Customer Reviews

Copyright Companion for Writers (Literary Entrepreneur series)

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COPYRIGHT COMPANION FOR WRITERS is an extensive look at the things writers should know about copyright, plagiarism, public domain and, international copyright issues, all of which can help make or break a career. Many misconceptions will be resolved and information will be shared to save authors and publishers from literary heartache and financial losts.

The thirteen chapters are short but potent as Ms. Evans tells everything you need to know about copyrighting, but never asked. The thoroughness of the information is a testament to the seriousness of learning the ever changing laws of copyrighting. Whether you are a new writer or an experienced, published author COPYRIGHT COMPANION FOR WRITERS will give helpful information about copyrighting: how it is created, protected and licensed. Copyrighting today requires a legal reference guide because of new court rulings and legislative amendments that are continually emerging due to the many technology changes.

COPYRIGHT COMPANION FOR WRITERS is an essential guide for anyone seriously interested in avoiding the legal pitfalls surrounding writing and publishing. Understanding the laws relating to the publishing industry is a must for survival in today's literary and musical arenas.

Reviewed by aNN
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

This book, along with the attached CD-ROM is one of the best guides for an author when it comes to explaining in layman's terms about copyright issues. The author goes into great and useful detail about every aspect of the copyright process. Copyright forms in pdf form are included on the CD-ROM to help the author along. All of the possible traps and the danger of assuming your work is protected are covered. In all, it is a worthy companion of Literary Law Guide for Authors. Those of us who are serious writers should not miss getting both of these books.

Copyrights are a matter of international law. That means that not only are they complex (as all laws are) but that there are several US laws, and even more foreign laws that might apply. This book is a concentrated description of copyright laws as they apply to writers. As such it leaves out a lot of points like those that might apply to individual or to a publisher.

For the writer, this is clearly written and covers the information that he needs to protect himself before he starts sending out his masterpiece. The book also includes the forms to be used for copyright registration and more. The forms are also repeated on a CD-ROM included with the book.

To illustrate the complexity, however, of copyright law, a question. These forms are US Government forms, therefore they are in the public domain. But these forms are also on a disk at the back of the book. The disk is marked Copyright 2007 by Legal Write Publications. How can you copyright public domain Government documents. And it is obvious that the intent of the CD is for you to extract the forms, print them out and use them to register for copyrights. But nowhere do I see a statement that says you can do that. As I said, copyright law is a mess.

I thought I knew everything about copyright but I didn't know what I didn't know! I have been a professional writer since 1989. I have published three books and written over 400 columns for a major daily in Texas. I've even served as an editor for two magazines. Yet, I learned more by reading this one book than I did in all the books I've read on publishing. The information is current, practical, and priceless. Kudos to Ms. Evans-Walls for making legalese interesting and affordable. [...]