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- Jun 18, 2011
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Three questions...
If I decide to go the self-publishing route and use a pen name, do I need to set up some sort of... I don't even know what... personal company? trademark for the pen name? or to publish under? (sorry if this is a dumb question... this whole process is confusing.) Like on the cover it would say pen name, obviously. Inside with the copyright, if I don't want it to say real name, do I put pen name, or how does that work since can you copyright something if that isn't really "you"? That's why I'm wondering if you need something legal like a TM or a personal company. (I understand pen names are not particularly hard to crack... just would rather not flash real name out there unnecessarily, either.)
Question two... in terms of being able to use brand names and real places, am I understanding that it's okay as long as you don't disparage the thing? Like is it okay for a character to drink a Sprite or wear Docs?
Three... I would have someone else make the cover art as that is out of my skill set. If one of the books has a few emoticons texted in it (I assume those are copyrighted) do I need to get permission/put something in there to use those images?
Thank you.
If I decide to go the self-publishing route and use a pen name, do I need to set up some sort of... I don't even know what... personal company? trademark for the pen name? or to publish under? (sorry if this is a dumb question... this whole process is confusing.) Like on the cover it would say pen name, obviously. Inside with the copyright, if I don't want it to say real name, do I put pen name, or how does that work since can you copyright something if that isn't really "you"? That's why I'm wondering if you need something legal like a TM or a personal company. (I understand pen names are not particularly hard to crack... just would rather not flash real name out there unnecessarily, either.)
Question two... in terms of being able to use brand names and real places, am I understanding that it's okay as long as you don't disparage the thing? Like is it okay for a character to drink a Sprite or wear Docs?
Three... I would have someone else make the cover art as that is out of my skill set. If one of the books has a few emoticons texted in it (I assume those are copyrighted) do I need to get permission/put something in there to use those images?
Thank you.
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