Copyright law seems to have been turned on its head in the Internet Age. Of course, I’m not a lawyer and am not offering legal advice, but it is important for Christian writers to be aware of some of the issues and trends related to the topic.
The question about copyrighting something in the Public Domain came to my mind when I read a copy of the Life of John Newton published by Attic Books, a division of New Leaf Publishing Group. It is one of a series of books on the lives of great Christians and this one was originally published by the American Sunday School Union in 1831. Curiously, Attic Press claims a 2011 copyright for the book. Can they copyright something already in the Public Domain?
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New York, NY (October 31, 2011) HarperCollins Publishers today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Thomas Nelson, Inc. for $200 million. The acquisition, which is expected to close by the end of the calendar year, is subject to regulatory clearances and other customary closing conditions. HaperCollins is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who also owns Fox News and many other media properties. HarperCollins also owns Zondervan.
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Most American Bible readers prefer word-for-word translations of the original Greek and Hebrew over thought-for-thought translations and value accuracy over readability.
That is the finding of a new study by LifeWay Research. A total of 2,000 Bible readers participated in the study through a demographically representative online panel. To qualify, participants had to read the Bible in a typical month either by themselves or as part of a family activity and not merely in a corporate setting. [Read More]
Michael Stern Hart was best known for his 1971 invention of electronic books, or eBooks. He founded Project Gutenberg, which is recognized as one of the earliest and longest-lasting online literary projects.
Hart often told this story of how he had the idea for eBooks. He had been granted access to significant computing power at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. On July 4 1971, after being inspired by a free printed copy of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, he decided to type the text into a computer, and to transmit it to other users on the computer network. From this beginning, the digitization and distribution of literature was to be Hart’s life’s work, spanning over 40 years.
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Many novice Christian writers are spending thousands of dollars to have “vanity” books printed by Westbow, Xulon and other pay-to-publish companies. Most Christian writers would be better served if they created a cost-free Kindle e-book to see if there is an audience for their writing before they enter into expensive contracts with such publishers. Recent publishing industry statistics support this strategy.
Amazon now has 950,000 Kindle titles available. Christian writers need to understand the impact of that if distribution and sales are more important to them than just saying they have a printed book.
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