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Am I allowed to post book excerpts in a blog?
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I've seen plenty of bloggers do it, and I'd imagine that it all boils down to how big an excerpt you are posting.Keep it below, say, a segment of 200 words and you should be fine.
That's just an arbitrary figure I plucked out of thin air, and nothing official or nowt.
Review excerpts fall under Fair Use Doctrine. However, as the link points out, "The distinction between what is fair use and what is infringement in a particular case will not always be clear or easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission."Use good judgment.
"The 1961 Report of the Register of Copyrights on the General Revision of the U.S. Copyright Law cites examples of activities that courts have regarded as fair use: “quotation of excerpts in a review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment; quotation of short passages in a scholarly or technical work, for illustration or clarification of the author’s observations; use in a parody of some of the content of the work parodied; summary of an address or article, with brief quotations, in a news report; reproduction by a library of a portion of a work to replace part of a damaged copy; reproduction by a teacher or student of a small part of a work to illustrate a lesson; reproduction of a work in legislative or judicial proceedings or reports; incidental and fortuitous reproduction, in a newsreel or broadcast, of a work located in the scene of an event being reported.” Ibid.
I often use snippets from a book to illustrate a comment I just made in a review. For instance, if I mention that the narrative was vivid and engaging, I will include a few sentences that show that. Or if there was a deft characterization, I will show how that was done in a sentence or two. I don't know what the reaction would be to posting several hundred words taken directly from the book. The law is pretty clear on what reviewers can do, but what is a word limit for a "short passage"?I think Sharon is right about using good judgement. If you know the author of the book you are reviewing, perhaps you could ask permission to use a two-hundred word passage, and then note in the review that you have permission.
Contacting the author and receiving permission would be the best approach IMO. Providing a link to purchase the book and/or the author's website would be a good idea as well.
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The copyright law gives four factors that determine fair use. Since your blog would be for serious editorial comment, you would be more likely to have the fair use factors in your favor (than if, for example, you were simply using the excerpt to profit in a way unconnected to commentary on the book). While you do have to use good judgement and there isn't a definite word count, probably 50 words would be the maximum you should consider before seeking permission from the publisher or author. Also, poetry and song lyrics would have an even higher standard because less words are used than in a work of prose.
I have a question for anyone who might know!
I'd like to start a blog about books and one thing I'd really like to do is post excerpts for each one I review. Personally, nothing will make me jump up and purchase a book faster than reading a really good excerpt from it. And it's so rare to find book reviews with that feature! But, is that rare for a reason? Meaning, is it even legal to post an excerpt from a book if that excerpt hasn't been officially released? Or do I have to contact each author for written permission?