501 update

September 5, 2012 · 2 comments

Sent the manuscript off to the copy-editor this morning. Whee! Now I can relax for a couple of weeks. I’ll most likely have to have a long chat with him when he can’t read my handwriting. Then I image I get galleys or page proofs back so I can create the index. That should be interesting.

I’m also looking forward to see what the publisher comes up with for the cover. I’ve been told I can’t use book jackets because of copyright/permissions issues, which can get a bit sticky and expensive. But here’s a question for you legal people out there. If I own the book and I take a picture of something I own, can’t I use that, since it’s my picture? Just curious.

Picked up a copy of the 2012 Writer’s Market and am getting a few ideas about promoting the book, including a video trailer. I get to play Ken Burns for a few minutes. I’ve been meaning to master the Flip camera a bought a few months ago; here’s my chance. Also toying with the idea of a stand-alone blog for the book. (Like I even have enough time to care and feed this one as I should.)

Thanks for all the good wishes, by the way. They are much appreciated.

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1 Tom Tomsick September 5, 2012 at 5:04 pm: Ron, I’d be more than glad to rescind copy rights to you for the expressed purpose of your using an image of my book cover from “STRIKE THREE! My Years in the ‘Pen”! Come to think of it, someone has already rescinded copy rights of the image to me for that purpose!
2 David Bennett Stinson September 8, 2012 at 2:09 pm: Hello Ron. Although I’m no expert, I suspect your using your own personal photos of book covers you own would be a violation of copyright laws even though it is a picture you took of books you own. The book cover image is copyrighted and ultimately, you don’t own the copyright of that image simply because you bought the book and took a picture of it. However, depending upon how you plan to use the images, it may come under what is known as the “Fair Use” exception. Here is what section 107 of the Copyright law says:
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include— (1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.
Given what your book is about – a scholarly review of baseball literature (my assumption since I haven’t yet read the book, but a safe assumption, I am most certain), you should examine the four factors and see if perhaps your reproduction of certain covers would fall under the Fair Use doctrine. Also, one would think the vast majority of copyright owners/authors would be more than happy to allow you use their copyrighted image since it helps promote their product.