What Is Authors Insurance and Do You Need It?

Have you heard of author's Insurance and wondered if you should get it? Our client April was wondering about that and it got me curious so I did some research. Stick with me and I'll share what I uncovered. Well, hello there. I'm Julie the Book Broad, founder of Book Launchers, your professional self publishing team that will help you write, publish and promote a money making impact creating the nonfiction book. One of our fabulous clients sent me a note saying she's read that author insurance is a good idea to protect her from a lawsuit and she was wondering if she should get it. Now here's where I play my Canadian card and say authors What? I don't know what you're talking about, but in Canada. Well, we're not suing you over a book or much else actually. But yes, now I live in the usa, so I figured I better get to the bottom of this. And let me tell you what, I'm suitably scared. Now, seriously, if what I researched is true, nonfiction authors could get sued for a lot of things. But first, what is author insurance? Well, essentially it's exactly what you think it is. Insurance against being sued for a variety of things that could come up in your writing. I'll cover those in a second. If you're publishing a book under your business, I would chat with your business insurance broker and see if you're covered before you rush out. And get this. If you're a member of an association like the ibpa, they have some insurance options. But what do you need to know before you decide if you even need it? Here's what I discovered. Fiction authors can be sued, but it's much harder to prove unless the words are copied word for word direct from an article in the New York Times. They basically said, except for cases in which language is lifted without credit or a character's name and likeness are used, claims of literary theft against novelists are difficult to prove and tend to collapse in court. I mean, fiction is made up, and unless you're copying another book beat for beat or word for word, it's really tough to say that you did it on purpose or that it was really wrong. Nonfiction is about real things, real people, places, and concrete information. And it's easier to go wrong on an article on Jane Friedman's site and I'll link to the New York Times article and Jane Friedman's article below. They basically suggest prevention is the best policy because even if you do get sued and you're right, you still have to spend money to defend yourself. So what should you watch out for one thing is called defamation. And defamation is basically when you say something about someone that is wrong and not nice and what you say causes them harm. Basically, if you say something about a real person that bad better be true and you better be able to prove it. Truth is your defense on this one. There does appear to be some exceptions to that. If someone's a public figure, there becomes an onus to prove intended malice. So if I get this right, you can say whatever you want about a public figure so long as you don't really mean to harm them when you say it. Maybe we should just all be nice to each other. Number two, and this was obvious to me and probably to you, is copyright infringement. You basically have to figure out if it's fair use or not. And I covered that in this video on copyright and I'll link to that at the end. And I recommend a great resource to help you figure out what is fair use and what isn't. Number three is Right of publicity violation. My friend Deb Cole was a bit stunned to find out I had shared a story of her and I in a Las Vegas penthouse bathroom in my book the New Brand U. I guess technically before I named names I should have gotten a release. It's not like there was anything bad or harmful said of her, but the right of publicity violation can happen when ever you use real people in your book without permission. My friend Deb is not going to sue over a non consequential story that was funny and told for fun, but I still should have asked her. And that's basically what you can take away from this. If there's any doubt at all in your mind, ask and get a release. According to an article on Jane Freeman's blog, right of publicity laws vary widely from state to state, and litigation against nonfiction authors and journalists for using someone's name alone to refer to them or tell a story are very rare. Now there are some other things to pay attention to. Violating a trademark so you can't name your book Chicken Soup for the Broads and your contractual obligations. If you've ever signed a non disclosure agreement or something with a company that says you won't talk, well, you can't violate that agreement. So what's the verdict on whether you need author's insurance? After about seven hours of research into this subject and finding very few people who even knew what it was, let alone anyone who actually had it, I would say that author's insurance is probably not necessary unless you feel like you're going to ruffle feathers or walk on any line that could be questioned regarding the above things we just talked about. To me, prevention is the best approach to this and here's my advice. Number one, don't copy other people's stuff. Number two, be nice. You know, do unto others and say about others that you'd want to be said and done to you. And if you have to be mean, don't use their real name. Number three, get releases from the people you do talk about. If you have any question into your mind as to whether you should put their name in there. Prevention is the best approach here. And if in doubt, what? Well then speak to a copyright lawyer and get Authors Insurance. Thanks for the question, April. I didn't use your full name here because I didn't have your permission and didn't get a release signed. I'm curious, have you heard of Authors Insurance and have you used it? Why or why not? Please share in the comments below. And if you have a question, ask me in the comments below and I just might shoot a video to help you out. While you're here, make sure you subscribe to the channel so you know when the next video is coming out. And they come out every Tuesday and Friday except for the summer when we're going to take a break. And if you comment the day a video is released, you'll be entered to win some sweet book launchers. Swag the hashtag no boringbooks, mug or journal. Here's a video on copyright protection that you're probably going to want to check out after this. But if not, this video here is pretty hot stuff too. So go ahead, click the one you want to watch and I'll see you there. Go ahead, click it. Click it now. I'll see you. I'm waiting.