Have you heard the latest on image rights? If you are using a picture you've gotten online, you know,Googled and fixed it up a bit and slapped it on your banner. Or cropped and photoshopped it and slapped on your Hunk of the Week, of Hump Day or Eye Candy, the photographers with copyrights will sue your pants off.
Just as we authors lament piracy, these photographers have a right to demand you ask their permission to use their pictures or pay for them. I recall when I was looking for a dagger to use on the cover of my book... that is when I tried to self-publish it before my super agent Leticia found a home for it, I found a beautiful kris dagger online. It is in a gallery somewhere in Mississippi. I e-mailed the guy gazillion times but never heard from him. Needless to say, I never used that daggger.
Also, I use a painted picture on my YALITCHAT and Youtube Channel, which reminds me of my MC in the Guardian Legacy series. I saw the picture and fell in love with it, so I contacted the artist. He's an Italian painter and his pictures are effing amazing. I mean this guy is super talented. I love his work because they have fantasy elements and the paintings just pop. Once he gave me permission, I was happy to link back to him. Thank you, Artist (lost his link when I changed computers but will find it)
However, it is so easy to Google pictures and post them on FB or Tumblr or your blog. Not anymore. I know of authors who've gone over their blog posts and deleted every picture they've ever used. Others are changing their banners.
Will I remove my pics? Yes. As soon as I can. Here is the author who got sued over one picture and her lawyers were involved in the case and she had to pay the photographer for a picture she didn't need. Head over there and read what she learned from her lawyers.
Bottom line? Bloggers and authors, no more posting pics on FB unless you've bought copyrighted free stock pictures.
To buy pictures, try Dreamstime and iStock .
Lucky for me, I have quite a few pictures I'd bought from Dreamstine, which I use on my book trailers. Dreamstime also have some freebees, so always check the free ones first before you buy any.
Anyhew, just wanted to share. As for the saga of pirate sites selling your books, will blog more on that on Friday. It keeps getting worse...seriously.
Keep reading.
Great post! I've been hearing a lot about this subject lately. It think it's important to stay informed.
ReplyDeleteSo true. Reading that author's nightmare scared the beegeebees out of me for sure.
Deletethank you for sharing but i would love to know more about book cover can we use them in review or not, do we need permission each time from who ( author/editor/illustrator?)
ReplyDeleteYou can use book covers, Miki, as long as you link to the author's blog, or other online pages. This is publicity for all of us, so we don't mind. We also don't mind should you choose to add our books to your banners... I know I don't and most of my friends don't either. It's more publicity for us.
DeleteI haven't used any on my blog, thankfully. But I do repost things on FB and I'm on Pinterest. I wonder if that's a problem.
ReplyDeleteI don't about reposts, Kelly, but I know as long as it's online, you are liable.
DeleteGreat post! I've always paid for my images on this site which comes to only about 1$ a picture for a HUGE size http://www.123rf.com/ then you don't have to worry about being sued. Going through all my pics would take ages. Eeep. But this has always been true even though they weren't actively suing, they always could.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link, Giselle. I'm always looking for cheapter sites for pictures, especially for my trailers.
DeleteGreat post. I've been hearing about this alot and it's a huge problem. I use depositphotos.com . Many have gotten into trouble for this very thing!
ReplyDelete