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5 Common Ways Freelance Writers Get Scammed

Some of the more common scams hitting freelance writers...

By Jonathan Bailey on February 18, 2011. 11 Comments

Ever since I started writing at Plagiarism Today and especially since I started this column, I’ve been hearing a lot from freelance writers who have been scammed or otherwise victimized by unscrupulous clients. Though the good news is that such bad clients are very rare in the big scheme of things, they are common enough that almost every freelancer, if they remain active long enough, will run into one or two over the course of their career. So how do you avoid being taken advantage of as a freelance writer. As we discussed previously, clients have the playing field tilted [Read more…]

Categories: Best of FWJ, Plagiarism & Copyrights Tags: contract, copyright, Freelance Writing, liar, payment, plagiarism, scam

5 Legal Questions to Ask Before Turning in An Assignment

How to make sure you don't violate the law when trying to collect your check...

By Jonathan Bailey on February 4, 2011. 4 Comments

Turning in an assignment is the goal of pretty much every freelancer. It’s the moment where they can send their invoice, collect payment and, generally make a living. If you don’t reach this point regularly, you’ll likely soon find yourself looking for another career. That being said, the moment you turn in your assignment is also something of a point of no return. Once you send the email, share the Google Doc or otherwise turn in what you have completed, you’ve not only submitted that work for revenue, you’ve also distributed it to a third party, an important step legally [Read more…]

Categories: Plagiarism & Copyrights Tags: clients, contract, copyright, libel, plagiarism, privacy

3 Grim Legal Realities Freelancers Need to Accept

Sometimes the law just isn't fair...

By Jonathan Bailey on January 14, 2011. 3 Comments

In an ideal universe, the law is there to protect both parties in a contract equally. The freelancer and the client would both have guards to prevent the other from doing something unscrupulous or somehow taking advantage of the other. Of course, in an ideal universe, justice would be free, it would be immediate and it would never make any mistakes. Unfortunately though, we don’t live in a perfect world and, in many regards, that legal playing field is very much tilted against the freelancer. Not only do clients, typically, have more money but the global nature of the Web [Read more…]

Categories: Plagiarism & Copyrights Tags: contract, copyright, freelancing, law, lawsuit, plagiarism

Why Having a Pen Name Can Be a Risky Move

Why You Should be Wary of Being Anonymous

By Jonathan Bailey on December 10, 2010. 4 Comments

Having a pen name is one of the oldest traditions of being a writer. Even Homer, the famed author of the Illiad, is more of a mythical figure than a real person. Writer’s select pen names for a variety of reasons. Some feel their “real” lives might be harmed if it is known what they write, others just think a new name sounds better and still others want to try two different writing styles or subjects without interference from past works. In fact, even publishers can demand an author use a pen name, as was the case with J.K. Rowling. [Read more…]

Categories: Plagiarism & Copyrights Tags: anonymous, copyright, copyright term, pen name, plagiarism, pseudonym

How to Avoid Legal Trouble With Your Portfolio

How to Showcase Your Work Safely

By Jonathan Bailey on December 3, 2010. 1 Comment

Every freelance writer should have a good online portfolio, a place to showcase their best works and examples of the kinds of writing that they do. However, creating a portfolio is not as simple as choosing the best writing that you’ve done for your clients and putting up copies or even snippets on your site. Not only might this be considered bad form on the part of your clients, but there may be legal issues that prevent you being able to do so. So as many of us begin to look toward the new year and seek out ways to [Read more…]

Categories: Plagiarism & Copyrights Tags: content, copyright, libel, plagiarism, portfolio, privacy, trademark

5 Lessons From the Cooks Source Case for Freelancers

What We Can All Learn From Monica Gaudio's Tale

By Jonathan Bailey on November 19, 2010. 5 Comments

If you’re a freelance writers, there’s a very good chance that you’ve been following the Cooks Source case for the last week or two. To recap what happened, Monica Gaudio, a freelance writer, discovered that an article she had written on the history of apple pies had been used in its entirety by a small New England magazine entitled Cooks Source. Though the use was attributed, making it a copyright infringement and not a plagiarism, she was understandably upset and sought an apology and a $130 donation to the Columbia School of Journalism. The editor of Cooks Source, Judith Griggs, [Read more…]

Categories: Plagiarism & Copyrights Tags: cooks source, copyright, copyright infringement, copyright law, freelance, Freelance Writing, plagiarism, public domain

5 Simple Legal Mistakes Freelancers Commonly Make

How Ignorance of the Law Can Cause Big Trouble

By Jonathan Bailey on November 12, 2010. 4 Comments

For a freelance writer, there is a lot of legal ground to cover. Copyright, trademark, privacy, libel and contract law are just some of the areas any freelancer needs to be familiar with to ensure that their rights are protected and they stay on the right side of the law. The reason is that, in addition to signing deals and getting payment for a service, you are creating content that will be distributed to a global audience. This puts a lot of responsibility on you and everything you right to be accurate, non-infringing and non-invasive. Still, we are all human [Read more…]

Categories: Plagiarism & Copyrights Tags: contract, copyright, google, libel, mistakes, plagiarism, privacy, trademark

Derivative Works: Creations That Look Familiar

When Is One Work Too Much Like Another

By Jonathan Bailey on October 29, 2010. 6 Comments

One of the most common questions I get asked about copyright law is “How much do I need to change in (insert creation name) in order to use it without infringing copyright?” Whether they are asking because someone reused their work or they are thinking about doing it to someone else, these people are usually asking the wrong question. Likely misled by rumors of a 10 percent rule or something similar, many think there’s some magic number that lets themselves or others skirt copyright law by creating a new work from an old with minimal work. Unfortunately, these people often [Read more…]

Categories: Plagiarism & Copyrights Tags: copyright, copyright law, derivative works, fair use, plagiarism

Is Your Work Really a Work for Hire?

