Singing the Book Trailer Blues

by

Kathryn Page Camp

 

www.kathrynpagecamp.com

  

Is someone singing the blues on your book trailer? Or do you have a classical pianist playing Bach's "Minuet in G Major"?

 

Here's the more important question: did you pay a license fee for using that music track? If not, you may be guilty of copyright infringement.

 

Many sound recordings have two copyrights. The first is for the composition as it is captured in sheet music, and the second is for the actual performance.

 

Bach never copyrighted his compositions, and they would have moved into the public domain by now, anyway. So if you use what he wrote, you don't have to worry about infringing his copyright. But if you use a more recent arrangement of Bach's work, the arranger may have copyrighted that.

 

Then there is the performance copyright. Whoever actually recorded the track has a separate copyright.

 

By now you're wondering if your book trailer must resemble a silent movie, where the theater (or the viewer) has to provide its own music.

 

Don't give up yet. Here are three ways you can get music for your book trailer without worrying about copyright infringement.

 

The most common is to find a reputable online store that sells stock music tracks and then purchase one that includes a royalty-free license. "Royalty free" doesn't mean free, but it does mean that you only pay once no matter how many people view your book trailer. As long as you use a reputable site, it also means that the seller has obtained the necessary permissions for you.

 

One caution, however. Read the license before you purchase. Make sure it allows commercial use and that your book trailer fits its commercial use description.

 

A second option is to find a recording for which both the underlying music and the performance are in the public domain. This requires a lot of time and effort to discover limited choices. And if you find the recording on a website, make sure you can trust the website operator. You don't want the copyright holder to sue you because you mistakenly thought something was in the public domain. Good faith isn't a defense.

 

In my opinion, this second option isn't worth the trouble, but you may feel differently.

 

The third option is to use sheet music you know is in the public domain and record the performance yourself. If your daughter is an accomplished pianist, persuade her to play the music for you. She may own the performance copyright in the recording, however, so make sure you have her permission to use it. 

 

Of course, you don't want to try this third option unless you know you will get a quality product. Or maybe a less-than-perfect performance fits the tone of your humor or children's book.

 

Actually, there is a fourth option: contact the copyright holder for permission. But unless you are wedded to a particular recording that isn't available as stock music, it makes more sense to go with the easier and quicker option one.

 

So before you start using that book trailer, make sure you have the necessary licenses and permissions for any music you include in it.

 

Otherwise, you may find yourself singing the book trailer blues.

 

* * * * *

 

Kathryn Page Camp is a licensed attorney and full-time writer. Her new book, Writers in Wonderland: Keeping Your Words Legal (KP/PK Publishing 2013) is available from Amazon.com and other retailers. Kathryn is also the author of In God We Trust: How the Supreme Court's First Amendment Decisions Affect Organized Religion (FaithWalk Publishing 2006) and numerous articles. You can learn more about Kathryn at www.kathrynpagecamp.com

 





Write On and Write Off

by

Kathryn Page Camp

www.kathrynpagecamp.com

 

Do you write as a hobby or to make a profit? The answer to that question determines whether you can write off excess writing expenses.

 

To deduct writing expenses that exceed your writing income, you must convince the IRS that you write to make a profit rather than as a hobby. There are two ways to show this.

 

If you make a profit three out of five consecutive years, the IRS will presume you are writing to make a profit. That means you can deduct the excess expenses in the two losing years.

 

But most writers can't predict whether they will have three out of five profitable years. No problem. The second way to show the IRS that you write to make a profit is by treating writing like a business. Here are some tips on how to do that.

 

• Follow established accounting and recordkeeping practices and comply with legal requirements. You should maintain detailed records of your writing income and expenses and keep them separate from your personal finances. It also helps to keep non-financial records of you writing activities (e.g., a submissions log). If you sell your books at speeches or fairs or from the trunk of your car, make sure you have the necessary business licenses and pay sales taxes to the state.
• Gain the expertise to succeed as a writer. This has two prongs: training and expertise in writing itself (e.g., attending writers' conferences) and expertise in the subject you are writing about (research, research, research).
• Write regularly.
• Submit your work to paying markets. It's okay to submit to non-paying ones occasionally, especially if you do it to gain exposure, but you should concentrate your efforts on paying markets.
• Don't avoid the parts of the business that aren't fun. For me, this means forcing myself to spend time on promotion.

