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The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » Book Business

Book Business

The Landmine of Fair Use

By Steve Laubeon March 13, 2023
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A couple of weeks ago, I wrote on “The Cost of Permissions vs. Fair Use” which raised more questions. Therefore, I dug up a post I did on similar concerns. I replay it here to help you navigate these issues. Remember, I’m not an intellectual property attorney; I can only point to current best practices.

Steve,
What are the standard fair use rules for quotes of other published works? I used quotes in my book, and my understanding was that if it was less than 250 words then you don’t need permission. But a friend is self-publishing and is concerned about quotations fearing she might get sued.

Always err on the side of getting permission.

One major publisher we work with has the author get permission for any quotations from a single source that is more than 25 words, collected (aggregate) across all uses of that source in the book. So if one quote is 10 words and 100 pages later is a quote for 20 words, the author must get permission.

Another requires the author to obtain a written release from every person they interviewed and quoted in their nonfiction project–including family members like their spouse, parents, or friends.

For more information, read this excellent article by publishing attorney Kelly Way called “All’s Fair in Love and War–But Not in Copyright Law.”

A few years ago, a client wanted to extensively quote from one of his previous books (pretty much an entire chapter). But the previous book was published by a different publisher. His former publisher said that it would cost $3,000 to use his own words in the new publisher’s book–the licensing fee. No kidding. The former publisher was rightly concerned that the use of that material would suppress the future sales of the older title because key material would be found in the new book. So the author wrote the check and was able to quote his own words.

Another person asked:
In my book, I use two lines from a song about how when we are together it is heaven on earth to make a point about the role of love in evangelism, which might be considered repurposing the work for a new audience. I also use two lines from the theme song to Cheers to make a point about incarnational ministry and evangelism. It sounds to me like one or both of these could fall under “fair use.”

I would love to avoid paying licensing fees, as I am self-publishing on a shoestring budget; but I don’t want to get sued either. Can you give me some clarification on how to determine “fair use”?  

If you are quoting from song lyrics, any and all usage requires permission no matter the length. Back in 1995 Microsoft used the Rolling Stones line “start it up” with music in their campaign for Windows 95. Reportedly, the fee to use those three words was three million dollars. A million dollars per word!

I had a client who wanted to use the lyrics of a famous song in her novel. She wrote the artist who was thrilled to get the request. But then the singer revealed the dirty secret. The singer does not control the copyright to the songs they sing. The composer of the lyrics owns the song, and they likely have a publisher who manages the permissions. So my client had to write to the publisher, which took some doing to discover. Then, after waiting for six weeks, got a letter asking for more information. Then the client called me.

I suggested the author simply rewrite the scene and avoid using the lyrics entirely. Saying the name of the song was enough. (It was a very famous song.) And there is no penalty for naming the song title.

Always err on the side of caution. The last thing you want is a “cease and desist” letter or a lawsuit.

We have a page on our site for copyright resources if you want to research this further: https://stevelaube2.wpengine.com/resources/copyright-resources.

 

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Category: Book Business, Contracts, Copyright, Legal IssuesTag: Copyright, fair use

Voices of Courage: Why Military Writers are Important

By Dan Balowon February 8, 2023
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Successful books always come from a writer’s inspired, creative mind and heart. Every time we attempt to make publishing a science, making it more about business nuts and bolts, rather than art, serendipitous creativity seems to find a way around the science, nuts, and bolts. Effective and wise business planning is important, but Christian publishing’s guiding principle should be Proverbs …

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Category: Agents, Book Business, Branding, Career, Encouragement, Faith, Inspiration

Money Problems?

By Steve Laubeon November 21, 2022
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Money is of significant importance to every one of us. Some writers live on the revenue generated by their efforts. We represent a number of clients who are the main breadwinners in their families. It is unfortunate that the role of the agent is regularly defined by the size of the deal. The film Jerry Maguire made the slick, money-centered agent into a cliche with his client shouting, “Show me …

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Category: Book Business, Money, PersonalTag: Money, thanksgiving

Publishing Is Publishing

By Dan Balowon October 6, 2022
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Every part of the book publishing ecosystem adjusted its perspective to accommodate both traditional publishing and author-published works. It wasn’t long ago these two paths were treated as either/or decisions; but now they are both/and. Many traditional publishers offer author-paid services, some agents have indie services for clients, and a large number of authors publish both traditional and …

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Category: Book Business, Book Business, Indie, Marketing, Self-Publishing, Trends

Write a Fan Letter Today

By Steve Laubeon September 19, 2022
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Everyone likes being appreciated. It can be as simple as receiving a “thank you.” For the writer, a fan letter is like a cold drink of water in the middle of a desert wasteland. The writing life is a bit like placing your words into a bottle and tossing it into an endless ocean, hoping it doesn’t sink and simultaneously hoping someone somewhere will find those words and be …

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Category: Book Business, Career, MarketingTag: appreciation, fan mail, thanksgiving

Publishers Are Book Investors

By Dan Balowon September 15, 2022
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Traditional book publishers have a wide variety of employees, each with different but complementary abilities. Every task required to effectively publish a book is under one roof (metaphorically speaking these days, of course). Everything is geared toward publishing books well. The same could be said of many author-paid or indie publishers. Talented people with a goal of publishing well, working …

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Category: Book Business

Food vs. Medicine Books

By Dan Balowon September 7, 2022
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Even though this topic could be applicable to just about any type of book, we’ll be looking at those in the Christian publishing category today. Categorizing books has been part of publishing for a very long time. Officially, there are over four dozen primary book categories designated by the BISAC coding system, which spin off to thousands of subcategories. For example, one of the primary …

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Category: Book Business, Christian, Creativity, Theology

The Mystery of Book Data

By Dan Balowon August 25, 2022
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The book-publishing market has an element of mystery to it, and not only in the category of books called mysteries. Many things are not as scientific as you might think. Prominent book-bestseller lists are based on data from a sampling of booksellers, rather than comprehensive information outputs from all channels. Industry-status reports from publishing trade associations use a similar sampling …

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Category: Book Business, Technology, The Publishing Life

When the Economic News Is Dire

By Steve Laubeon July 11, 2022
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Lately everyone seems to be talking about the economy (and not the pandemic). Inflation, the price of gas, supply-chain issues, a bear stock market, rent rates, health-care costs, unemployment, housing, etc. A common question within the writing community is how might this affect traditional publishing? I have a couple pennies to contribute to the conversation. (My two cents, which, due to …

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Category: Book Business, Publishing News, The Publishing Life, The Writing Life

Could You Translate Please?

By Dan Balowon June 2, 2022
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What many U.S. Christian authors write about today has little or no application outside of the U.S. It’s why the majority of Christian books are not exported or translated into other languages. Most often it is not the theology holding it back, but the theme of the book. A simple example would be homeschooling. It is illegal in quite a few countries of the world. (Germany, Sweden, and many other …

Read moreCould You Translate Please?
Category: Book Business, The Publishing Life, The Writing Life
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