Dale’s Comments (group member since Sep 15, 2017)

Dale’s comments from the Navigating Indieworld Discussing All Things Indie group.

Erica wrote: "Proof anything can inspire an article--even burned cookies. New article:

https://medium.com/@egraham040/how-to..."

Great article!

Alex wrote: "I'm so glad I had help from people in this group because blurbs are one of my areas I struggle with."

You're quite welcome. I'm enjoying it so far. I really wanted to read it, because it has such an ..."

Little joke, but I guess you forgot. I suggested that blurb. ;-)

Theodore wrote: "I use the quotes to "instruct" or to "inform" my readers as to the content of my books...that is, to let them know something of the content by means of the quote. I feel comfortable with it. "

And may you never have a problem with it. (I mean that sincerely.) But I would still ask permission myself, for as a lawyer once told me about a rather different matter upon which I thought the law was on my side, "It doesn't matter what you think."

Thanks Alex and Carmel! I was surprised to find they thought it was all that important and engaging. Maybe I'll stumbled into another one someday . . .

Alex wrote: "Thank you for picking up An Unwanted Inheritance, I hope you enjoy it. "

You're quite welcome. I'm enjoying it so far. I really wanted to read it, because it has such an engaging cover blurb. ;-)

Theodore wrote: "Dale...really? To use a quote at the beginning of a book, with proper acknowledge given to the author of that quote."

I'm not a lawyer, of course, but from the website I mentioned:

In its most general sense, a fair use is any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and “transformative” purpose, such as to comment upon, criticize, or parody a copyrighted work. Such uses can be done without permission from the copyright owner. In other words, fair use is a defense against a claim of copyright infringement. If your use qualifies as a fair use, then it would not be considered an infringement.

Are you quoting to comment upon, criticize, or parody the quote? Probably not. So it is fair use? I'm guessing that technically it isn't, although it may not necessarily cause a problem. I personally wouldn't take the chance. I'd ask for permission. If nothing else, it's courteous to do so. One writer talking about this noted that performer Weird Al Yankovic, famous for his parodies of popular songs, doesn't need to get permission from the artists he's parodying, because parody is fair use. But he always does anyway, because it's courteous and helps promote good will between himself and other artists.

That, however, is just me. I obviously can't tell you what to do, nor can I give you legal advice. I'm just stating my understanding of the matter.

Alex,

By the by, how is your Inspector Stone novel performing on Medium? I haven't had time to read it, but in my defense I have picked up An Unwanted Inheritance and will review it when finished.

I ask because it occurs to me that if Space Operatic doesn't find any joy with agents, I could serialize it on Medium.

Thanks!

Today's Medium post: Flash fiction story "The Window".

I haven't looked into this extensively, but Ice on the Bay was reviewed by a Vine reviewer who also happened to be the owner of a blog that was one of my stops on my recent tour. So I don't think you have to "get your book on Vine" so much as get a Vine reviewer to review your book. Unless I'm missing something, which is possible. . .

Theodore wrote: "I don't think that's correct, Dale...you can quote someone and give their name. I've been doing it for five decades, both in my personal and professional/scientific writings. No editor nor publisher has ever questioned it. Not once."

Just because nobody has objected to your usages doesn't mean you're within the law. There is a "fair use" clause in the law, but it can be tricky to apply without input from a lawyer. (e.g., see https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview....) Probably nobody you've cited has noticed your usages, or if they have they didn't feel it was worth getting into an expensive legal tussle over it. Or maybe they were flattered that you quoted them and just didn't mind.

However, there can be exceptions. If you quote lyrics from a well-known song, for example, you could be sued big time because often a single line from a song is considered to be a substantial portion of the whole. Copyright owners regularly charge hundreds, or in some cases thousands, of dollars for the right to quote song lyrics, and they aren't going to turn a blind eye on someone who does so, especially if the resulting work is a money-maker. [After I wrote this, I noticed it had already been addressed.]

As a general rule of thumb, it is at the very least courteous to ask for permission to quote from someone else's work. I don't necessarily do so in a web article that's not going to make money for me, but in a book that I'm selling, yes, I'd get permission. Medium also has policies about this, which writers should understand before quoting the works of others in material posted there.

