Disclaimer: None of this should be mistaken for legal advice. When you are publishing your book and are in any doubt about the legal consequences of your work, please consult with a copyright lawyer.
For three years, I worked for a medium-sized publishing company as, among other roles, a permissions editor. So, while I wouldn’t consider myself anywhere near an expert on all things copyright and permissions, I have done my fair share of digging for sources, emailing estates, calling rights holders, etc. There are a few basic things every writer should know, especially if you haven’t started writing your book yet. I think going into the process knowing what the challenges are can better set your expectations before getting attached to any outside material you happen to include.
I’m going to state the obvious here: just because somebody posted it on the internet does not mean it’s safe to print. The internet is extremely vast and difficult to regulate when it comes to copying images and text. Unless you find the image on a reputable news source, website, or blog, it’s likely the poster did not get permission for the image either. (In case you’re wondering, I get most of the images for my posts from a royalty-free/copyright-free, stock photo site called Pexels.)
Again, the obvious: just because it’s on Wikipedia does not mean that it’s safe to print. In most cases, the images on Wikipedia are either in the public domain or shared via a Creative Commons license (which usually involves a specific credit line when reusing the work). However, it’s best to still do your own research into the photo to make sure it is not copyright protected somewhere else.
Backing up a bit, what is the public domain? Per Stanford Libraries, public domain “refers to creative materials that are not protected by intellectual property laws such as copyright, trademark, or patent laws. The public owns these works, not an individual author or artist. Anyone can use a public domain work without obtaining permission, but no one can ever own it.” Anything from 1927 or earlier is considered public domain, and every year on January 1, work from another year moves into public domain (in 2024, it will be 1928; in 2025, 1929; etc.). Public works by government entities/organizations (such as NASA, Department of Defense, etc.) are also considered public domain.
There are a few oddities, of course. Much of Emily Dickinson’s work was published posthumously, so some of her work is in the public domain, and some not. Obviously, any government documents/images/etc. that you may be privy to that are not public cannot be published without permission.
What about fair use? Fair use is always a tricky, loose term to me, and I tend to stay away from it. A basic principle I operated by when working in publishing was “anything below ten percent” if the author was quoting from a shorter piece. Ten percent of an article could be a few sentences or a paragraph (pretty standard). However, ten percent of a book would be a totally different story. A couple paragraphs, sure, but an entire chapter? Not fair use. You can see how this gets sticky very quickly. Your best bet always is to attempt to get permission for use. People are usually flattered that you want to feature their work in your book, not to mention the fact that you’ve made a new connection. If they don’t request payment, offer to send them a complimentary copy of your book upon publication.
What about famous quotes or lyrics? I cannot stress this enough, if you are using a famous quote, please make sure that you are accurately crediting the person who said it and how they said it. Doing a few minutes of research and learning that something wasn’t said the way you thought or was actually first said by somebody else can greatly enhance your credibility as a writer. Do not forget, when crediting anything (image, quote, text, etc.) to cite the source, either in the house style of your publisher or in the credit line requested by the rights holder when you received permission.
When it comes to lyrics, you’re almost always better off removing them than keeping them in the book. Lyrics are heavily protected by copyright and need permission to be reprinted no matter what. I have been through the process of attaining permission for a short song lyric and, in my opinion, it was more expensive to use than it was worth.
At the end of the day, the big questions to ask yourself are, how does this outside material—be it a photo, section of text, or other graphic—serve my book? How would my book be negatively impacted without the presence of this material? Is there something in the public domain that could easily replace it? Would anyone reading the book get to that part and think, “man, I wish I could see an image of X right now”? I ask all of these questions with sincerity. If something is absolutely essential to put in your book, you can find a way to make it happen. But you have to understand the work involved.
Featured photo by Sora Shimazaki.
Hanna Etu 