Time to Write

Is that writing contest a scam?

I've written before about how important it is to read the fine print when you enter any kind of writing contest (or other contest, for that matter), but I feel it's worth repeating.

Here are the three key points to look for:

* If there's an entry fee (and there usually is), how much is it, relative to the prizes being awarded? If the entry fee is $5 and the prize is $1000, that's not bad; if the entry fee is $35 and the prize is $250, not so good. It's understandable that contests want to cover their expenses but some of them are out to get and keep as much entry fee money as possible, so be aware that you are financing their profits.

* Is there an "about" page or other way of knowing exactly who is behind the contest--name, address, email address, phone number? If that's missing, your entry fee may also be missing soon.

* Does this contest have a track record? Of course every contest had a first time, but if they say they've been around for a while, do they list previous winners in a way that would make it possible for you to contact them (even if only by doing Facebook search)? I don't think previous winners would object to a brief, friendly email asking them if their experience with the contest was satisfactory.

* Are the terms and conditions clear and--this is the big point--do you lose the copyright to your material by entering or by winning? If so, run away. The Writer Beware Blog recently mentioned a short story contest at ShortStoryBook.net, which states that the copyright to entries that are published on the contest website goes to the website. Very naughty.

(for my free report, "Seven Things that Stop You From Writing and How to Overcome Them," click here: 

http://goo.gl/bWjb)

Best practices for writers

I had an email recently asking regarding what's allowable in citing or being inspired by other sources and I thought you might find it useful as well:

Q: We were wondering whether it’s all right, having read books like The Secret, to add something about positive visualisation that a character does in an attempt to become what they want to be. Is it all right to add this- what someone else has written about - and then acknowledge it in the Acknowledgements part of the novel? 

Yes, you certainly can have your character using The Secret and as long as you don't use too long an exact quote you don't even need to acknowledge it separately. It's no different from, for example, having a character eating a Mars bar or referring to them watching a particular TV show.

It's also OK to quote a few sentences exactly as they are written in the book. The rest of the time you might want to paraphrase. For instance, you might write something like, "That night, she read two more chapters of The Secret. The part that says if you want to be thin you shouldn't look at fat people worried her. Her three best friends all were overweight. Could this be the real reason she had gained two dress sizes in the last year? Maybe it had nothing to do with eating chocolate chip cookies every evening."

Q: What is the procedure if you write about a character that has some characteristic of yourself and some of a friend, but exaggerated? Is it all right to do this - to base things on people but change the details and exaggerate traits?

Yes, every author does this.

Q: Can you quote from the past, things like ancient proverbs in a fiction story or do you have to give exact details of where the character got it? 

You don't have to give details about where they got it. No problem quoting proverbs, bits of the Bible, bits of poetry or novels that are in the public domain, etc.  

Q: Can you base a character you got partly from an idea from a TV show?

Sure, as long as you change the name and it's not a 100% copy. You want to be sure that your character has several attributes that he or she doesn't share with the TV character. For instance, you might switch the gender, the age, the social status, the physical appearance, and so on. 

It gets trickier if you are basing the character on a real person and make him a villain. For instance, if you wrote a book about a property developer who showed a lot of resemblance to Donald Trump and had him killing someone, you might be in for a lawsuit. One way around this is to mention the real person in passing. So let's say my developer is named Carl. I might write, "Carl modeled himself on his idol, Donald Trump, but was willing to go further than his hero to be successful. All the way to murder." 

You might want to have a look at some of the tips on my page about protecting your material, because that goes into more detail about what can be copied or not. It's at http://timetowrite.com/protecting-your-material.

The case of the unauthorized comic

An interesting rights case: Bluewater Productions plans to issue a comic book that is an unauthorized biography of teen singing sensation Justin Bieber. But they've been hit with a cease-and-desist order from licensing attorney Kenneth Feinswog, who represents Bieber (as well as Lady GaGa).

Bluewater says it's their First Amendment right to publish "truthful expressive works." If it's OK to publish unauthorized biographies of public figures in text, why not in comic book form?

My guess is that they will be told to have a clear statement on the cover that this is not authorized merchandise, but we'll see what the courts say.

