Copyrights

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ACEnders

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I'm sure there's a thread out there somewhere, and if you know where it is, feel free to direct it to me.

But...

I have quotes at the beginning of each chapter. I found these quotes by googling them online. I state who the author or speaker of each quote is. Is there something else I need to do to avoid getting sued if...when...I get published?
 

a_sharp

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If you have attributed your quotations as you say, it would be up to your publisher to take it any further, if at all. You're probably good to go.
 

Will Lavender

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For some reason, poetry and song lyrics are different than prose. I opened my novel with a long quote from Scott Turow's One L, followed by six or seven lines from Nirvana's song "Polly."

The Turow quote stayed. My publisher asked me to get permission to use the Nirvana song because it was longer than four lines (apparently four lines of poetry or lyrics is acceptable). I tracked down the publisher of the song (found their name in an article about Courtney Love), requested permission, waited about two months, and they e-mailed me back asking for $400 for only North American rights. World rights would have had to be secured through EMI Records.

I passed. There's a two-line quote in the book from the song which is perfectly acceptable, so I thought that would be enough.

My editor told me a story when I was in New York about a book they had published where the author used Beatles songs. She knew they were going to have a hard time securing permission for many of the songs, but they were essential to the plot. They decided to use mangled lyrics (because the main character often confused the lyrics) and sidestep copyright that way.

I realize I didn't answer your question at all with that post. :Shrug:
 
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FennelGiraffe

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As long as they aren't song lyrics.

One factor, among many, is what percentage of the total work is quoted. Since songs are quite short to begin with ...

Also, with song lyrics, the original author may have sold all rights to the recording company. Recording companies often don't see any difference between quoting a couple of lines and a "performance".
 

ORION

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Lottery has mangled song lyrics from Diamond Girl...and it was fine- no one knows the real words anyway LOL!
I had several epigraphs through out the book and they weren't any problem- the publisher takes care of that...
 

Gillhoughly

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What the others said about song lyrics.

Any other attributed quotes come under the "fair use' angle for copyright. You're okay there.

Bob Asprin used them all the time in his "Myth Advenutres" series. Sometimes he made them up to make a comedic point.

"Not much of an inn, if you ask me." -- H. Johnson.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0441011829/?tag=absolutewritedm-20
 

David I

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Sorry to disagree with everybody, but this isn't that clear-cut. "Fair use" doesn't actually cover quoting someone's work in your novel--it applies to reviews, academic discussions, and other non-fictional uses, not to embellishments of one's own fiction.

The fact that it is seldom enforced doesn't mean you're in the clear. Trust me on this. I and my publisher just paid 137 pounds for four lines from a WB Yeats poem (who knew his heirs were still collecting royalties?)

If quoted in passing--say, in an argument between two characters--you may be able to get away with it. Played with in the text in varius ways, you're probably safe. Quoted as a chapter head, less likely. Quoted as an epigraph to the book, less likely still. Discussing what someone wrote is fair use. Using what someone wrote to dress up your own work is pretty sketchy in "fair use" terms, and I think it should be obvious why.

Most novelists could only wish they were quoted and you probably won;t run into trouble there. Poets and their estates are stickier. Lyrics--well, within the text and just referenced or muddled or whatever, you're probably fine, but as quotes at chapter heads or epigraphs, unless the author is that famous fellow Traditional, you will pay. The music biz is rabid on this point.

Nonetheless, the time to worry is not until the publisher raises the problem. Write first, worry later.
 
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Another

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Relevant Thread to This One

I'm sure there's a thread out there somewhere, and if you know where it is, feel free to direct it to me.

But...

I have quotes at the beginning of each chapter. I found these quotes by googling them online. I state who the author or speaker of each quote is. Is there something else I need to do to avoid getting sued if...when...I get published?

Suggest going here: http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68584&highlight=Permission&page=3

Discussion goes beyond lyrics to "fair use" generally, so nose around.

Also note reference to "Stanford site."

Conclusion: what you are doing is risky.

Another
 

David I

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Discussion goes beyond lyrics to "fair use" generally, so nose around.

Also note reference to "Stanford site."

Conclusion: what you are doing is risky.

Well, I wouldn't describe it as "risky." The worst that might happen is that you have to acquire permissions--which might cost you nothing for some of the quotes--or drop them.

But that's a bridge to cross when you come to it. There's nothing illegal about having these quotes in your manuscript before publication. Live it up! Until it's on the editor's desk, you're still spending Monopoly Money!
 

blacbird

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In most of these discussions about quoting previous work by other writers or lyricists, there's an issue overriding the purely bureaucratic and possibly legal one:

Why do you need to be quoting the work of others to make your point? You ain't a good enough writer to do it with your own words?

caw
 

imagegod

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Why do you need to be quoting the work of others to make your point? You ain't a good enough writer to do it with your own words?

caw

I'm a writer/composer/visual artist...I can 'make a point' in nearly any medium...but I'm smart enough to understand the passion and 'density of meaning' a quote (of any medium) can provide.

It isn't about 'making a point' per se. Increasing the 'density of meaning' while maintaining accessiblity is incredibly difficult (Just ask Beethoven and his quote of Schiller...just ask Chagall and his 'quotes' of the Bible).

Offering just such a quote can help.
 
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