Ahem . . . had I checked my email before posting that, I would have discovered that they paid me a $100 bonus for that story. So forget all the gibberish about why the story might have earned so much.

Told you it was too early in the morning . . .

I'm pleasantly astounded this morning. I checked my Medium Partner Program payment information and discovered that instead of the $20 or so I was expecting for the month ended 3/28/2018, I'm getting about $120. What??!!

One story earned me a tad over $100: Flip Flop, a piece about how the indie writing phenomenon has turned the writing/publishing model upside down in one particular, possibly questionable, way. What happened with this story that didn't happen with the others?

I think, because it's the only reasonable explanation, it must have been featured in a Medium newsletter. It was published on March 20th and received the usual paltry few views/reads for a couple of days. Then on March 24th it received a whopping (for my stuff, anyway) 29 views and 17 reads. It had one more "big" day with stats about half that and a fairly consistent set of days with a smattering of reads and views. It ended the pay period with 71 + 113 views (I'll explain that in a minute) and 39 reads. But oddly it had only 2 fans who gave a total of 30 claps, which isn't a lot. The +113 views are, it says, "Additional views from RSS readers, Facebook Instant Articles, and AMP. These views do not factor into read ratio."

One other difference between this story and my others: it's a 5 minute read, one of my 3 longest pieces. I have one 7 minute read with 8 views, 4 reads, and 3 fans which earned nothing, and one other 5 minute read with 20 views, 9 reads, and 6 fans which earned $2.17. That was my second largest payment this period.

Without doing a mathematical analysis (which I know you all wanted to see; sorry, it's too early in the morning for that!), I'd say that the biggest factor in payment must be either views or total read time, not the read count and definitely not claps, although no doubt they are all factored in somehow. There may be some threshold, a "tipping point" that yields higher payment. There may be more than one, and I just happened to get lucky and hit the first one with this article.

It also might not be coincidence that the article that went big for me was one about writing, and not just about writing but reflecting on the consequences of the indie writing paradigm and offering an insight about which, as far as I know, nobody else has much written.

Eldon wrote: "That is the question. I'm curious, as readers do you pay attention to the epigraph at all? Do you find a quotation adds value to a story or is it just filler?"

Depends. I usually don't get the ones other authors include, but I've used them in two of my three Howard County Mysteries so far because I had a quote that more or less fit the book . . . in my view. ;-)

One thing to bear in mind: if you're going to use a quote, it's best to make sure it's in the public domain so you don't have to worry about permissions. If it's not, you have to worry about it and sometimes pay for the privilege.

Amy wrote: "Well done on Sky and Telescope. I think my husband used to get that one.

I've written this just because:

https://medium.com/@debzcooper/the-my..."

Thank you, and I enjoyed the reptile story!

Today's offering is my fourth Bernard and Melody flash fiction story: The Photograph. Enjoy!

Carmel wrote: "You folks are reminding me why I decided to self-publish, rather than try to convince someone to take my book on. I feel for all of you, if that is your goal, however. And I hope some day you get t..."

There are reasons to go both ways, sometimes simultaneously. ;-) I've learned not to expect anything, though. That way if I do get an acceptance, I can be pleasantly surprised without being traumatized by the inevitable rejections. I've actually sold a couple of articles to a major publication: Sky & Telescope. I'm thinking it's about time to send them another piece, which I've had in the back of my head for probably six or eight months.

Nice articles, both of you. Clapped and commented.

Carmel wrote: "Dale wrote: "Theodore wrote: "Dale wrote: "Ted and I both have stories in this week's contest, although we aren't eligible for the reader's choice so you don't have to vote for either of us. But I ..."

Thank you, Carmel!

Today's posts:

The Forest - A flash fiction tale.

Columbia, Maryland - Second in a short series on the setting of my Howard County Mysteries.

Theodore wrote: "Dale wrote: "Ted and I both have stories in this week's contest, although we aren't eligible for the reader's choice so you don't have to vote for either of us. But I like his story, and the pictur..."

Thank you! I enjoyed yours, as well. The end nicely caught me by surprise.