(If you want to find out the best way to protect your literary material, get tips at http://timetowrite.com/protecting-your-material/)

Writers: Be aware (and beware) of this new book format

Waterstones, the book chain, is promoting a new series of ebooks it calls Brainshots. Is it just me, or does anybody else think that's an awful title? At least for anybody old enough to remember the Kennedy assassination...

Anyway,here's how they describe it:

BRAIN SHOTS: Byte-sized books for busy people

Brilliant ideas are at the heart of the books published by Bodley Head (part of the Random House Group) - but knowing that not everyone has the time to read all 400+ pages of each of their titles they've created Brain Shots: 'big idea' books in a byte-sized format.

The Brain Shots series covers a diverse range subjects - from international crime to medieval history; from what maths can teach you about winning the lottery to what listening to Bach, or Blur, does to your brain. Each Brain Shot captures the essence of the original, full-length book - but is now available in a concise and accessible eBook and audio format. Now for the first time, there is time to read the latest in contemporary thought.

Authoritative authors, original ideas, expert analysis and unique insight - there's a brilliant idea in every shot.

The titles available in this format include "Essential Things You Didn't Know You Didn't Know," "The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England," and "The Emperor's New Drugs." The prices range from £3.99 to £5.01 (not sure where they penny comes in...). 

The original "Essential Things" book is actually called "100 Essential Things...", has 304 pages and costs £8.99 at Waterstones. The full ebook version costs £8.18--you don't save much even though you're giving paper, binding, glue...). 

The Brainshot version is 60 pages long and costs £3.99 . Did you notice that the price hasn't gone down in the same proportion as the page count? Based purely on the page numbers, the Brainshot version should cost about £1.70. However, presumably we are getting the BEST 60 pages. It makes you wonder whether it needed to be 304 pages long in the first place.

I'm sure they are tracking carefully whether selling the abridged e-book versions stimulates or stunts sales of the hard copy or the full ebook editions.

Pearson US is doing something somewhat similar with chapters of my book, "Focus: use the power of targeted thinking to get more done," but so far I haven't received word of how the sales are going.

I suspect we're going to be seeing more of this--and authors need to check their contracts carefully to make sure they benefit appropriately. 

I'm not suggesting that Random House isn't being fair to their writers in this regard, only that often the first contract you are offered skews too far in the direction of the publisher. If you can't get an agent or don't want one, hire a lawyer familiar with the book world to check the contract for you and negotiate on your behalf. Some will do it for a flat rate, others will charge you by the hour (be sure to ask the hourly rate in advance). 

(If you're thinking of writing a book, see my book, "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon and other online and offline retailers. You can also get a free "getting started writing your non-fiction book guide" at www.timetowrite.com.)

Finally some good news re book piracy

Book Business Extra reports:

"Six global publishers—Bedford, Freeman and Worth Publishing Group, a subsidiary of Macmillan; Cengage Learning; Elsevier; John Wiley & Sons; The McGraw-Hill Companies; and Pearson Education—have obtained an injunction against Swiss-based file-sharing site Rapidshare.com. The judgment, handed down by a German court in Hamburg, ordered Rapidshare to implement measures to prevent illegal file-sharing of 148 copyright-protected works cited in a lawsuit filed Feb. 4 by the publishers.

The publishers in this case alleged that Rapidshare, which collects monthly fees from many of its users, encourages (through a variety of reward programs), facilitates and profits from the unauthorized uploading of content. The court ruled that Rapidshare must monitor its site to ensure copyrighted material is not being uploaded and to prevent unauthorized access to the material by its users. The company will be subject to substantial fines for noncompliance, according to a statement released by Wiley."

Rapidshare has been the main mechanism by which my books have been pirated, and I've seen hundreds of other books listed there illegally. My guess is that their next move will be to some country where it's harder to enforce such rulings, but we'll see. For the moment, it's a rare victory.

The book pirates who aren't (but you still don't want to deal with them)

As reported on GalleyCat, best-selling author Tess Gerritsen looked around the web to see how many instances she could find of her books being pirated.

