MSI Press Blog

  It is Tuesday. Time to tall turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. Today's topic is what happens when an author dies.  I just returned from my best friend's funeral. I know that dying is a reality. (Lost my husband last year, two grandchildren the previous two years; definitely, a sad reality.) Really, though, what happens when an author dies from the legal and technical points of view? Well, there are a number of issues that have to be managed. Some things are automatic; others are required by law; yet others depend upon surviving partnerships of various sorts (including marriage, children, and the like). We have had several authors die, alas, and we always post an " in mem...

    It is Tuesday. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. Today's post looks at copyright infringement from the point of view of authors who might accidentally infringe upon the copyright of authors. (This is Part 1 of two posts, the second post being about others' violation of authors' copyright.) What constitutes copyright infringement? For text:  Copyright infringement occurs when a copyrighted work is used without the permission of the copyright owner. This can include: Reproducing the work. Distributing copies of the work. Performing the work publicly. Displaying the work publicly. Creating derivative works based on the original. Essentially, any unauthorized use of a copyrighted ...

  It is Tuesday. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side.  This week's conversation looks at copyright again. (It can be a complex topic.) This time, the discussion focuses on what be copyrighted. It is a topic that is often misunderstood. Book Titles You might be surprised to learn that book titles cannot be copyrighted. That is why you will see several books sometimes with the same title. (Note: using a title already in existence can complicate matters and reduce sales both for you and for the person who first used the title.) Ideas and General Content You can trademark an idea that results in a product, but, no, you cannot copyright your ideas. We had one author who had a very frustrating ex...

    It is Tuesday. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. Today's post looks at copyright infringement from the point of view of authors who find that others have purloined their works. (This is Part 2 of two posts, the first post being about authors' violation of others' copyright.) What constitutes copyright infringement? For text:  Copyright infringement occurs when a copyrighted work is used without the permission of the copyright owner. This can include: Reproducing the work. Distributing copies of the work. Performing the work publicly. Displaying the work publicly. Creating derivative works based on the original. How can you protect your work? Your work is automatically protecte...