Authors Electric

As I type people are going to the polls to place an X in their chosen box. I’ll admit this time around I really don’t know who to vote for. I’ve always voted Green but this year they’ve proved once again  (well to me at least) that  politicians really don’t have a clue what they’re doing. The reason I’m uncertain is the Green’s attack on my copyright. I’ll allow The Bookseller to explain (to read the entire piece click here ): "The UK copyright term is currently set at the life of the author plus 70 years, but in the "Intellectual Property" section of a policy statement the Green Party says it wants to “expand the area of cultural activity……. The EC1010 proposals would not only reduce copyright terms (to 14 years) but also legalise peer-to-peer copying where it is not done as a business….." Copyright is a big issue and I agree with them that our copyright law, as it stands is no longer fit for purpose (the internet put that spanner in the works). Wha...

Copyright Law is a writer's nightmare.  It simply hasn't kept pace with the rapid growth of technology or the multiplications of the World Wide Web. Almost every country has its own laws, but there are no territories on the internet.  The law of Copyright is struggling to keep up. As a biographer, writing books full of quotations, permissions are my biggest headache.  Publishers and the executors of literary estates charge a fortune for extracts. As an Indie author you will have to pay these fees yourself, but even traditionally published authors have to pay at least half of the total for quotes and all of the fees for photographs.  For my Katherine Mansfield biography , almost the whole of my advance was spent on permissions.  I had to pay another fee when I re-published it as an e-book. The Copyright Octopus Recently there have been big changes to Copyright Law in the UK and Europe - changes that will affect all writers - and we need to be aware...