The Business of Writing: Copyrighting Your Book #MFRWOrg #ASMSG

Photo © Scanrail | Dreamstime.com - Copyright symbol on computer keyboard

Here I am, getting ready to release my book The Business of Writing, and I've neglected to discuss book copyrighting.

So sue me. :D

The Basics.

You do not have to register your book's copyright. From the moment it exists in tangible or digital form, your work is automatically protected under US copyright law. Simply affix a notice in the frontmatter using this format:

Copyright ©20xx by Your Name

If you don't have access to the © symbol, it's acceptable to substitute the text equivalent: (c)

That's all there is to it.

Under Title 17 of the US Code (Copyright Law of the United States), an author's work "endures for a term consisting of the life of the author and 70 years after the author's death." There are exceptions for works of various types that were created before certain dates, but the lifetime plus seventy years duration is the general rule.

The full contents of Title 17 may be viewed via this web page: http://www.copyright.gov/title17/. For your convenience, it's organized by chapter, and you have the opportunity to download Title 17 in its entirety as a PDF file. Each chapter may be viewed either as HTML or as a PDF file.


The Next Level.

Although all created works enjoy automatic copyright protection, registering the copyright is a means of formally establishing the date of creation, which then becomes crucial in winning a plagiarism lawsuit. All traditional publishers and most small presses execute this option for every book they publish.

If your book is ready to be released into retail channels, or it already has been, and you wish to secure the next level of protection for your book, registering the copyright may be accomplished via the following steps:

1. Visit the electronic Copyright Office (eCO; http://www.copyright.gov/eco/), affiliated with the Library of Congress, and establish an account.
2. On the left-hand menu, under the category "Copyright Registration," in most cases you will select "Register a New Claim." A "claim" in this context means that you as author or publisher are claiming that the copyright of the work should be registered to you (or the author you represent). It has nothing to do with claiming copyright infringement.
3. Follow the prompts to describe your work. The help files are quite extensive and will open in a new tab for your continued reference. In addition, the eCO home page contains links to tutorials and other tools.
4. Pay the appropriate processing fee ($35 or $55 per title for online registration, regardless of whether you are required to mail physical copies of the book or are entitled to upload the digital version). Payment is accomplished via pay.gov, the payment site operated by the US Treasury Department, and you may choose to pay via electronic funds transfer from your bank account or via credit card. You must scroll down the page until you get to the credit card payment option. For more information, refer to Circular 4, Copyright Office Fees.
5. Submit the required number of copies of your work. If it is only published electronically, you may upload a qualifying electronic file. However, if your book exists in print as well as e-book editions, and it is already published, then you must mail two copies of the "best edition" within 30 days to the Library of Congress at the address they provide during that phase of the registration process.

Once your books have been received and processed, the Copyright Office will mail you a certificate of registration.

The eCO web site is a bit cumbersome, but it's possible to create templates if you expect to be registering several titles containing much of the same data, such as author name and contact information.

Good luck with this and all aspects of your publishing endeavors!

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The Business of Writing: Using Photos in Your Book (or anywhere for that matter)

George Sand by Nadar, 1864,
Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

You've been crawling through dozens of Pinterest boards for the perfect photo to use for your book's cover and are about to give up when—hey, presto! You find just the thing.

Now to copy it into Photoshop and crank out that award-winning cover, right?

Sorry; not without obtaining the photographer's permission, or licensing it first.

A common misconception is that a photograph is owned by the person who has purchased it, or the celebrity who has autographed his or her photo and sold it to you. Unless the photo can be proven to exist in the public domain as with the example I use in today's post, however, the copyright resides with the photographer. And the burden of public-domain proof lies upon whoever wishes to use the photo.

Using the photo without permission or a license, including sharing it on any online social media platform, violates US copyright law and can expose you to hefty licensing fees if the photographer chooses to pursue the case.

Don't take my word for it. The best article I've seen that sums up copyright issues revolving around the use of photographs is this one by Stacy J. Grossman of the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA).

The subject of copyright infringement isn't without its lighter side, though. A ridiculous court case involving selfies taken by monkeys can be chuckled at here.

In short, unless you have permission from the PHOTOGRAPHER to reprint a photo in your book (or an artist's art, or musician's lyrics or sheet music, for that matter), don't do it. Period.

Happy surfing!

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The Business of Writing: Quoting Song Lyrics in Your Book #amwriting #ASMSG #RLFblog

Music is—quite literally—in my blood. My great-great-grand uncle was Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian composer of what is arguably the most famous 90 seconds in all of music history: "The Flight of the Bumblebee."

Much as Nikolai as a 4-year-old was already becoming accomplished at playing the drums, I began singing in choirs at a very young age. Later in life I would gravitate toward groups that performed classical oratorios and even helped to found an oratorio society in North Carolina in the early 1990s.

Thus it was only natural that I also developed a talent for composing original lyrics to popular tunes. Some are reverential, some humorous, and some are designed to drive telemarketers crazy. :D

Since I write mainly historical fiction, the only lyrics I ever feel compelled to include in my books are those I write myself, such as "The Caledonian Warrior's Lament" referenced in Morning's Journey and intended to be sung to the Scottish folk tune "Gloomy Winter."

I have included a copyright notice in the frontmatter of Morning's Journey to avoid any confusion.

But what about quoting someone else's lyrics in your book?

Kathryn Goldman of The Better Novel Project blog covers this scenario in quite some depth and breadth of legalese here:  http://www.betternovelproject.com/blog/song-lyrics/

The takeaway I get from Ms. Goldman's article is that unless the song is of critical importance to your story or its characters, it's best to err on the side of caution and refrain from including its lyrics in your book. Quoting lyrics—or any other type of poetry or prose, for that matter—without the express written permission of the copyright holder exposes you and your work to legal action under current copyright laws, unless the quoted work can be proven to exist in the public domain at the time of your book's publication.

And, yes, that awful pun in the preceding paragraph was indeed intended.

Now I'm off to compose the lyrics to a tavern song I reference only by title in Dawnflight, "The Seven Saxon Sisters." :D

May all your musical interludes be inspiring ones!

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