Expert: Amanda J Evans - 9/21/2011

Question
Greetings!

As a writer/artist with a slightly twisted sense of humor, I'm planning on posting some original, short lines of twisted verse on my Facebook page in honor of the upcoming Halloween season (some are as short as four to six lines, and some are a bit longer). My question is this: At some point down the road I plan on publishing a semi-illustrated collection of twisted verse and the like, and will likely be including some of the aforementioned verses that I'll be posting on Facebook. Is there a reasonable way to ensure that I don't run into any copyright problems or the like (such as, somebody else claiming ownership, etc.)? Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Answer
Hi Jameson,

copyright is a tricky thing.  the first thing I would mention is that if you are going to look for a publisher for your book down the line you need to be careful as many of them won't accept work that has been published elsewhere and posting them on your facebook page is the same thing as publishing them.

In relation to ensuring that nobody steals your ideas etc i would recommend that you place your name after each post you make, that way if they are shared via facebook your name is associated with them.

Regarding copyright a trick that most writers use is to post all their writing to themselves and not open the envelope. the reasoning behind this is that they can prove copyright if needs be.  

I hope this has been of some help to you and if you need any more information please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards,

Amanda J Evans