Do
I Need Permission to Use a Quote or an Interview?
As
you write your own book, you may find you want to use material that has
been previously published. You might want to cite a research
study, or use a quote from a famous person. In some
situations, you are free to do that, but in many others you have to
request permission from the organization that published the information
or from the person who you want to quote.
These are some general guidelines to help you determine what materials
require permission, and to give you some tools for doing that. You
should have your manuscript reviewed by an intellectual property
attorney or permissions professionals if you have any doubts about
whether a piece needs permission or not.
As author, whether you find a traditional publisher, or are
self-published, are responsible for
• Determining what you must
obtain permission for in your manuscript
• Obtaining that permission in
writing from the copyright holder
• Paying any fees involved in
obtaining that permission
It might seem like requesting permissions would be an easy process, but
it can take months for some copyright holders to reply to your
requests. So it is important that you initiate requests to reprint
items that require permission as soon as you know you will have them in
your manuscript.
Many authors think they want to use quotes from lots of
people. It is common to consider using an opening quote to
set the tone for each chapter. But to the extent possible,
you should consider NOT using work from other sources. Using
others’ work too much actually decreases the power of your
work, and adds to the complexity of preparing a manuscript.
In particular, you want to avoid using song lyrics, poetry or sections
of literary works, unless they are integral to your book, and you plan
to spend the time and money to get the rights to use them.
Most of the time, you are better off summarizing information or
rewriting it so that it bears little resemblance to the original but
still contains the important information.
Ownership
of Intellectual Property
The owner of the intellectual property you want to use has the right to
say no to your request, or to allow your use the material for a fee,
which may be substantial. The owner will probably want to
know how you are using the material before giving permission.
Think about your own work. Would you want someone to quote
you without your permission in a work that you didn’t like or
agree with?
You should never go to the printer with a book before you have all the
permissions because you assume you will get them. You may
not, and then you would have to destroy all the copies.
Copyright
Law and Fair Use
Depending on the source, length, or nature of a quotation, permission
from the copyright holder may be needed to use his or her work. So, how
does an author determine how much material, if any, may be quoted from
copyrighted publications without first obtaining permission? The
Copyright Law tries to answer this. It is written
very generally, to take into account such factors as
• The purpose and character of
the use of material from a copyrighted work (materials used for profit
are held to higher standards).
• The nature of that copyrighted
work.
• The amount and substantiality
of the material used in relation to the entirety of that copyrighted
work.
• The effect of the use upon the
potential market for or value of that copyrighted work.
Although authors wish it did, the copyright law does not spell out
quantitative measures (such the percentage of or certain number of
words of) copyrighted material that you can use without getting
permission. This is a very subjective thing, and
unfortunately, occasionally is decided in court after an infringement
of copyright lawsuit. But you should err on the side of
caution and get permissions whenever you are in a gray area.
Case
Studies, Interviews, and Research
Many non-fiction authors use case studies and interviews to add the
human element through stories to their work. This is an
important technique and is important in creating a good book.
Whenever possible, the best approach is to disguise beyond recognition
the identities and circumstances of individuals quoted or referred to
in interviews or cases or examples. Generally you should use a changed
first-name only to identify people, and use such generalities that many
people could be that person you write about.
If you are an attorney, a psychologist, or a coach, for instance, you
may want to use examples from your own practice. But there is
a strict right to privacy of your clients, so you must be very careful
not to violate that.
If you attend seminars, you must be careful not to directly use
material you heard. This can be particularly difficult if you
are a life-long learner and listen to many other experts –
what is yours and what did you get from somewhere else? The
burden is on you to make sure you don’t take what
doesn’t belong to you, so you need to err on the side of not
using something you aren’t sure of, or rewriting it.
Many non-fiction books also include disclaimers on the copyright page,
using language such as: “Any similarity to actual people or
companies is purely coincidental.” But this does
not excuse you from taking great pains to hide these identities.
Getting
Permission
You will probably have to figure out first who actually owns the
material you want to copy. Most likely it is the publisher of
the material, but may also be the author of the material.
If the publisher no longer exists, the rights would likely have
reverted to the author. If the author has died, then the
estate probably owns the rights.
Once you determine the owner, you need to send a letter or email and
ask if the copyright owner will grant permission. You will
want to send a form with your letter that tells exactly how and under
what circumstances you will use the material.
If you are working with a traditional publisher, that publisher will
probably have forms they want you to use that cover all the rights they
want you to obtain.
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