In this post you will learn what the Creative Commons is and why emerging authors are using it to promote their books.

Stop using google image search. Using those images is often illegal and they are not the best images anyway. Here are a dozen sites that are better and legal.

In 1977 my great grandfather wrote a book. A few years later he passed away. No one in my family knows who inherited the copyright. If a publisher wanted to reprint the book or make it available online they need permission to avoid breaking the law. But who should they ask? The copyright does not expire until 2052 so the problem will only intensify as his descendants multiply.

When our founding fathers created the copyright they did it to encourage the spread of ideas. Copyrights, like patents, only lasted 14 years. Hollywood changed all that and every 5 years or so they extend copy right by 5 years. The result? Millions of books have been locked in paper prisons rotting into oblivion.

Many authors are terrified that someone will steal their work. They don’t realize their true enemy is obscurity not piracy.