Copyright question

[cawastedyouth]

I'm working on a website for someone who wants to create an anthology of work that is from people who have submitted to her.

One of the first things she said to me was, "I want some disclaimer that they sign their copyrights over to me."

I stopped her and said that she would have plenty of competition from sites like Lit (I didn't use Lit in the reference) that create online anthologies and allow original authors to keep their copyrights.

"We'll I'll look into that." Although I may end up losing the client because I don't think she liked being told 'no'.

Just your thoughts: would you post to a website like this?

I think my opinion comes across so I am afraid this is a very biased question. But just your thoughts so I can help compose my case to her. Thank you in advance

 

[sr71plt]

I'm working on a website for someone who wants to create an anthology of work that is from people who have submitted to her.

One of the first things she said to me was, "I want some disclaimer that they sign their copyrights over to me."

I stopped her and said that she would have plenty of competition from sites like Lit (I didn't use Lit in the reference) that create online anthologies and allow original authors to keep their copyrights.

"We'll I'll look into that." Although I may end up losing the client because I don't think she liked being told 'no'.

Just your thoughts: would you post to a website like this?

I think my opinion comes across so I am afraid this is a very biased question. But just your thoughts so I can help compose my case to her. Thank you in advance

It wouldn't be the copyright being signed over; it would be the use rights (which could be total and thus have the same effect). She could make this demand, if she wanted to, and if someone bit on it, she could take full use rights. (There are a whole lot of separate rights in that bundle, though--e.g., electronic, print, translation, movie, serial, specific market--so if she wanted it to stick she'd have to learn the right wording to put into a written contract.) No written contract, no transfer of the rights.

Whether I'd do it would depend on whether she was offering more money for those rights than I thought I could get elsewhere. There are instances when I prefer to transfer all rights, actually--when I think the lump sum is going to be more and/or if I think it's less troublesome to maintain than in granting only partial use rights.

I get the impression she's not paying at all (true?). If so, yes, someone would be a chump to transfer full rights to her. They can post their stuff here and get more readers than any new site is going to be able to gin up for decades.

 

[StephenThorn]

I'm working on a website for someone who wants to create an anthology of work that is from people who have submitted to her.

One of the first things she said to me was, "I want some disclaimer that they sign their copyrights over to me."
I think my opinion comes across so I am afraid this is a very biased question. But just your thoughts so I can help compose my case to her. Thank you in advance

I'd tell her to find someone else to do her crooked work.
Actually, if I went to such a site and just couldn't resist the urge to post on it (somebody hold me back!) I'd only post PART of anything -- not the whole story/poem. Just enough that someone who read it and loved it could contact me and throw money at me or something for the whole item. I even do that on legit sites wherein I keep my rights -- what I post is slightly different from the real, complete item so I can keep some limited control and monitoring of it.

So tell your client that it's her website and if she wants to waste money creating something that will gather dust, it's her money to waste. But she won't see me posting anything there...unless she gives me a blowjob first.

 

[Guest]

I'm working on a website for someone who wants to create an anthology of work that is from people who have submitted to her.

One of the first things she said to me was, "I want some disclaimer that they sign their copyrights over to me."

I stopped her and said that she would have plenty of competition from sites like Lit (I didn't use Lit in the reference) that create online anthologies and allow original authors to keep their copyrights.

"We'll I'll look into that." Although I may end up losing the client because I don't think she liked being told 'no'.

Just your thoughts: would you post to a website like this?

I think my opinion comes across so I am afraid this is a very biased question. But just your thoughts so I can help compose my case to her. Thank you in advance

Lit states that the author keeps their copyright to their work. I have seen other writing sites etc... that allow the same thing. I would not participate in something like that because she is just the web host... NOT the creator

 

[Selena_Kitt]

Is she looking to e-publish something? Like an ebook anthology?

Or just host stories on a web site? (there is a difference )

 

[Boxlicker101]

I'm working on a website for someone who wants to create an anthology of work that is from people who have submitted to her.

One of the first things she said to me was, "I want some disclaimer that they sign their copyrights over to me."

I stopped her and said that she would have plenty of competition from sites like Lit (I didn't use Lit in the reference) that create online anthologies and allow original authors to keep their copyrights.

"We'll I'll look into that." Although I may end up losing the client because I don't think she liked being told 'no'.

Just your thoughts: would you post to a website like this?

I think my opinion comes across so I am afraid this is a very biased question. But just your thoughts so I can help compose my case to her. Thank you in advance

I am not vain enough to think of my smutty stories as being great literature, but there is a market for some of them. I know that, because some of them have appeared in print, and I have received small amounts of money for permitting this.

I have no problem posting stories here, because I know I retain all rights to them. Some of those that have been published are still here available for free. If your client wants to buy the rights to stories, and pay adequately for them, that is one thing. However, if she expects us to give them to her so she alone can profit from them, that is quite another.

In other words" What's in it for me?