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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…
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Indie Publishers and Copyright
A Court Case… More than likely, this is something almost no indie writers and publishers even know about. Seven years ago, WMG Publishing got a demand letter from the copyright office that we needed to submit two of our best copies of every title we had published. Or pay a $250 fine per title. Yikes… Yeah, I know you didn’t know about this… Not something talked about in indie publishing circles and because most writers refuse to learn copyright, not something that would ever come up. Until you get the demand letter from the Copyright office like we did. Kris and I knew about it from our days at Pulphouse…
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Derivative Rights in Bite-Sized Copyright
Talking Derivative Rights for Next Three Weeks… That’s right, for those of you who think you know copyright, or are planning to learn it any day now, it is going to take me three full weeks of Bite-Sized Copyright class to just do the basics on derivative rights. And you can’t understand licensing anything unless you understand how derivative rights work first. Bite-Sized Copyright class has no assignments, so it fits with just about anything. You just get the videos every Monday morning every week for the full year. Yes, you can take it quarter by quarter and all the first weeks remain, so you can catch up on your…
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Only Talking Valuation…
Not What You Do With It… I was not talking estates, or taxes, or Thor Power Tools… (Don’t ask.) You need to at least begin to understand valuation before you get to estates, taxes, or selling your catalog of copyright. So I was only talking about some basics of valuation. What you do with the valuation is up to you. SOME POINTS… All catalogs, no matter the size, will have a valuation. I know early stage writers and publishers think none of this is important, just as they believe copyright is something to learn down the road. And even more scary, even some long-term professional writers don’t understand the value…
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Valuation, Bite-Sized Copyright, and The Decade Ahead…
New Videos Every Monday Morning.. Not sure about the folks who are signed up on either Bite-Sized Copyright or The Decade Ahead classes (which get new videos every Monday morning for this entire year), but I am having a blast with both classes. 48 weeks to go on both. Wow, that is going to be a lot of information, so don’t hesitate in jumping in on either or both of the classes. It won’t talk long to catch up with the first four weeks and then have new videos awaiting you every Monday on both topics. Find them on Teachable. Copyright Valuation Topic… Why there has not been another post…
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And a Lawyer Friend Said, “I Told You So.”
Writers Insist They Know Copyright… Without even beginning to learn it. Right? Copyright seems so simple on the surface. My work is mine, all mine, and nothing else matters. At least until it does. And then writers, full of bad information, make the worst decisions and someone takes advantage of them and they often lose their work and wonder what happened. But for a writer to get prepared for critical and money-making decisions ahead of time… that is just too much work, too much time, too much money. Kris and I came up with a way to make the time and work easy with Bite-Sized Copyright every Monday morning, and…