I was tempted to entitle this blog "So You Want to..." because the two articles I'd share with you start with those words. Simjangssi asked a question in the previous blog and I decided  to share the answer with those who are interested everyone.

So You Want to Write A Book, Chapter 7: I recommend you read this if you want to incorporate a line or a paragraph, an image, a song lyric, aka anything that isn't yours, in your book. Something as simple as giving a dialogue you had with your friend to your characters needs some form of consent or approval. Rule of thumb is if you take anything from someone else's work or brain (haha), ask permission, credit and most of the time, pay.

Don't publish until you get the go signal. Publishers and copyright holders take months before they respond so better to deal with it early on. 

My favorite line from this article is: "Photographs-even those you take yourself may require a model release." Yep. You need to ask permission from your model that you would be using his image. It reminded me of the online contest I joined. That one-month experience in 2012 taught me to really look into end user license agreements. In order to use stock images, vectors, fonts, etc. for the cover of an ebook or print, I must pay for the commercial license.

So I use google fonts in my designs and then I subscribed to artists' blogs and resource blogs, so that I get notified immediately when artists put up their works for free or for a special discount, especially those that have commercial licenses in them. The offers only last for a short period of time, so I take advantage of that. I use stocks from public domain and make sure I can use it without an artist sueing me for using his image in my design without permission. For textures, brushes, patterns, etc. I obtained freely from DeviantArt and Brusheezy, I check the license or the author's note on what I can do with them. 

AFF is a paradise. We get away with so much because we don't sell them anyway. Still, some photographers don't allow us to edit or manipulate their images. So don't just use them in your posters. Respect the artist.

We are governed by laws. We have a moral code. Always ask permission and credit, especially with school projects. You don't want to be sued and expelled for plagiarism. Don't be careless. 

I know some already have problems following the rules here in AFF. What they don't realize is that there are more restrictions in the real world. Freedom is not absolute. Know your limitations.

So You Want to Use Song Lyrics in Your Novel?: The article enumerates the steps on how you can incorporate lyrics in your novel without the copyright owner suing you because you put one line of his song in your book. If you don't want to pay, I suggest you write your own and don't plagiarize.

Just to give you an idea I'll paste here a part from Anne R. Allen's blog article (the one linked above) how much one author paid:

"Here’s Blake Morrison in The Guardian talking about the price of using song lyrics in his novel South of the River.

'I'd restricted myself to just a line or two from a handful of songs and vaguely hoped that was OK or that no one would notice. My editor, reasonably enough, was more cautious, and at the last minute someone from the publishing house helpfully secured the permissions on my behalf.

'I still have the invoices. For one line of "Jumpin' Jack Flash": £500. For one line of Oasis's "Wonderwall": £535. For one line of "When I'm Sixty-four": £735. For two lines of "I Shot the Sheriff" (words and music by Bob Marley, though in my head it was the Eric Clapton version): £1,000. Plus several more, of which only George Michael's "Fastlove" came in under £200. Plus VAT. Total cost: £4,401.75. A typical advance for a literary novel by a first-time author would barely meet the cost.'"

It's not always that expensive. But at least now you know you need to pay. "Fair use doesn't apply to songs". No wonder fanfiction.net doesn't allow song fics either even if you credited the artist. But not here in AFF ^^ Do you love our site more now?

I strongly suggest you go to the linked articles and read them when you have time.  I tried my best to simplify it for you so this post and the one before this are not even summaries or overviews but merely explanations of what you'd find in the articles.

Divide your reading into parts so that it won't overwhelm you. The length is kinda scary. But it would save you a lot of trouble if you are aware. Ignorance is not an excuse.