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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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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Bowker Books in Print has just issued its preliminary estimates for the total number of books published in the U.S. in 2010. The figures show significant tends in the publishing industry, including self-publishing, in the religion field as well as other genres.
Here are some highlights of the report.
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Many people know that The Shack by William Paul Young is an amazing read, but few realize the book has a history that is nearly as dramatic.
Young was a Portland, Oregon salesman who began writing his tale in 2005 at the urging of his wife, Kim. It took him about four months to complete the first draft of his novel.
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Everyone has heard the cliche–”You can’t tell a book by it’s cover.” But is it true? Publisher’s say that cover art converts browsers into buyers. In fact, many covers have become iconic. A first edition of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby sells for $10,000; if it has its artistic dustcover, it is worth $80,000.
The CBS show Sunday Morning takes a fascinating look at the power of book covers and ponders their future as e-books become more popular.
