More Copyright…
Not Really for Fun…
Writers who don’t have the time to learn copyright seem to not like to have it thrust upon them. So most will just skip this and last night’s post. Just nature of the desire of the uninformed to remain uninformed. I think it is a rule of nature.
I answered a comment I wanted to bring up here because I got similar in emails.
Since 1987 or so (Actually March 1st 1989) in the US, copyright notice on a work is not needed or required.
Reasons to put a copyright date on a work…
- — It can be a “notice” to the uninformed that someone owns the work.
- — It helps readers remember if they have read the book or not and when. (Nora Roberts a prime example.)
- — Helps stop what are called “Innocent Infringers” which I call stupid people.
Reasons to NOT put a copyright date on a work…
- — Since books no longer spoil as they did in traditional publishing, it makes the reader date the book and not buy it.
- — All books look and feel new without copyright dates.
Reasons to put a NEW copyright date on a work being redone…
- — Makes the books look new and fresh in reader’s minds.
- — Gives notice to the uninformed that someone owns the work.
This third way really gets the best of both worlds, however, if you don’t refresh your books every five to eight years, the new date starts looking old to readers.
Either way, you never say in the book the copyright is registered.
Use of Song Lyrics in Fiction?
Never. Unless you wrote the song. There is no level of “fair use exception” that allows the use of a song lyric or title that is a lyric in the song.
And before you go claiming you can use exemptions in the theft of other people’s work, learn the exceptions. Sigh…
You never sell a story or a novel. You license it.
There is no reason to ever actually sell a part or all of a copyright. And it takes a signature to do so because it is property.
Because copyright is property, if you are making money from your copyright, you can never go bankrupt (because it is not protected property in a bankruptcy). And it can be transferred in a divorce. Again, it is property. Valuable property.
So a few basics that I have gotten asked about over the last month or so.