Now you have to be a lawyer too?

No, you don’t have to pass the bar, but you do need to understand some of the terms associated with publishing.


In the United States, and I believe the U,K,, a writer’s work is legally copyrighted as soon as it is put onto paper, in a digital file, or even on the web. Your title is not owned, but the story is. Even if someone takes that story and rewrites the character names and makes minor changes to the story, it is still your story. Just because something is posted online does not make it “public domain”. Public domain is literally without copyright, it is not owned by anyone.

If you are hired specifically to write an article, series of articles, or book be sure that you have a clear understanding as to who owns the copyright to the work. Generally work for hire becomes the property of the firm that hired you as a subcontractor, however a signed agreement is advised; the agreement may assign only first print rights or have a termination date at which point the rights can revert back to you.

In all cases be very sure who owns the rights, for what and for how long, before you attempt to sell the product or otherwise produce it elsewhere. The same thing goes for “kill rights” when you have been assigned a piece and then you are paid only a nominal fee because the decision was made not to print it at all – make sure of expiration dates and more.

Electronic publishing is still relatively new, this includes content for an e-reader, and downloadable computer files. North American print rights are just like it sounds and this is often what an American publisher wants in order to publish your book. This means you still own the property but you have sold the right to publish the work.

You are allowed to use a minimal portion of the text in promos, public readings, etc., but once you sell those rights you would be reneging on your contract if you released too much content or tried to resell your copy. First print rights mean that the work has NEVER been produced elsewhere; there might also be a termination date at which time you can resell your article – make sure you do not represent the work as previously unpublished.

Just as you want your rights as an author and your ownership of a work respected, give the same courtesy to other writers. Don’t plagiarize someone else’s hard work in creating your own. Fan-fiction is really violating someone’s copyright by stealing the characters and overall setting or storyline. Several authors will permit fan fiction so long as it is not done for payment.


Writing exercise: Take a favorite short story or fable and rewrite it by changing perspective or outcome. You are not going to produce the written work so make sure you destroy afterward.


Writing prompt: Pick up any magazine and open it to the first picture you see. In five words or less, caption the photo; base your caption on what the photo makes you think of and not necessarily what is in the accompanying story . Try this with more pictures until you find captioning easy.