By:  Darlene Bishop
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I am NOT, nor do I claim to be a legal or copyright expert. I am simply someone who has been writing for many years and has become familiar with much of the law. Always seek the government rulings on this and other legal issues. They are the final authority. 

I received a message from an online friend awhile back asking for my advice and knowledge about a question of plagiarism. In answering Maria's question, I realized that this is a common concern for online writers, especially new ones, and would be useful information to share with others who may have but not voice the same concerns. Maria wrote: 

My question concerns plagiarism. I'm clear on the obvious forms of plagiarism, but my situation involves a more conceptual aspect. I'm sure you're familiar with the "Chicken Soup" book series. These are all heartwarming stories on a variety of subjects, such as "Chicken Soup for a Parent's Soul" or "Chicken Soup for a Writer's Soul," etc. Well, I have been working on a book that also involves heartwarming anecdotes such as this, but that is the only similarity between my book and this series. The content of the anecdotes, the way they are written, EVERYTHING, except the general idea that these are heartwarming stories, is different. My question is, would this be considered plagiarism, based upon the idea itself? As you can imagine, I certainly don't want try to publish a book that would create legal problems, but it seems that if my book would be considered plagiarism, then every book based on the premise of sharing heartwarming anecdotes would also be considered plagiarism, and that certainly could not be possible, could it? I would sincerely appreciate any and all thoughts and direction you might be able to offer. Thank you so much! Maria 

My answer to Maria was... You're right, if all books about sharing heartwarming anecdotes could be construed as plagiarism or copyright infringement (the real issue), there would only be one book written on the subject. Or only one on prayer, or Baptism, or business marketing, or whatever... And we know that isn't the case. While I'm not a legal expert and don't pretend to be, let me share my personal experience and knowledge with you. I faced a similar situation when a publisher hired me to write a series of books about some of the interesting Websites and activities to be found online. We decided the first one would have a Christmas theme and he came up with the title, "299 Fabulous, Fantastic and Fun-Filled Things to Do on the Internet for Christmas." While we were aware of a series of books by Ken Leebow titled "300 Incredible Things to Do on the Internet" my publisher felt comfortable with this series, and knowing what I know about copyright laws, I was comfortable, too. 

Shortly after publication of my book, Ken Leebow's attorney wrote my publisher and threatened to sue us both for copyright infringement. While receiving such a threat was troubling, I know enough about copyright law to not be overly worried. Basically... 1. You cannot copyright a title, though you can trademark it. 2. You cannot copyright an idea, only the way it is presented. 3. You cannot copyright facts. The US Copyright Office puts it this way in their Copyright Basics brochure: Several categories of material are generally not eligible for federal copyright protection. These include among others: • Works that have not been fixed in a tangible form of expression (for example, choreographic works that have not been notated or recorded, or improvisational speeches or performances that have not been written or recorded) • Titles, names, short phrases, and slogans; familiar symbols or designs; mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, or coloring; mere listings of ingredients or contents • Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries, or devices, as distinguished from a description, explanation, or illustration • Works consisting entirely of information that is common property and containing no original authorship (for example: standard calendars, height and weight charts, tape measures and rulers, and lists or tables taken from public documents or other common sources) The gist is that you cannot use another's exact words... THAT is what copyright protects. 

So, was what we did plagiarism? Absolutely NOT! Had we gone through Ken Leebow's book(s) and pulled the Websites he had referenced and the EXACT descriptions he had used - without changing his wording it would have been. But how many books have you seen about finding things on the Internet? Hundreds. Has he accused others of copyright infringement? Possibly, but that's not the issue. Because of the pressure, my publisher decided to drop the series. By right of law, Leebow had no case (my publisher's attorney pointed this out, and the complaint was dropped). But my, and my publisher's, reputation was worth more than the hassle of continuing with this series. For this reason, I was ready to drop it as well. Again, that's not the issue. By my limited knowledge and interpretation of copyright law, what we did was well within our "legal" rights. If I had it to do over again, however, I would push to change the title. 