She said she discovered more than 90 files in a variety of languages. On one site the indication was that the books had been downloaded 4000 times, which she equates with 4000 lost sales (which isn’t necessarily so, but she is right to be concerned).

Someone with the comments name of dmargulis made this observation:

“Some (most? all?) of the "pirate" sites are nothing of the sort. They are phishing sites, pretending to offer all manner of things for download, including every book in print, that they don't actually have and that they have never furnished to anyone. The goal is to get the site visitor to provide credit card information or other personal data. The problem for the author is that, in avoiding victimization by the phishing scam, you can't verify that any given site in fact provides a pirated copy of anything at all.”

Well, I know from my own experience in trying to track down and stop unauthorized files of my “Your Writing Coach” book that not ALL pirate sites are phishing sites, but this does explain a lot. I did encounter sites that asked you to pay, via credit card, a small registration fee before you were eligible to download anything (naturally I didn’t). I can’t say I have too much sympathy for anybody who is suckered that way in hopes of being able to download pirated files. But it does blur the picture of just how much print piracy is going on.

(It's easy to buy a legal copy of my book, "Your Writing Coach" from Amazon or other online and offline retailers if you want friendly support for writing your own book.)

Will this be an 'industry-defining moment' for writers? If so, beware!

The New York Times reports:

 In what it bills as an industry-defining moment - though rivals are sure to be skeptical about that - Disney Publishing plans to introduce a new subscription-based Web site. For $79.95 a year, families can access electronic replicas of hundreds of Disney books, from "Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too" to "Hannah Montana: Crush-tastic!"

 I’m wondering how the authors of those books will be paid. Having done work for Disney in the past, I know they’re partial to total buy-outs and ‘work for hire’ contracts for writers, so perhaps that’s not an issue for most of these books. But if it does become an “industry-defining” moment, writers will have to be very alert.

 The usual come-on at the early stages of something like this is for the companies to say, “There’s not much money in it yet, if you charge too much you’ll kill the whole thing, take a pittance until it takes off.”

 When it does take off, they fight tooth-and-nail not to increase the payments. It happened with DVDs, it was what the most recent Writers Guild strike was about, and this could be the next battleground.

(Want to go into a writing career with your eyes open? Get a copy of my book, "Your Writing Coach" from Amazon or your other favorite online or offline retailer. Want to reach your writing goals in 60 days? Check out my Breakthrough Strategy Program at www.jurgenwolff.com)

Writer Beware: the Literary Agency Group

I had an inquiry the other day regarding an agency called the Writers Literary Screenplay Agency. The name rang a bell so I had a look at the very useful "Writer Beware" site--the last time I saw a reference to them, the Agency had launched a lawsuit against the site. Here's what the site says now, including what happened to the lawsuit earlier this year:

"The Literary Agency Group, a business controlled by Robert M. Fletcher of Boca Raton, Florida, changed its name in February 2007 to Writers' Literary Agency (a.k.a. WLA or WL Writers' Agency).

This umbrella group includes the following:

WL Children's Agency
WL Poet's Agency
WL Screenplay Agency
Writers' Literary & Publishing Services Company (the editing arm of the above-mentioned agencies)

In 2008, the business expanded to include publishing operations under the umbrella of the AEG Publishing Group:
Strategic Book Publishing
Eloquent Books
Authors' Edge

Other current businesses or websites that Writer Beware believes are associated with Writers' Literary Agency, based on referrals and website content, include:

Writers' Book Publishing Agency
Children's Book Publishing Agency
Poetry Book Publishing Agency
Screenplay Writers' Agency
Global Book Agency
Strategic Book Marketing
 Authors' Edge

Other names the business has used include Sydra-Techniques, ST Literary Agency, Stylus Agency, Children's Literary Agency, Christian Literary Agency, New York Literary Agency, Poet's Literary Agency, The Screenplay Agency, and My Editor Is A Saint (an editing company).

Since the business began operating in 2001 under the name Sydra-Techniques, Writer Beware has received hundreds of complaints and advisories of fee-charging for literary agency services, fee-based publishing, critique and editing referrals, and other questionable practices. We're not aware that the literary agency branch of the business has a significant track record of commercial book or script sales under any of its names.

