Re: A story manuscript template

On Monday 17 July 2006 10:59, Lars Eighner wrote:
> On Mon, 17 Jul 2006, David Raleigh Arnold wrote:
> > On Saturday 08 July 2000 02:54, Lars Eighner wrote:
> >> On Fri, 7 Jul 2006, Beartooth wrote:
> >>> On Fri, 7 Jul 2000, Lars Eighner wrote:
> >
> > I'm jumping in late, but obviously neither of you has had anything
> > actually stolen from you. I have.
>
> I have never heard of a case of theft from *manuscript*. Of course
> my published work has been infringed. The subject here, however, is
> a *manuscript* template. The manuscript is not the final form of the
> work (one hopes).
>
> > If you are arguing about whether the template should contain a copyright
> > notice, it should. Often things are self published or parts of them are
> > posted on websites,
>
> Self-published works seldom appear in Courier New and works in *manuscript*
> should not be posted to the web as most publishers consider this first
> publication and thus the principal value of the work is destroyed by
> posting it.
>
> > and if this mss is converted to html for that
> > purpose it is not a bad idea to have the notice on it.
>
> And if I cut off a finger, it would be a good idea to have a pressure
> dressing handy. Some publishers want material in Word, pdf, or rtf
> format, but I have never heard of one wanting material in html.
>
> > It would also be good to include the comment about mss submission to
> > publishers right in the notice in the template. It is a valid point,
> > but no reason not to include the copyright notice in the template. It
> > is easily deleted. Put it in. daveA
>
> The copyright notice has no force of law and has not since some time in the
> '70s. It does not create the copyright. It does not register the
> copyright. Defects or the complete absense of the notice does not put the
> work in the public domain. It is useful in circumstances in which the work
> may fall into the hands of idiots who think anything that isn't labeled is
> theirs to take. But for that reason it is also insulting, and perhaps an
> indication of a defensive or paranoid attitude, to attach it to material
> sent to a legitimate publisher.
>
There is and has been an inherent copyright in your work as soon
as it is expressed in tangible form. But in order to collect
statutory as well as actual damages the work should be
registered.

It should be made clear that you are offering first serial rights
to the publisher.

-- 
John Culleton
Able Indexing and Typesetting
Precision typesetting (tm) at reasonable cost.
Satisfaction guaranteed. 
http://wexfordpress.com
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