Q: Having set Another Hope in an already existing universe, I find myself wondering if there was any concern on your part regarding copyrights?
No, because I wrote this book for myself. This is a self-published story and is not a commercial book. Yes, it is for sale on Amazon, but only my family, friends and acquaintances know it’s there.
Yeah, your family, friends, acquaintances, and everybody else who stumbles across it on Amazon.
Anna,
Yeah, Amazon pops up a note in your shopping cart saying, "you'll need to fax us a signed and notarized affidavit stating that you are a member of the Jareo family/friends/acquaintances group, or you can't buy this book." Somehow, I don't think that's happening.
Q: I also wonder how far a writer is allowed to write in a world and to use characters introduced by another author?
If it’s not a commercial project, I don’t see any problem. George Lucas’ Star Wars universe is fertile territory for so-names “infinities,” or alternate storyline material. Thousands of people write them, and they are posted on hundreds of unofficial Star Wars-themed web sites on the Internet. Lucas himself said that as long as no one is making a profit, he thought such tributes were wonderful.
Ummm... I think I remember learning this in about what, second grade? It's been awhile but the lesson sort of stuck with me:
If you pick an apple from a tree (paying nothing for it) and you sell it for $1.00, you'll have
a) no apple, and
b) $1.00.
Unless you are a horse, the $1.00 has more value than the apple. You have
made a profit. One could extrapolate this to: if you sell a book for $20.00, you have
made a profit. Even if it's your mom who bought the book - it was her $20.00 and now it's your $20.00. Hmmm. A profit.
Also... Rivka's friend says this person is a journalist?? Where did she get her degree, out of a Cracker-Jack box? I want to know which university it was, so I can make sure my kids never go there. It's obviously not teaching
journalism students about
plagiarism. I think somebody needs to call her professors and get them to revoke her degree. The professors will be easy to find - they'll be the ones walking around with paper bags over their heads, hoping no one will recognize them as her former teachers.
~Toc