In February 2008, Robert Fletcher and The Literary Agency Group filed a retaliatory lawsuit against Writer Beware, alleging defamation, loss of business, and emotional distress. On March 18, 2009, the suit was dismissed with prejudice by the Massachusetts Superior Court, due to Fletcher’s failure to respond to discovery or otherwise prosecute the lawsuit. SFWA has issued an official press release.

The office of the Florida Attorney General has opened a public consumer-related investigation into Writers' Literary Agency and its associated businesses."

I don't have any first-hand experience with the Literary Agency Group, but certainly there are many sharks out there, ready to take advantage of the dreams of aspiring writers, so always proceed with caution. If any agent asks you for money to look at your material, or says they will look at it only after you've had it edited by someone they recommend--move on!

(There's more information I think you will find useful in my book, "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon and other online and offline retailers.)

Book piracy--whose side are they on?

In the previous post I mentioned copyrighted books that have been put on Scribd.com without permission.  Want to see how “easy” they make it to have copyrighted work removed? Here is how the site described what you have to do:

DMCA Copyright Infringement Takedown Notification

If you are a copyright owner or an agent thereof, and you believe that any content hosted on our web site (www.scribd.com) infringes your copyrights, then you may submit a notification pursuant to the DMCA by providing Scribd's Designated Copyright Agent with the following information in writing or via email(please consult your legal counsel or see 17 U.S.C. Section 512(c)(3) to confirm these requirements):

     -1. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

     -1. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works on the Scribd web site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site.

     -1. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled. Include a direct link (URL) to each and every claim of infringement. We cannot action nonspecific claims based on keywords, search queries, title, name, or resemblance (physical or otherwise) to another document.

     -1. Information reasonably sufficient to permit Scribd to contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail address at which the complaining party may be contacted.

     -1. A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.

A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

---

Under penalty of perjury? Who is doing the illegal act here? And why CAN'T they "action claims based on keywords, search queries, title, name..."? That's how their users find these books, why can't they?

Do you read the small print? (Warning about contests)

I just sent a film-maker friend a notice of a contest in which people are asked to submit a short film that has the potential to be developed into something longer, like a series or a feature film. Then, just out of curiosity, I read the terms and conditions and found this clause:

 Please note that upon payment of any prize money your content becomes the exclusive perpetual property of [the sponsor of the contest]. However, you will
continue to participate in any revenues as set forth in our terms and conditions.

 Whoa! Wait a minute…for a few hundred dollars, they get the rights to develop your material as they see fit? Sure, they cut you in on the profits but you lose control. Well, maybe if you get rich it's worth it, so let's see what they give you:

Fifty percent of the gross receipts! Wow! Sounds great!

Wait, it’s 50% minus their expenses, interest of 6% of such expenses, and minus a distribution fee of 35% of the gross receipts. Oh, and for video, DVD, VOD or similar, only 22% of the revenue will be counted as gross receipts.

Even with all this, it may be a good way to get your career started, especially if you're having trouble getting your work considered anywhere. After all, a small percentage of something is worth more than a big percentage of nothing. But always read the terms and conditions to know what you’re getting into so you can make an informed choice.

Book piracy--crisis?

Ben Hoyle reports in the (London) Times that the UK Society of Authors forecasts that book piracy on the internet will ultimately drive authors to stop writing unless radical methods are devised to compensate them for lost sales.

The article says, “The internet is awash with unlicensed free digital copies of individual chapters or in some cases entire books. Prominent victims of book piracy include Jamie Oliver and J. K. Rowling but the most vulnerable writers are less well-known poets, authors of short stories and writers of cookery books.”

I can attest to the fact that you don’t need to be famous to be a victim: I found a complete copy of my “Your Writing Coach” book online as an unauthorized PDF. I asked the hosting site to take it down and they did, but it reappeared within a few days with a slightly different file name. Once again I demanded that it be removed, and it was, but this feels like a futile chase.

I also traced it to another site based in Russia, and they also removed it, although with the snide comment that they were doing me a favor as reading the book online probably would make people want to buy the hard copy (oh, sure).

