please join us. Tell them I sent you. *g*)

Survey Says

More than 2100 working writers responded to the survey. About 40% of them said they either use email newsletters or compile email lists in order to promote their work. In fact, two thirds of the respondents think using some sort of email promotion helps, but another third don't know if it helps or not.

Like most authors can tell small businesses thinking about doing an email campaign of some sort, you do a lot of stuff - everything that comes down the Internet pike - hoping it makes a difference and will give you some definable benefit, but you never really know whether any of it really works.

What Writers Can Teach Businesses

Some writers say they can see a rise in their ratings on Amazon after sending an email to coincide with the release of their latest book, but those writers seem to be the minority. I suspect the writers who can verify an increase in sales in relation to an email newsletter are the already big selling authors.

Most writers don't see any increase yet they keep sending out into the electronic ether with the thought that they are promoting their name. They look upon the effort as laying a foundation and building upon it. Eventually, payoffs will result.

Best Campaign

Sending emails or newsletters is wasted effort if the recipient just hits the delete key. The result you want is for the recipient to open the email or newsletter and to read it. How do you achieve that?

1. Don't make the newsletter nothing but an advertisement for your book or product. Just like a good book, your mailing must have a hook that makes the recipient read on.

2. Think of the recipients and what you can give to them. Entertainment? Education? Escape from reality? Contest prizes? You want to think of who they are, how they live, and what they need. Then give that to them in your newsletter.

3. Don't wait until you're famous to get something going. Cindi Myers aka Cynthia Sterling started publishing her Market Newsletter long before she herself was published. Most romance authors know her because of that email newsletter, and so do editors and agents because of her information gathering from them. Start early in order to build an audience for your information.

4. Never email anyone who has not requested information from you. If you plan on an email or an email newsletter, make sure they know you're gathering their addy for that purpose. You want to befriend people, not alienate them with what they'll consider spam.

Takeaway Truth

Promotion via email is something that can work for any author, even those who would rather walk barefoot over broken beer bottles than speak in public.

More Copyright Talk

When I posted Let's Talk Copyright, I promised another post about more issues dealing with the complex issue.

What Can't Be Copyrighted

You can't copyright an idea or a concept or theory that has not been expressed in a permanent medium of some sort. You can only copyright the way you express those elements in a fixed medium like a book, photograph, work of art, song, etc. Nor can you copyright a title. That's why you see so many various works with the same title.

If a work has a copyright that has expired, thus making the work now in public domain, then it's up for grabs by anyone and can be used without restriction. If you're looking for something that can be used, do a public domain search.

Fair Use

Even if a work is copyrighted, and the author and/or the licensee are the only ones who have the right to make a copy, not all copying is prohibited. What allows copying by others is covered by a legal concept called Fair Use which I discussed on my other blog.

Briefly, Fair Use allows limited copying for teaching, reporting news, scholarship, literary criticism, or research. Fair Use is used as a defense when someone has been accused of infringing copyright. It is not a law or a right that anyone has. Usually, whether someone has exercised Fair Use or infringed on a creator's copyright is decided by a trial.

Poor Man’s Copyright

If you've never heard this term, it's probably because no one in today's world mentions it any more, and that's probably because everyone realizes it's no kind of legal protection.

Back when I first began writing, I remember hearing a published author speak who told how her engineer husband used Poor Man's Copyright to protect his work. She said that might be something an author could do if worried someone would steal their work before it was published.

The way PMC worked was that you put your work in an envelope and mailed it to yourself. When you received it in the mail, complete with a postmark on the envelope, you shelved it, unopened. The thinking was you could produce the work, sealed in the envelope, and the postmark would attest to the fact that you had created it on a date prior to someone who had stolen it and published it on a later date. Pretty lame, huh? Back a couple of decades ago, a lot of unpublished, aspiring writers did this. For some reasons, those who aren't published are very fearful of having their work stolen.

Work For Hire

Many writers sign contracts wherein they do not retain copyright in their names. The copyright holder is whoever hired them to write the work. This is called Work For Hire. These are the contracts you should not sign unless:

1. You get paid a good chunk of change.
2. You don't care whether your name is associated with the work or not because you don't see your career growing in that direction.
3. You need the money so much that you can't afford to turn the deal down.

Takeaway Truth

Copyright ownership is a very big issue for a writer. Make sure you have a solid grasp of copyright basics, and always understand contract clauses.

