Industry

Join us as we spotlight various members in the Savvy Authors community. We'll introduce you to volunteers, members active in the Savvy writing community, as well as recently published authors from Our Authors, editors, and agents.

This week the Spotlight shines on contemporary and paranormal romance author Robin Covington. Her debut novel, A Night of Southern Comfort, has been nominated for Best Contemporary Romance from an Indie Press in the RT Book Reviews Reviewer's Choice Awards. Grabbing major league accolades with the first two books of “The Boys are Back in Town” series, her ability to blend sweet romance with suspense and steamy sex has her fans begging her to “please write faster”. With several books hitting the stands this year it's safe to say she is listening. Pull up a chair and join us as Robin talks about going from unpublished to an author with six book contracts, while juggling three jobs, kids and her very special Main Man!

It's great to have you here Robin, let's jump right in. Your latest release, His Southern Temptation just released April 1st and you're showcasing it with a blog hop from April 9 to May 16. Congratulations! Tell us what's on tap for your hop and where do we start?

Join us every Friday as we spotlight various members in the Savvy Authors Community. We'll introduce you to volunteers, members active in the Savvy writing community, recently published authors from Our Authors, editors, and agents.

This week we are shining the spotlight on contemporary and paranormal romance author Gina L. Maxwell. A self described romance addict, she has seen her debut novel Seducing Cinderella hit the USA Today best seller list in two weeks and the NY Times best seller list in one month after its release. Her follow up novel in the series, Rules of Engagement is due to hit the stands this winter and her fans can't wait. Fresh off her first official blog tour, please join Gina and I as we talk about writing a book in two months, mixed martial arts, and paying it forward as a writer.

Welcome to the Spotlight Gina, let’s jump right in. Seducing Cinderella, which helped launch the Brazen line of Entangled Publishing, debuted on July 20th this year, reached #9 on Barnes and Noble a week later and has spent every day since then climbing one chart after another, including the NY Times best seller list. This is a story you wrote in only two months! Why do you think you were able to write this story so quickly?

Join us every Friday as we spotlight various members in the Savvy Authors Community. We'll introduce you to volunteers, members active in the Savvy writing community, recently published authors from Our Authors, editors, and agents.

This week we are turning the Spotlight on Urban Fantasy, Sci-Fi and Paranormal Romance author Jessa Slade. Stellar reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and RT Times for her work is just one aspect of this multi-published author. With a tagline like: “Love Conquers All...Which Explains the Scars”, you know you’re in for an interesting time. Jessa pulls no punches as we talk about what it takes to publish, why you never stop learning and a brief stop in the Twilight Zone to talk about carnivorous aphrodisiac clams. You just never know where the mind of a writer will take you.

You spent years writing through rejections before being published in 2009 with Seduced by Shadows (Signet). What kept you going during this time and what can you share about surviving rejection with aspiring authors?

Nobody wants to see a publisher file for bankruptcy but unfortunately in this economy, it does happen. Not to bring doom and gloom down upon you, but I just want to make you aware of the issues in case this ever happens to you. This article is meant to give you pause to think things through before signing with a publisher.

As an author, did you ever consider what happens to your rights if your publisher files bankruptcy? No, it isn’t something that an author would think about. But questions do arise. How does the publisher’s bankruptcy impact me? Will I get paid my royalties? What about my rights, can I get them back? Can I move my book to a new publisher? Do I need a lawyer?

This article is a combination of that article (based on notes and lectures from a November 2010, class taught by Diane Kelly) updated with information I learned last week in the class "Taxes and the Writer" through RWA University taught by Stephanie Feagen.

This article was first published here on October 1, 2010 and in continuation with the other articles I'm re-posting on the beast called 'copyright' this is an area of concern that comes up a lot.

The Copyright Act (17 USC § 107) creates an exemption from liability for infringement for certain “fair uses” of copyrighted material. There is a four factor analysis that is fact specific and therefore, has to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis. Therefore, it is subjective and different courts could interpret the factors differently.

The four factors that are to be weighed in any determination of whether the use of the copyrighted material is a fair use are: