Consulting Services
Our copyright consultants will assist you in identifying your copyright issues and devise a plan for addressing them. Copyright laws are complex and typically not easily addressed with simple “yes” or “no” answers.
Consulting Process
Initial consultation
Copyright consulting services are provided either on an hourly “as needed” basis or on a project basis, depending on your needs. An initial 30 minutes of consulting gives clients the opportunity to ask general questions and identify specific copyright issues and concerns about their book, blog, website, and/or other forms of current or future publications. However, the consulting process typically starts with an hour of paid consulting to identify your perceived potential copyright issues. An hour of consulting occasionally allows time to research specific issues and propose a potential course of action. All new clients who engage us also receive a copy of our award-winning guide Copyright Clearance for Creatives. We frequently refer to these guidelines to help clarify copyright issues and solutions for clients.
Manuscript Review
The second step usually is for the client to provide details about all preexisting (third party) content they want to use in their own work. It is the author’s responsibility to ensure that all preexisting content is identified as such. For books, a complete manuscript review is often conducted to determine which preexisting content may be under copyright protection and needs to be cleared. The cost for a manuscript review is determined by the number of preexisting items and length and complexity of the work to be reviewed.
Proposal for Copyright Services
The findings from the manuscript review will be used to determine any additional consultation and/or clearance services that may be needed. If the proposed scope of work is more than two hours of additional consulting, we will submit a proposal with terms and conditions so the client knows what to expect in terms of time, expense, and deliverables.
The suite of copyright clearance Services we offer include:
- Examination of content/manuscript for instances of potential copyright protection and needs for copyright clearance;
- Determination that original source information has been provided to make the permission requests;
- Identification of primary sources if only secondary source information is provided;
- Establish copyright status of preexisting content;
- Identification of rights holders and contacts for permissions requests;
- Submission of request letters to rights holders, articulating the needs for publication and the potential inclusion of said rights holders’ work(s) within it;
- Following up on initial request letters to solicit the rights holders’ acceptance or denial for use;
- Development and maintenance of an electronic tracking log that provides the status of the acquisition of rights;
- Work in concert with the client to negotiate favorable license terms and conditions, as needed;
- Review license terms and conditions and provide guidance on compliance on said terms and conditions, as needed; and
- Assist with preparation of acknowledgments, copyright page, credits, and attribution, as needed.
Schedule Initial Consultation
When you are ready to schedule your initial consultation, select one of the three options below and click the “Add to Cart” button to initiate payment. Please note that this action will take you to the PayPal website. After we receive notice that you have completed the PayPal transaction, we will contact you to schedule your consultation.