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Anthropic Copyright Fun
All Authors I Have Heard From Are Having One Issue Or Another… Filling out these forms for percentages of a book is often just head-scratching. I now no longer doubt that some payments will be going out by November 15th, but I can not imagine the special master having to untangle some of this. Going to take time. All the stuff that writers are talking about traditional publishers claiming 100% is one thing. I got some of those I have not gotten to yet. And other percentage issues. But yesterday I had one claim number I got from them that was not on my records. In fact, the three titles…
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Copyright Works Made for Hire…
Some Really Stupid Stuff Being Said… A lot to do with the Anthropic settlement. Seems you get a bunch of writers who know nothing of copyright worrying about getting money from a copyright settlement, things can just get stupid. Actually, the rule is pretty simple. And frighteningly enough, the courts have been moderately clear. To have a work made for hire, you have to either have worked in the office under the companies control with payroll and such, or signed a Works Made for Hire Contract and fall into nine very clearly defined categories, 95% of which authors do not fit in for fiction. Here is the link to the…
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Traditional Publishing vs Indie Publishing… COPYRIGHT??
Writer’s Just Don’t Understand Copyright… This week I read a bunch of discussions about the different paths in publishing… Every one of those discussions forget the MOST IMPORTANT element,,. Copyright. And with copyright comes control of the work’s future. You sell a novel to one of the last four traditional publishers these days and they buy all rights for the life of the copyright. Period. Stupid responses I got from myth-filled writers who are going to try to sell a book to traditional publishing no matter what anyone says. “There is a reversion clause. I will get my rights back.” In electronic publishing world, that is as worthless as the…
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My Attitude Toward Helping With Copyright…
I Am Not a Lawyer… And would never give legal advice. But I am a long-term professional fiction writer of over 50 years and I know copyright because (duh) that is how I make all my money. So when I say something to inform about copyright, I say what I say not as a lawyer, but in the interest of helping writers learn and avoid issues. A super nice person who has forgotten more of the legal fine details of copyrght that I know often responds to my posts. I need to be clear here. Court cases and attorneys are cheap when you need their help to consult or look…
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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…
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Interesting Copyright and Workshop Fun!
Copyright Notice… Kris and I went to see Wicked (part one) tonight. Great movie and I am a fan of L. Frank Baum’s work in all manner. I have read all 14 of the original OZ books, some numbers of time, and most of his short stories. At one point before my house fire, I even had 12 of the original hardback with dust editions with the fantastic (Denslow and Neill) art. So I am sitting watching the credits tonight and made note of the credit given to the author of the derivative novel, Gregory Maguire. But unless I missed it, not one credit to the original Baum source material…
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Reminded of Something…
Backlist Memories… Not a part of my branding series, just me reminding myself of something… Here is the story. Fact, at the moment Kris and I have about 1,400 titles of one sort or another. We have spent over 12 years of hard work and time and a ton of money to get those all into one form of print or another. Some make decent money, some make a little money, some don’t sell at all. Normal and expected. I have to be honest, I can’t remember a bunch of the novels I have written and published. Very few of the 106 published novels in traditional publishing, more of the…
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Collaboration…
Hall and Oates Fight… This came through Variety Magazine. An article on a restraining order Hall filed against Oates and why. All copyright and collaboration related. One quote from the article… “According to the AP report, what it is that Hall can’t go for is Oates’ desire to sell his share of the duo’s Whole Oats Enterprises to the investment firm, which already purchased a “significant” stake in their catalog rights 16 years ago. Hall has indicated that he regrets not owning all his publishing.” Now back as the pandemic started, we started and then stopped a collaboration class. Ended up we could not do it as intended for a…
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Learning Copyright…
What Does “Learn Copyright” Mean? I’m talking about one tiny area of this on the Bite-Sized Copyright class this week. But much deeper than I will do here. When I tell a writer to learn copyright, I not only mean the Copyright Handbook, which is a great place to start, but I also mean following and understanding what is happening now in the culture when it comes to copyright. Everything from reading the recent copyright suits to reading the WGA settlement agreement. All kinds of copyright stuff. But I also mean learn the history of copyright because most writers have gotten stuck in time at one point or another with…
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The Life and Times of a Copyright…
How One Short Story Made A Lot of Money… So many writers do not understand the value of a single piece of copyright. In this case, let me tell you the story of the life (so far) of a short story titled, “In the Shade of the Slowboat Man.” Back in the early 1990s, about thirty years ago, I was invited to write a story for a vampire anthology and like a fool I said yes. I hate vampires. So I put it off until a writing retreat on the Oregon Coast with eight other writers in one house for the weekend. I sat down at my then-massive computer sitting…