Student Discounted Software

Software is expensive. In the past, on this blog and my other one, I've posted about freeware and shareware websites that offer similar applications for the expensive products used by most of the world, i.e., Open Office Suite instead of the Microsoft Office Suite. I've also posted about websites where you can register to win their software of the day offer.

This Post's For You

Today I want to tell you about websites that offer the expensive software packages at deep discounts for Students and their parents. These websites also offer these reduced prices to teachers. Most teachers already know this, or they get even bigger discounts through their school districts so this blog post isn't directed at them.

Eligibility

Student discounted software is usually available to students and their parents in these categories: K-12 Students, Home School Students, and College/University Students. You have to submit proof of eligibility at most sites. Billing and shipping is usually in the parents' names.

Sample Websites

Here are a few of the many sites, in alphabetical order, where you can purchase software at student discount prices. This post is not an endorsement of any particular site. Do your own homework and check them out in order to make a wise choice.

Academic Superstore

Campus Tech

Gradware

JourneyEd

On The Hub

Student Discounts

Takeaway Truth

Why pay full price when there are bargains to be had if you're eligible, and most of us are, so always shop around.

Let's Talk Copyright

Many people have little knowledge about copyright. Or, worse, they have misinformation about this important subject.

I talked to an old friend about the issue because he wrote a book and published it himself with one of the DIY publishers. He sold so many copies that he wrote a second book. He sent me an essay from it, and I thought it was good and would be a compelling read for my visitors so I asked him if I could publish it.

Of course, I told him I'd make sure to post a copyright notice with the material. He said not to do that because he hadn't copyrighted it yet. Then I spent several minutes writing him and explaining to him what copyright meant and how it was different from registering a copyright.

Naturally, I decided this would be something good to present on the blog because many of you are professional writers who haven't learned the business yet and many of you are amateur writers who also don't know the business dynamics of being a writer. Perhaps this will help.

From The Beginning

Copyright is yours from the get-go. When you create a work, you immediately own the copyright to that work. You don't have to do anything else in order to make this happen. You don't even have to slap that little circled C on the work, but you can if you want to. I do most of the time because it's kind of a sense of accomplishment.

Copyright Vs. Copyright Registration

Once you have created a work and therefore own the rights, it's a good business decision to register your creative work with the Copyright Office. Go online, get the form, fill it out, and submit your fee, and your Copyright will be registered.

This is important should you ever have to sue someone for infringing your copyright because you can't sue unless you've registered the work. Prior registration also allows you to collect attorney fees and statutory damages.

Meaning Of Copyright

Copyright is your protection and authorization to the exclusive use of all rights in the work. You can assign those rights to others. No one can display your work, publish it, copy it, or create anything from it (called a derivative work) without your permission. If they do, that's called Infringement, and you can seek legal redress.

Life Of Copyright

In the U. S., copyright is for the life of the author plus seventy years if the copyright is registered under your real name. If it is registered under a pseudonym, copyright is for 95 years after publication, up to 120 years from when they’re created, whichever is shorter. After copyright expires, a work passes into public domain.

Takeaway Truth

Copyright is a complex issue. Familiarize yourself with the basic tenets and make a point to learn about the subject in more detail. You can visit the U. S. Copyright website for more information.

Customize Your Blogger Template

On my other blog, I posted an interview with the code slinger who designed the WordPress template I'm using. After a bit of thought, I decided I should give some information to my Blogger friends about achieving a customized look for their blogs.

Backstory

Back in the summer when I was customizing each of my blogs, as well as my daughter and my husband's blog, I must have visited a few hundred websites and tested at least twice that many templates to see how they looked with my content.

The process is actually quite easy to do, and, in the near future, I will give a step by step guide to help you accomplish this task.

Start Shopping Now

In the meantime, here's a website that offers templates for Blogger XML. Visit Falcon Hive, and you'll be amazed at their exquisitely designed blog templates.

I used one I found on Falcon Hive. Of the many, many sites I visited, Falcon Hive was the most user friendly. Not only do they have stunning themes, but all the themes that I tested worked smoothly and seamlessly with no parsing errors or other glitches.

Another thing I really like about Falcon Hive is that the theme designer gives you specific instructions on how to program elements of the theme to reflect your navigation to other websites, the header, tagline, etc.

Takeaway Truth

Just a little effort and a minor learning curve is all you need to make your blog have that custom look.