Is it plagiarism if...

I'm not sure if you canplagiarise yourself. Wouldn't it be sorta like... kidnapping yourself.

As for the rest of your question, I will leave it to those with far more expertise than me--other than to say, if the rights have reverted to you, you shouldn't have to worry about that part.

Oh! I know this! (Being a high school student has cool advantages)

If 60% of the story is the same, it's considered plagarism. So...Change 50%, just to be safe?

It's infinitely harder to re-write an early work than anyone imagines when setting out to do it. I've done it twice and both times swore "never again," and the second time I really meant it.

That said, it's probably not so much a matter of whether you can do it, in theory and in the abstract, but a matter of what a particular publisher might be interested in, based upon the finished product and the prior publishing/sales history.

The biggest thing to keep in mind is that if you decide to re-write it, it's important to let your agent/publisher know the history before you go to contract, and let them decide whether they're still interested.

Personally, I'd recommend writing a new story from scratch. No hassles, and probably a lot easier than resurrecting an older project.

JD, not giving individual legal advice, just general information.

Does your contract with the epublisher cover rights to the work if they go out of business? If so, is it crystal clear. I think JanDarby gave you excellent advice, although like her, I'm in no way qualified to offer any legal advice.

I had a little bit of a similar issue in that, in my novel, I wove in a story that I had had published some fifteen years earlier. I credited the literary magazine that published it, but I never worried about plagiarism because I didn't think I could still from myself. But I suppose if I file a complaint against myself I'll take the Fifth.

Your "Obviously" might not be correct. I'm not an expert, but I seem to recall reading about the headaches this can cause. Better check it out.

Just because they went out of business, that doesn't erase the publishing history.

Did the epublisher sell its rights to your novel to another publisher before it folded? If so, they would have been obliged to inform you.

Plagiarism means to pass off the thoughts or writings of another person's as your own, so no, it's not plagiarism since another person isn't involved.

But you've got me wondering what "rewrite the book" means. Recycle the plot? Change genre, rename the characters, put them in another setting? Is it a rewrite or just a fresh paint job?

-Derek

Right, what dpaterso said above.

A derivative work can be one that is only 50% original. If the original material exceeds 50% then it becomes original in its own right.

You can be derivative, but you cannot plagiarize yourself - you essentially give yourself blanket permission to use any of your own work any time you want for any purpose you want.

Many (perhaps most) writers write derivative works, especially if they're writing a series. Each successive book uses a bit of the previous book, and the next book derives from the original book in form, characters, plot lines, etc., etc.

You cannot republish the novel sold and published by an epublisher without expressly owning the rights to the novel, but you can write a derivative work based on that book and market it to another publisher so long as your contract specifies when you're no longer under contract to that publisher. In that this publisher has gone out of business, you need to look at your contract, but all rights should have reverted to you and you should be able to do what you like with it. Check the contract over with an attorney just to be sure (most attorneys will do this for a small fee).

If you try to market the original work, you will have to market it as a reprint as it has already been published by someone else.

The status of your story rights could possibly depend on how the epublisher went out of business. If they declared bankruptcy, their assets may be tied up in the attempt to pay outstanding debts.

You're confusing plagiarism with copyright violation. I can't republish many of my own works because I sold the rights to reprint them; therefore plagiarism isn't the issue, copyright violation is.

I agree, check your contrast, see if you own the rights.

Good luck with it.

John Fowles had a big hit with The Magus. More than a decade later, he had a big hit with The Magus.

Dale

Laurie Champion said:

You're confusing plagiarism with copyright violation. I can't republish many of my own works because I sold the rights to reprint them; therefore plagiarism isn't the issue, copyright violation is.

I agree, check your contrast, see if you own the rights.

Good luck with it.

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Is "copyright violation" even the right phrase? I'd think it would be a contract violation involving a publishing contract. And as others said, the publisher going out of business does not neccesarily void the contract.

HTH, IANAL, HAND.

SilverTwilight said:

Oh! I know this! (Being a high school student has cool advantages)
If 60% of the story is the same, it's considered plagarism. So...Change 50%, just to be safe?

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Just FYI, I don't know what wacko gave you that advice (and I realize it might have been a wacko teacher...), but there is no set amount under which plagiarism stops being plagiarism. For example, if you write a ten-page essay, and half a page of it is lifted word-for-word from someone else's book, you have plagiarized that book unless you put that entire half-page in quotes and include a footnote saying that it came from such-and-such book. And if the half-page isn't word-for-word copied from a book, but is your own rephrasing of a book, you still have to put a footnote in saying that the ideas came from such-and-such book.

Keep that in mind when you get to college--there's no college professor on this earth who will give you a free pass if you "only" plagiarize 49% of your paper.

Karen Junker said:

I have a book that was pubbed by an epub that went out of business. Obviously, the rights have reverted to me, but I have no letter of release or anything.

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What rights did you sell in the first place to the epub? If you sold, say, first North American rights, then those rights in that work are gone for good, since there's only one time first NA rights can be used. And if you assigned your copyright to them (e.g. if you assigned them "all rights"), then the rights may or may not have come back to you at all. So, check your contract--if you sold rights and they reverted to you after X time or after the epub went out of business, then you don't need a letter of release, you just need the contract.

If you sold first North American (or first world, or first whatever) rights in that book, by rewriting the book and making some reasonably significant changes, you would have a new work that you could sell the first rights to again. But, while this isn't a plagiarism issue at all (you can't plagiarize yourself), like I said to the high school student, there is no set percentage of changes that make it a new work. That being said, if the rights did revert to you and you make changes, you shouldn't have a problem selling First North American (or first whatever) rights again.

Obviously, I would recommend changing the title even though titles are not covered by copyright. You don't want to confuse people by having two works with the same name.

benbradley said:

Is "copyright violation" even the right phrase? I'd think it would be a contract violation involving a publishing contract. And as others said, the publisher going out of business does not neccesarily void the contract.
HTH, IANAL, HAND.

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Yes, it is the right word, if the contract included assignment of the copyright.