There are also three sure-fire ways to convince the IRS that you write as a hobby. 

1. Write only when the spirit moves you. (The converse of "write regularly.")
2. Write, but don't submit.
3. Self-publish, but don't promote.

So if you want to deduct your excess expenses, make sure you treat writing as a business.

 

* * * * *

 

Kathryn Page Camp is an attorney who writes as a business. To discover more about her, check out her website at www.kathrynpagecamp.com.

The Perils of Writing Who You Know

by

Kathryn Page Camp

 

www.kathrynpagecamp.com



We've all heard the old adage: Write what you know. But have you ever had someone tell you to write who you know? Probably not.

 

Still, many of us do write who we know. Are you working on a memoir? Or writing one of those personal experience articles that keep Reader's Digest and Guideposts in business?

 

That's fine as long as you keep it truthful. But telling the literal truth isn't good enough. "Uncle Charlie sleeps around" may be true if he travels a lot, but that won't be how readers interpret the statement. So unless you are looking for a defamation lawsuit or an excuse to avoid family gatherings, watch your words.

 

Even fiction writers tend to write who they know. Fortunately (or unfortunately if you are a defamation lawyer), most of us create characters who are amalgams of different people rather than one recognizable person. But that isn't always the case.

 

Imagine yourself living in the glow that follows your first published book. Then the sheriff knocks on the door and hands you a summons. Your brother has sued you for defamation.

 

Oh, you say, that won't happen to me. I only write fiction, and everybody knows fiction isn't true. Besides, I'll have a disclaimer at the beginning of my book saying that any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental.

 

That may have been what Andrew Fetler thought when he published The Travelers. If so, he soon discovered that he was wrong.

 

The novel revolved around a family very much like Andrew's family and an older brother with many of the same characteristics as Andrew's older brother, Daniel. But the fictional parts portrayed the older brother as a cold-hearted traitor. So Daniel sued for defamation, and the entire family took sides.

 

A federal appeals court held that Daniel had the right to try the case. The similarities were strong enough to let a jury decide whether readers would identify the fictional brother with the real one.*

 

I don't know how the story ended. Jury verdicts and settled cases rarely result in written decisions, and I couldn't find any newspaper articles about the outcome. But even if Andrew ultimately won the case, he had to bear the expense and stress of a lawsuit and live with the knowledge that his novel had divided the family.

 

So if you want to write about real people and situations in your fiction, change enough facts to disguise the characters. This requires time and creativity, but it could avoid hard feelings and a lawsuit. And your writing will be better for the effort.

 

__________

* Fetler v. Houghton Mifflin Co., 364 F.2d 650 (2nd Cir. 1966).





This Post is Copyrighted

by

Kathryn Page Camp

 

I'm a lawyer, so writers sometimes ask, "How do I copyright my material?"

My answer? "Get it out of your head and onto paper or a computer drive." The minute you put it in tangible form, it's copyrighted.

"But don't I have to register it with the government or something?"

You can. But no, you don't have to. There are advantages to registering, but they are too complex for a blog post. The process can also be time-consuming and expensive, especially if you register multiple copyrights.

Including a copyright notice on the material is enough to keep most people from "borrowing" it. That's because the average person doesn't know the copyright law and doesn't realize that something is copyrighted unless he or she sees a notice on it.

A copyright notice consists of either the symbol © or the word "copyright," the year, and your name. For example, the notice for this post might say © 2012 by Kathryn Page Camp.

If you are worried that someone will steal your idea, registering won't help, anyway. You can't copyright ideas.

If you are worried that someone will steal the words you use to express your idea, then registering can help prove they are your words. But unless you are J.K. Rowling or J.D. Salinger, your words aren't likely to be a prime target for theft.

Still, your book could become the best seller of the century, and you should register it when it gets published. In fact, the publisher will probably do it for you.

Until then, weigh the time and money you would spend on registration against the likelihood that someone will steal your material. Only you can decide whether it's worth it.

For additional information on copyrights, go to www.copyright.gov.

My website includes a longer article on copyrights as well as other legal articles of interest to writers. You can find them under the "Legal Resources" tab at www.kathrynpagecamp.com.