Helen Sedwick's Blog, page 3
February 21, 2015
How to Register Your Blog with the US Copyright Office
Voila! My Certificate of Registration for my blog content!
Some people say it can’t be done—registering the copyright in a blog. It can, if you understand the quirks of the US Copyright Office.
I explained those quirks in September 2014 when Nina Amir asked me to write a post about protecting website and blog content. See, How to Protect Your Blog Content.
In that post, I explained that there are a few tricks to registering web content. Without knowing these tricks, you are likely to run into a...
February 17, 2015
Who Owns Love Letters and Other Questions
Readers send me the most interesting questions, many of which I need to sit back and consider. I enjoy these questions and want to share them. I figure many writers have similar questions.
Here are some of my favorites:
Question: I’ve been enjoying your blog and I have a question. I have set my mystery novel in Ithaca, NY and used real businesses such as restaurants for the settings. Do I need the owners’ permission? I have a murder take place at one restaurant.
Answer: Whether you need permissi...
January 25, 2015
What do Shakespeare and Jane Austen have in common?
Their works have spawned countless remakes and retellings. Stately manor houses have been transformed into zombies hideouts. Characters have been transported to New York tenements. Star Trek’s Klingons recite Hamlet’s soliloquies.
And since Shakespeare and Austen’s works are in the public domain, all of these remakes are legal.
Books, settings, characters, and stories in the public domain are a rich source of material for writers, as they should be. When a classic tale is retold, writers explor...
January 16, 2015
99 Cent Countdown Deal on Self-Publisher’s Legal Handbook
Unt
il January 21, 2015, the Kindle version Self-Publisher’s Legal Handbook will be on sale for 99 cents.
Click here to be redirected.
For those of you who have been putting it off, now’s the time.
“This vital resource for every self-publisher clearly outlines the legal issues authors need to know. Self-Publisher’s Legal Handbook is likely to become one of the most valuable resources a self-publisher can own…. Well-written and authoritative yet unhampered by legalese…. Outstanding. This is a book...
January 4, 2015
Think Like a Publisher (and Release Your Inner Badass)
I s
ee this all too often.
A writer wants to self-publish without being a publisher.
She hands off her manuscript to a company like AuthorHouse, IUniverse or WestBow Press without doing any homework. She doesn’t even research the company’s reputation until she realizes she’s made a mistake.
He buys a template cover, then discovers five other books that look just like his.
She doesn’t understand a contract, but signs it anyway, assuming it can’t be changed.
He is talked into buying videos, blog tour...
December 15, 2014
Don’t Let Your Hollywood Dream Turn into a Nightmare
With the successful adaptation of Cheryl Strayed’s WILD, many authors are imaging their books on the big screen. What writer hasn’t cast a movie star into their leading role or heard the perfect song for their opening credits? I certainly have. (Matt Damon, Coyote Winds is ready for your review anytime!)
I suspect many independently published book could be transformed into powerful, money-making films, if only they made it into the hands of the right people.
But a word of warning: there are com...
December 5, 2014
How to Tell Which Self-Publishing Company is Right for You
The following is an update on a post I wrote for Joel Friedlander’s ever-helpful blog at TheBookDesigner.com.
On the path to self-publishing, your first decision will be whether to:
Engage a self-publishing service company (SPSC) to do everything from editing to distribution. Some SPSCs are BookLocker, Mill City Press, Outskirts Press and Dog Ear Press.
Do it yourself (DIY) by hiring editors, designers, and other freelancers, and uploading your finished, formatted cover and manuscript to POD pro...
November 9, 2014
Using Fiction Techniques For Writing Nonfiction
Long before I wrote the Legal Handbook, I wrote tons of fiction. I have short stories, screenplays, children’s books, and half-finished novels stuffed into drawers, both real and virtual.
Since my day job is practicing law (a 95% left-brain activity), writing kept my imaginative right-brain alive. Whether or not you believe in the whole left brain-right brain dichotomy, I know when I don’t have time to use the creative (right and write) part of my brain, I turn into a grump. Just ask my family...
October 28, 2014
Welcome to the Hotel Author Solutions
Last week, I spoke at a conference where Keith Ogorek, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Author Solutions, gave a keynote address. I was curious to hear how he pitched the various Author Solutions self-publishing service companies. After all, their prices are high and their reputations dismal, yet they still pull in tens of thousands of new self-publishing writers each year. How did the marketing man himself sell his companies? Did he trash CreateSpace, Smashwords, Outskirts Press and oth...
October 19, 2014
Negotiating With a Book Publisher: 7 Deal Points to Confirm Before You Sign On The Dotted Line. (Guest Post by Jody Rein)
Today, I am running a guest post by Jody Rein, a book publishing consultant, literary agent and former executive editor with Big 10, Big 6, Big 5 publishers in New York. She shares some helpful advice on understanding and negotiating publishing contracts.
A traditional book publisher has offered you a contract—hallelujah! But…now what?
I always negotiate book publishing contracts in (at least) two stages. I recommend you do this as well.
Stage one: Agree upon the key deal points.
Stage two: Revie...
