Re: [Long] Making Money in Technical Writing & Roger Peterson

["Linda K. Sherman" <linsherm -at- CONCENTRIC -dot- NET>]

Peter Kent wrote:
>
> >> First, the idea that the title is plagiarised is quite strange: The
> >> main titles are, after all, completely different.
>
> Linda Sherman said:
> > It doesn't matter. Titles aren't protected by copyright or
> > trademark.
>
> That's true. Still, I don't think it's ethical to steal a title!

I agree entirely, and I would add that it's usually not in the author's
best interest, from either marketing the book or in terms of getting
one's name out in front of the public, to use a title that might be
confused with another similar title. But there are times, especially in
the technical trade book business, when similarity is unavoidable. "The
C++ Annotated Reference" and "The Complete C++ Reference" are different
books but it would be difficult to create meaningful titles that are
less similar.

> > You could have called it "Tech Writing for Dummies" and the "for
> > Dummies" people couldn't do much except rattle their spears at you
> > in indignation.
>
> Well, that's not quite correct. Try it, and you'll be bankrupt before you
> ever get books to print! Titles can't be copyright, but a series style and
> title can be trademarked.

Admittedly they could tie you up with lawsuits but they probably won't,
not the least of which is that trade and mass market book publishers
aren't by nature litigious about these things (I have some experience
with this). There's sort of an unspoken gentlemen's agreement in the biz
that "We won't sue you over your book that you ripped off from us if you
won't sue us over our book that we ripped off from you." They're a lot
like Mafia dons agreeing not to start shooting at each other because
once it starts, it escalates. Most cases of actual plagiarism are
handled quietly behind closed doors.

In the specific case of "For Dummies", the title had been used before
they came up with it so they have no case at all and they know it. Same
with the "For Idiots" lot. Using their trademark or style would be a
different matter, of course. But there's no reason to be so arbitrarily
belligerent about using the title, unless you have some psychotic
deep-seated hatred of the For Dummies people. And stealing titles comes
under the heading of "legal but not moral", which means yeah, you could
get away with it, but do you really want the reputation? Of course not.

>
> > Doesn't matter either. Subject matter is not protected by copyright.
> > The question is whether you copied parts of someone else's work
> > word-for-word (or nearly so) without attribution and/or in violation
> > of "fair use" principles.
>
> Quite right. However I also wanted people to understand that there's no way
> these books are even similar.

Yes, after I posted my response I realized that the bigger issue is
making sure people understand the differences.
>
> > Yeah, people seem to think that writing trade books is going to pay
> > for a 50-foot yacht and a home with an ocean view in San Francisco. The
> > fact is, it's about the lowest-paying form of "tech" writing you can do,
>
> It's either the lowest-paying form of tech-writing you can do, or it's the
> highest paying form of tech-writing you can do. A lot depends on luck and
> persistence. (There are a few computer-book writers making $hundreds of
> thousands a year, which is difficult to match in plain old tech writing.)

I know a couple of the well-off ones personally and my opinion is that
through no fault of their own they happened to write the right book at
the right time--I can't honestly say that they earned their money with
any unusual talent, knowledge, or writing ability. But the /*really*/
big bucks come from the outrageous speaking and consulting fees that
they can command because everybody thinks, "Gee, the guy wrote a
book--he must be an expert!" Sometimes this is true, often it is not.

L.
--
Linda K. Sherman <linsherm -at- concentric -dot- net>
Welsh-related and other stuff to be found at
http://www.concentric.net/~linsherm