Who Really Owns Your Freelance Work?

By Jonathan Bailey on October 8, 2010. 3 Comments

Many freelance writers don’t fully understand copyright law and mistakenly believe that the fact they are paid for a work means that they don’t hold the copyright in it. In short, since they were hired to do a particular job, that the work becomes a work for hire and they also transfer copyright in the work to the buyer. However, that is very rarely the case. Though the language is very confusing, simply being paid to create a work does not make it a work for hire under the law. Rather, the law actually only caused a work to be [Read more…]

Categories: Plagiarism & Copyrights Tags: Contractor, copyright, employment, freelance, plagiarism, work for hire

The 7 Most Important Facts About Copyright You Need to Know

Barely Scratching the Surface of an Often-Misunderstood Law

By Jonathan Bailey on September 24, 2010. 7 Comments

As a freelance writer, copyright is your business. Your works are protected by copyright and it is that protection that enables you to sell your work, prevent unauthorized use and generally control how your creations are used. However, many freelance writers, much like the rest of the Web, either doesn’t understand copyright law or has serious misconceptions about it. But given how important it is to our profession, it makes sense to sit down and work to really understand what copyright law is about, at least some of the key points, and try to make sense of an admittedly confusing [Read more…]

Categories: Freelance Writing, Legal Stuff, Plagiarism & Copyrights Tags: content theft, copyright, copyright infringement, copyright law, plagiarism, work for hire

7 Reasons Why You Should Always Have a Written Contract

Why a Verbal Agreement Isn't Worth the Paper It's Printed On

By Jonathan Bailey on September 10, 2010. 17 Comments

One of the thorniest and most uncomfortable issues freelancers routinely face is the issue of contracts when it comes to getting jobs. Part of it is because, as freelancers, we often take jobs with people know, trust and are good friends with. Other times it is because clients have urgent needs and there may not be enough time to hammer out a formal contract before the deadline passes. However, this is almost always a bad idea. Taking jobs or receiving work without a contract is a grave disservice to both sides. While contracts may slow things down and cause brief [Read more…]

Categories: Best of FWJ, Legal Stuff, Plagiarism & Copyrights Tags: contract, copyright, jurisdiction, law, lawsuit, legal, plagiarism, stock contract, writing

A Primer on Fair Use for Freelance Writers

The 1000-word Version of Copyright's Most Complicated Element

By Jonathan Bailey on September 3, 2010. Leave a Comment

Looking at the questions I received from last week’s call for suggestions, there were several people who asked me about fair use and had some very good, pointed questions on the topic. However, fair use is not exactly a simple topic to delve into. It is a legal topic that is routinely debated by the brightest legal minds and, quite literally, has had countless tomes written entirely about it. Trying to answer specific questions about it is virtually impossible in the space of a single column. As such, I”ve decided to make my first in this series a primer on [Read more…]

Categories: Freelance Writing, Plagiarism & Copyrights Tags: copyright, fair use, Freelance Writing, plagiarism, writing

My Name is Jonathan Bailey, Let’s Talk Law

Introducing a New Column to Help You Understand the Law and Your Writing

By Jonathan Bailey on August 27, 2010. 5 Comments

Hello. My name is Jonathan Bailey. As Susan warned earlier this week, I am the new guy here and I wanted to take a moment to both introduce myself and my new column here. I also want to invite you to send me your ideas and questions to help get this column rolling. So, without any further ado, here’s a little bit of information about me, what my column here is about and how you can help pick the topics that get discussed. About Me As a blogger I am best known for my site Plagiarism Today where I blog [Read more…]

Categories: Legal Stuff, Plagiarism & Copyrights Tags: copyright, copyright infringement, copyright law, libel, plagiarism, privacy, trademark

Jonathan Bailey of PlagiarismToday.com Joins the Freelance Writing Jobs Team

Plagiarism, Copyright Infringement and Content Theft Discussions for Freelance Writers

By Susan Gunelius on August 23, 2010. 1 Comment

I’m very happy to announce that Jonathan Bailey of PlagiarismToday is joining the Freelance Writing Jobs team! He will write about plagiarism, copyrights, content theft and related topics that affect writers on a daily basis. I know he’ll be able to provide a great deal of insight to help writers protect their work and thrive in the ever-changing world of publishing. For those of you who haven’t already found Jonathan’s awesome PlagiarismToday blog or seen his posts on Splashpress Media’s BloggingPro blog, here’s an introduction: About Jonathan Bailey Jonathan Bailey has been building Web sites for 15 years and has [Read more…]

Categories: Announcements, Freelance Writing Tags: freelance writers, jonathan bailey, plagiarism, plagiarismtoday

A Freelance Writing Jobs Reminder: You Own Your Samples

By Deborah Ng on November 14, 2008. 14 Comments

One of the regulars sent me this email today. I came across a problem this morning. You may want to post a warning especially for new writers. The ad you have for pet writers is of concern. An automated response is returned with details which seem innocuous enough: but after the signature is the following: P.S. please do not copy and paste from internet. We will be checking all samples with copyscape. We will own the copyright of your sample articles even if you don’t get hired. They claim the copyright of any sample whether hired or not! I can forward [Read more…]

Categories: Writing Tips Tags: Copyscape, freelance writing samples, freelance writing scams, plagiarism

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