Julie Broad explains how self-publishing authors can legally use copyrighted material under fair use. Keep quotes brief and tied to your argument, always attribute sources, and remember that facts themselves aren't copyrighted even if the chart presenting them is. When in doubt, ask permission or find licensed alternatives.
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What can you do with someone else's copyrighted work? It's a big subject, but I've got a few key pointers that every author needs to know coming right up. Hey, it's Julie the Book Broad with Book Launchers, a California based company that will help you write, publish and sell a fantastic book that boosts your business and helps you achieve your goals. If you're writing a nonfiction book, you're probably quoting other people's work in your material, or you've used other people's work as reference. In many cases, you're probably interviewing people, maybe on podcasts or over the phone, to create content from that. So what is considered fair use and what requires permission, and what is just outright not? Okay, first, here's the disclosure. I am not a lawyer, so if you have concerns, it's always best to consult with a professional who has expertise in this area. So that's your disclaimer. Don't listen to what I say. Talk to a pro, but keep watching the video. If you really want to get deep into this subject now, check out this free guide from Authors alliance on Fair Use. It's a fantastic resource and something that I use to check all the things I'm going to share with you today. So first, Fair use is a US Copyright law thing where it says that brief excerpts of copyright material may, under certain circumstances be quoted verbatim for purposes such as criticism, news reporting, teaching, and research. In those cases, no need for permission from the creator or copyright holder. When it comes to the fair use for criticism, I think it's important to note that it does not have to be negative to to be eligible for fair use. Fair use protects positive comments and discussion as well. As an author, we will often refer to other books or works by others because something they wrote or created inspired us and we want to refer to it or build upon it. That is fair use. But keep in mind the word brief. Brief, short. There's no word limit. It comes down to the amount of material used must be reasonable given that purpose. In other words, it's a judgment call. But unless there's a really clear argument as to why you need an entire section of a book, or the entire speech or the whole song, stick to the most important line or two and you'll be fine no matter what. Whether you quote it verbatim or reference it at all, give the original creator credit. I didn't realize this point until I read the Author's alliance book. U.S. copyright law does not require attribution, but how would you feel if someone quoted your words or references your work but didn't give you credit, that's pretty crappy. So give your fellow authors a shout out. A shout out. Now that's for critic or commentary. What about to support your point, which is how a lot of us authors will use copyrighted material? Fair use applies when copyrighted material is being used to illustrate, support, or prove an argument or point. But again, there's some limitations as to what this can cover, so watch out for entertainment. Basically, you can't use someone else's work for decorative purposes. This made me wonder about all the one or two lines quotes out there that get used just at the start of a chapter or even for a social media graphic. But I'll have to investigate that for another day. As it pertains to the body of your book work, it's to support your argument. Period. It can entertain while supporting your argument, but it's not just to be for entertainment. It's also subject to that reasonable amount of reproduction test as already talked about. And again, when while not required, it's just the right thing to do to cite your source One fun fact covered in the Fair Use Guide by the Authors alliance is charts and graphs. Are charts and graphs and tables protected by copyright? And if so, can I rely on Fair Use to incorporate them into my nonfiction work? I thought this was a pretty cool question, so here's the answer. Charts, graphs and tables may be protected by copyright, but the underlying facts are not copyrightable. My interpretation. Again, I am not a lawyer, but I read this to mean that you probably can't copy someone else's chart or graph and reprint without permission, but you can create your own with the facts. Given creative choices in the way those facts are presented in a chart or graph or table might be sufficiently original to warrant copyright protection of your own. That could apply to the original chart and or the one you create. For more copyright information, check out this video right here. It's important to note copyright does not protect ideas, processes, facts, systems, principles, or discoveries. Copyright protects only the expression contained in a work. There's trademark and patent law for some of those things, but I can already feel my video editor getting anxious about all these dry subjects. And how is he gonna make this video fun and entertaining? I mean, you guys give me a lot of credit for my videos and thank you for that. But seriously, some of the footage I send to my editor and he makes me look awesome. Well, you'd realize how hard one of us works to make me look good. Now what do you do if you desire to use someone else's work and it doesn't fall under fair use, well, you can ask them for permission, look for other works that can be used under certain licenses of use, or find material that's no longer covered by copyright, the copyright expired. Or just make up something awesome of your own again. Check out the fantastic white paper on this from the Authors Alliance. The link is below. And while you're here, make sure you smash that like button in appreciation of all the hard work that goes into making these videos fun for you. And subscribe to the channel so we can hang out again soon. New videos every Friday. See you next time.
