On episode 84 of the WRITER 2.0 Podcast I spoke with author and lawyer Helen Sedwick about all the legal issues authors and aspiring writers need to think about.
We discussed:
- what type of business entity an author needs;
- why she recommends avoiding assisted self-publishing packages;
- defamation, and whether it’s okay to write bad stuff about people we know;
- how to avoid using copyrighted photos on your blog;
- whether it’s okay to use song lyrics in your book;
- whether it’s okay to edit blurbs when marketing our books;
- when it’s okay to use brand names in a negative way.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Plus, on “Today in Writing,” Ann Patchett’s This is the Story of a Happy Marriage (a wonderful book for writers).
About our Guest:
Helen Sedwick
grew up in New York City and majored in English at Cornell University. She spent several years as an advertising copywriter, but when she grew tired of being broke, she attended University of Chicago Law School, then moved to San Francisco where she has practiced business law for almost thirty years.
She’s the author of the historical novel Coyote Winds and the legal guide for writers: Self-Publisher’s Legal Handbook: The Step-by-Step Guide to the Legal Issues of Self-Publishing, which Joel Friedlander called, “absolutely required reading for authors who want to publish their own work…. It should be on every self-publisher’s desk—highly recommended.”
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