I informed my publisher but they are pessimistic about being able to find any legal remedies when the hosting sites are in countries like Russia.

So I agree that we’re moving toward a crisis but one of the suggestions that the Society of Authors came up with, government funding of an academy of salaried writers, seems like a terrible idea. Isn’t that what they used to have in Eastern Europe? And having said all that, I don’t think there exists any force in man or nature that will actually stop writers from writing.

(for free monthly tips on being more creative and productive, sign up for our Brainstorm e-bulletin--just email a request to [email protected])

Copyright and Creativity and a Decision from the Court

See what you think about this legal case: In 1996 Stuart Y. Silverstein and Scribner’s published a book of the uncollected poems of Dorothy Parker, the witty author and poet who belonged to the famous “Algonquin Round Table” group. The poems were in the public domain.

Three years later Penguin published a book containing the same material. Silverstein sued, claiming that assembling the poems is a creative act and that Penguin had violated his copyright (which applied to the format of the book, not the poems as such). He asked for damages of more than one million dollars. Penguin maintained that simply gathering uncollected poems is not a creative act covered by copyright.

Who do you think was right?

A summary judgment by a judge was in favor of Scribner. Penguin appealed and was granted a trial. Now a federal judge (the same one who originally ruled in favor of Silverstein) has ruled in favor of Penguin. He wrote: "The Court finds that Silverstein simply selected for inclusion in `Not Much Fun' all of the uncollected Parker poems that he could find and that this selection process involved no creativity."

Silverstein said he may appeal again, but if this decision stands it could be an important precedent for any writer who uses public domain material.

A Legal Case that Could Impact Writers

Reuters reports that J K Rowling and Warner Bros are suing an independent US publisher over an unofficial encyclopedic companion to the Harry Potter series, as it infringes copyright and attempts to cash in on the brand.

The target is The Harry Potter Lexicon, which is due to be released by RDR Books on 28th November in the United States. The 400-page book is based on a Steve Vander Arks' fan Web site, www.hp-lexicon.org, that was used by 25 million visitors and had been called "a great site" by Rowling herself.

Rowling said in a statement, even though she loved fan sites, she hoped to write "the definitive Harry Potter encyclopedia, which will include all the material that never made it into the novels" and donate the proceeds to charity.

The outcome of the case is of importance to writers, as currently there are a lot of books that piggyback on other works, usually feeling that adding a label such as "an unauhorized guide to..." will keep the lawyers at bay.

By the way, in a separate story, Rowling has made seven copies of a fairy tale collection that was mentioned in her last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. She will auction one for charity and give away the six others. She said the books were a "wonderful way" to say goodbye to Potter. But the lawsuit suggests she's not really ready to say good-bye.

Protecting Your Material (Proceed With Caution)

Traditionally it was pretty straightforward to protect material that you created: you automatically have copyright on it the moment you create it, and to document that you could register it with the copyright office, or the Writer's Guild, or even just send it to an attorney who would time-stamp it and put it in a safe place. If you signed a deal with a publisher, the copyright stayed with you and your contract spelled out what rights you were keeping or giving up or sharing.

The new media have made this a more complicated issue. Here's one example: I was looking for a place to host my podcast and ran across a site/service called MyPodcast. It's free and it looked pretty good, until I read the terms and conditions. Here is one of the clauses (stay with me through the terminology...):

"By posting content to any public areas of MyPodcast, you automatically grant, and you represent that you warrant that you have the right to grant, to MyPodcast and its members, an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, fully-paid, worldwide license to use, copy, perform, display, and distribute such information, rights of publicity, and content and to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works and other media, such information and content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing."

OK, I'm not a lawyer (if you are, let me know if I'm reading this right) but I assume the "public areas" are all the podcasts, and that "members" are anybody who has their podcast on this service...and that according to this clause, they (or the people who run MyPodcast) can take stuff from your podcast and use it any way the want, including it into, say, a DVD or book they sell and you'd never see a penny. 

Of course, MyPodcast is being honest about this (assuming you read the terms & conditions, which you always should) and for some people the free hosting might be worth giving up rights. But, to me, suddenly it doesn't seem like such a good deal anymore.