Hello everyone! I'm currently planning a how-to book on digital music and wish to use some screenshots from my virtual music programme/sequencer. Does anyone have knowledge of whether this is ok to do under the fair use act (since its sort of educational) or do I still need permiso from the programme owners? I am unsure whether I need to ask the owners for permission before pitching my idea to a publisher or getting permission to use screenshots first and THEN pitching my book idea to a publisher? Many thanks for any advice on the above if anyone has any!
I would suggest pitching this idea to the company that owns the program. But, if you haven't already, you should find out if anything on that program already exists.
This would be a good question for a literary attorney. Most of us here focus on fiction, where this isn't an issue that really comes up.
all material you see online is copyrighted, as you can plainly tell by the notice posted on such sites, so you can't use any of it in a book that you're writing to make money on, without pbtaining the copyright owner's permission... the fair use exception does not apply here, since you intend to sell the book, are not just teaching a class and only using the shots as instructional material... nor are you just reviewing the product... you need to study up on the copyright laws, if you want to be a writer of any sort... you'll find them here: www.copyright.gov that applies to the us, but any country that's also a signatory to the bern convention will have similar laws... and yes, you must have this all worked out before you approach a publisher,as they're not going to do your work for you and they need to know you have the requisite permissions, if your ms contains material from other sources... btw, rei made a good point about checking to make sure what you're writing hasn't already been done... you also should consult a literary attorney, if you're still unclear on any aspect of this issue... fyi, i've mentored many writers of non-fiction, have written for magazines and newspapers myself, so know whereof i speak... love and hugs, maia
