Ann Marie Ackermann, author of Death of an Assassin: The True Story of the German Murderer Who Died Defending Robert E. Lee, will be at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, on April 9. She will give a book talk with the Tippecanoe Civil War Roundtable. This is her third trip from Germany to the U.S. to promote her book since it was released by Kent State University Press in September 2017. This September, the German edition will be released by Silberburg Verlag. Ann Marie Ackermann agreed to write a guest post on the method she used to adhere to copyright laws in the U.S., and for the new edition, in Germany. Welcome Ann Marie Ackermann. You can’t control where lightning will strike. Your best protection is a lightning rod, so that when it does strike, the shock will be deflected. Copyright law is no different. You can’t control whether someone sues you, but advance preparation can help keep liability from sticking. Physicians ask for informed consent agreements, family lawyers ask for prenuptial agreements, and insurance contracts restrict the type and amount of damages. Each example is nothing more than a liability lightening rod. As an author, you need a lightning rod too. If you plan to reproduce images or quote other authors, you need to secure written permission unless the material is in the public domain. Good records of your permissions will help you and your publisher in the long run. Not only will it speed up the book’s…

You may think you left citations behind when you finished writing college papers, but if you are writing non-fiction these little footprints of authority are more important than ever. In school, your references to others’ work is a matter of intellectual honesty and under Fair Use of the Copyright Act, attribution of the source is sufficient. When you are writing a book that will be published and sold, your work no longer falls under this clause since the purpose is for profit. The responsibility for proper citations and copyright permissions rests entirely upon the author. When do you need to use a citation when writing non-fiction? When you are using a direct quote When you are paraphrasing someone else’s idea or analysis When you are using data, statistics, or any other quantifiable ‘fact’ that can challenged or called into question When you want to strengthen a point or argument, and there is a more qualified figure who also speaks to that fact If you want to give readers more information that doesn’t fit into the flow of your writing (although that can also fall more under the purview of a note) There are many ways to deal with citing your sources depending on how you are writing your manuscript and what you are writing about. This isn’t academic writing – those messy MLA and APA parenthetical in-text citations probably won’t make an appearance in your book. Chances are, you will use footnotes or endnotes to house your conceptual credentials. The…

Myth #1: “Fair Use under the US Copyright Law covers this.” It does not. “Fair Use” pertains to educational use only; not for profit. Publishing, however, has a commercial intent and therefore authors are not excused from seeking copyright permission for work that is not original. This includes photographs, poems, song lyrics, artwork, or an excerpt from another book or publication. Myth #2: “It must be in the public domain because it was published more than 100 years ago.” Do not assume it is in the public domain based on when it was published. Investigate copyright. Rainer Maria Rilke died in 1926 and for many of his poems, and their translations, the copyright remains in effect. Myth #3: “I am just using one line from a song. It’s just sampling and I don’t need copyright permission.” Wrong. Recent court cases suggest even Tweets can be copyrighted. There is no minimum limit on the number of characters, words, or lines under which written permission is not required. The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) is the leader in performance royalties for songwriters. Myth #4: “My publisher will do all that for me.” Incorrect. Your contract with your publisher will stipulate your responsibility to secure copyright permissions before the book goes to print. They might help you find the right language for your written request or even provide letterhead and a generic form to assist you in securing copyright permissions. A few publishers will do it for you, for a…