A freelance writer lives their life day to day by the work contracted out to them. One would consider themselves as an entrepreneur and not having to deal with the overhead of a big company. Another person may say, living paycheck to pay check because sometimes the work is not always steady.
A writer may sometimes carry their worth by the amount of articles published and owned by them. The main way for protection for a writer is to have their work copy written. The site Dictionary.com states the definition as, the exclusive right to make copies, license, and otherwise exploit a literary, musical, or artistic work, whether printed, audio, video, etc.: works granted such right by law on or after January 1, 1978, are protected for the lifetime of the author or creator and for a period of 50 years after his or her death.
Today you have contracts called work for hire, where it states that a company owns the rights to the work done and if one were to publish this as their own its an infringement. There are two ways in which work for hire works 1) an employee creating copyrightable work in the course of his/her employment; or 2) work specially ordered or commissioned. This may seem unfair but as it shows that is how things go. As a writer it is so important to make sure one looks over their contract when working with a company to see if they have this in their paperwork, (Circular 1 Copyright Basics, pg. 2).
As a freelancer and when doing a work for hire, a writer has to make sure it states that in the contract as “work for hire”, if this is not stated than its not work for hire, besides you are an employee of the company in which you are writing for.
As a writer there is a way in which to cover your bases, it would be to register your work. By logging onto to http://www.copyright.gov/eco/. For a small fee of $35 and a copy of the work, you are legally binding this piece of work and showing ownership. It will show the year, the copyright and the name in who owns the work.
Sometimes in order to get what your worth you have to take five steps instead of two. Instead of writing a piece and publishing your work, take the time to register with the library of congress and paying the fee. Also, when working as a collaborative with someone else, take the time to read the contract thoroughly before signing. Generally speaking many want to be known for their writing, but if you don’t have the proper protection no one will know who you are and the value of your writings.
Original Wedding Bands of Constance Thomas
Many people feel that there isn’t any privacy when it comes to social networks. Let’s take wedding events for example. Couples today are using the Internet for more than just the search engine to find the best venue and caterer. They are utilizing it to connect many to showcase their everyday planning of their special moments, all on one site.
Mashable did a wedding survey with Carley Roney of The Knot, she states “It seems the rules of wedding etiquette are evolving as technology becomes part of the wedding plan. The faux pas of sharing information with those not invited is gone, and it’s becoming more and more okay to post openly, even to those who aren’t necessarily attending. We’re seeing a shift in the standard rules of wedding etiquette.”
Original Photo of Constance Thomas Wedding
Taken By: Jennifer Grant
Seclusion doesn’t exsist anymore. Intrusion in your life is what happens with any social netwok. It turns out about one in ten (8%) brides are updating their Facebook relationship statuses within minutes of saying “Yes,” while nearly one in three (31%) did so within hours of getting engaged. Mashable’s Social and Tech wedding survey, done in conjunction with TheKnot.com, shows that today’s bride is both connected and social. In other words, she has hashtags and QR codes, and she knows how to use them.
I recently spoke with newlywed Andrena Smith, who was just married this past November. Her planning process was shared by a Facebook group. When asked the question why, her reasons behind the social network she states, “to save on invitations because when we first made the group no one in the group were apart unless they were special.” The page was made private but with privacy laws changing with Facebook, many were still able to see their information. She states, some didn’t make the cut to join the group but its not because she didn’t want them there. There were some that intruded on their site for information still.
When asked about the reason for making the group private, Smith replied “It was just more comfortable,” she continues to say “most of all we just wanted to do something different that allowed for everyone to be informed”. For everyone to be informed meant only a select few. Those select few turned into many intruding. No one is safe. So your wedding has now become public domain.
When asked would she share another important event via facebook? Smith ended on saying, “Hmm, I’m not really sure of any events that have the same importance, besides having a child and I thinkit would be awesome if we set up a page with the progress of the baby.” She also states she has no regrets on the openess of the social network.