I believe that was the main issue of contention with Leebow, and the only one to which I personally felt he had a justified complaint. It wasn't my choice in title to begin with, but I was only a hired writer without much say in the matter. While titles cannot be copyrighted, and the intention was NEVER to make people believe this was Leebow's book, we realized too late that it could have appeared that way to him, his attorney, and maybe even the general public. My publisher simply liked the idea and wanted to create a series of books on a similar topic. The point is that the subject matter or idea behind a book cannot be copyrighted. Ken Leebow does NOT, and never will have, a copyright on finding interesting Websites and creating a book about them. What is copyrighted is the way in which the ideas are written, put together, described or explained. As long as Maria's book - even though it may be on the same topic - does not copy the wording of any of the "Chicken Soup" books, she has not plagiarized those works. 

Again, I'm not an expert! I would suggest that anyone with questions regarding copyright read everything you can find at the US Copyright Office, http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/. There is a lot of information, but it's in your best interest to take the time to understand this issue completely. I hope you also learn from my mistakes and make YOUR book - or website content, ezine article, etc. - as DIS-similar as possible to any others of which you're aware. Whether the infringement is intentional or not, the Bible makes a valid point... "refrain from all appearance of evil" (1 Thessalonians 5:22).  

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About the Author:

Darlene "Dee" Bishop has been working at home and online since 1999 and has discovered many things that work - and don't work! Visit her site at http://sensiblesitesolutions.com to find real-life, common sense website design and marketing solutions for your small or home based business.

  Team Business

   How To Get To "Yes" Quicker

   By: Tessa Stowe

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When selling your services, wouldn't it be great if you could get to a "yes" quicker? 

So how do you do that? There are several ways to do this. There are some low leverage but important strategies and there are some extremely high leverage strategies.

 Some low leverage but important strategies to use are as follows: - Make it very clear in all your marketing materials who you serve, what problems you solve and what results you deliver. Chances are the people who contact you will be "pre-qualified" and will be in your target market and will have problems you can solve. - Have testimonials in all your marketing materials which show results your clients have achieved from working with you. These testimonials will help you speed through the credibility part of the sales cycle. 

- When a potential client contacts you, find a "reason why" they should do business with you now rather than later. You can either uncover a "reason why" by asking powerful questions or you can provide a "reason why", for example, a time-limited offer. There are also some extremely high leverage strategies, which will help you get to a "yes" quicker as people will be "pre-sold" before they contact you. With these strategies you can dramatically accelerate your sales and the growth of your business. 

The first high leverage strategy is to encourage others to give you referrals. I will illustrate just how powerful referrals can be with my own recent experience. A few months ago I needed a new web designer. To find one I could have done several things, including: - do a Google search for "web designers" - ask someone whose opinion I trust. Searching Google is a time-consuming and risky approach. How would I know if the person I found was reliable and could do a good job? I chose not to go the Google path for the obvious risks. Instead I asked Bob Serling, my trusted marketing mentor, who he would recommend as a web designer. Bob referred me to Steve who he'd been working with for over six years. As it turned out, Steve fitted my criteria perfectly. And because of Bob's recommendation, I was effectively "pre-sold" on Steve. I contacted Steve, and once we covered a few administration details and agreed on the price, etc., I became Steve's client. Steve didn't have to sell me at all as I was pre-sold, so I virtually said "yes" to Steve immediately. So the question is how do you get client referrals? 

There is a whole series of strategies around getting referrals, and a good place to start is to simply to ask for them. But there is a strategy that's even more powerful than client referrals. This strategy will, all by itself, naturally generate a continuous stream of referrals and clients. This is the most powerful and most highly leveraged strategy for getting to a "yes". If you are serious about getting to a "yes" quicker - get yourself known. The faster you can get known, the faster you will get to a "yes" with lots of clients. People will automatically assume you must be good at what you do and they will be naturally attracted to you and want to do business with you. Put the time into implementing these strategies and into getting yourself known and the "yeses" will flow! 

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About The Author:

Tessa Stowe helps Coaches, Consultants and Service Professionals who are resisting selling their services as they don't want to be seen as pushy and sales-y. Her FREE monthly Sales Conversation newsletter is full of tips on how to sell your services by just being yourself. 

Sign up now at http://salesconversation.com  

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