Do You Own Your Writings Here On ATS?

brazenalderpadrescorpio
reply to post by pheonix358

 

Thanks for your advice. It seems like redacting them would make sense if you'd be interested in selling them in the future.

I disagree!

Free advertising is free advertising! Having short stories here is free advertising and gets you valuable feedback. Think of your work on ATS as a good thing.

Having your work out there is good for you. You do not make any money until you become well known. If your first book gets good coverage then, great. When a Publisher comes along, you write a book just for them. Don't get too tied up with your first work, it will never be your best!

P

reply to post by pheonix358


I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. I actually agree with your previous post and the one I'm replying to right now. I think that what you said was a good idea.

reply to post by brazenalderpadrescorpio


Cool!

Most authors write for the fun of it. Very, very few make any serious money from it. For the vast majority it is somewhere between pocket money and the sort of income from a part time, second job.

If money is what an author wants, then, you are in the wrong occupation.

As J. K. Rowling once said, she made serious money after he movie rights were signed and the resultant publicity.

P

reply to post by pheonix358


You're preaching to the choir. I think that that's why I've been experiencing a career-related depression for some years now (depression as in a mental state). I'm thinking about switching careers for that reason. But there's not actually anything that I'm really interested in making a career out of to be honest with you. I suffer from low motivation in general. But, as you can see, I'm getting way, way off-topic. Lol.

Springer
reply to post by Taupin Desciple

 

That's 100% INCORRECT if it's your own content. You are free to make as much money as you can off any content you post on this site, so are we. Where you're getting confused is that nobody else but you and us is allowed to.

Where I'm getting confused is how can 2 separate entities make money off of the same content? The only way I see that happening, realistically, is if the content is used as a part of a larger marketing campaign. For instance, if this site were still 6 months old and I, along with the other 10 members, posted 20 times in one day you still would not be able to demand a good price from advertisers. Let's say I still post at that pace today, 15 years or so later with hundreds of thousands of members. As a collective, our content is worth more to you now, from an advertising perspective, than it was 15 years ago. You know why, and you also know that the original 10 members were the ones who got this ball rolling.

It's good to know that we, the posters, have that same option, but the chances of any of us making as much money as LAN does from the revenue generated directly from the content we put on here are slim. I'm not complaining about this, all I'm saying is don't try to make this out to be something it's not.

reply to post by Taupin Desciple


I'm not trying to suck up to anybody like Springer, but I don't think that he's making something out of it that it's not. That part that you quoted doesn't say that. He's saying that you can make money from it technically, but he's not trying to say that it would make you, or anybody, anything (money) realistically speaking. I think that everybody understands that that's just the nature of the medium (the internet as it relates to business).

I'm not trying to butt into your conversation, but it's just the way I see what he said.

reply to post by brazenalderpadrescorpio


I don't speak lawyerese but I think placement of written material here does not mean they own what you write, it just means they can use it without being sued or charged. They do not own anything you write and sell for your own profit, nor do they get to share in any royalties, they simply get to use it free of charge.

reply to post by brazenalderpadrescorpio

My understanding of the situation is that you don't give away all your rights to the text, you only give away your exclusive rights.
You can still use the text, but you can't stop ATS from using it themselves.
(I suppose the absence of exclusive rights could cause difficulty in setting up publishing contracts with other people)

reply to post by brazenalderpadrescorpio


very interesting topic you started there friend

will be interesting to watch this thread develop further

reply to post by Taupin Desciple


Just because you can't see the trees doesn't mean the forest isn't there.

Your analogy doesn't make sense, the content here isn't worth a dime to any advertisers, the audience it attracts here is what's worth a few shekels to the advertisers. So now that we've got that straightened out let's work on the rest of your misunderstanding...

We've had members who have received paid writing gigs because what they've written here got seen by people who matter, we've also had members ask us to remove short stories because they were about to get a publishing deal and the publisher wanted to make sure no part of the story they were buying was available online (and yes we removed them).

We never saw a penny from any of those deals and nor should we, we aren't entitled to any part of what you can make off your content.

I would suggest that when you're ignorant of how things work you do a little research before accuse someone who does know how things work of "making this something it's not".

12m8keall2c
YOU, and every MEMBER who posts here 'OWN' whatever it is you place, post on the boards....

the only 'caveat', per se, is that you also give/grant TAN non-exclusive rights to the same...

meaning that ATS/TAN can do what they want with your content just as you can continue to do your own self.

no harm nor foul either way !??

That is a contradiction in its own right. Seeing as you used " YOU " and " MEMBER " and " OWN " whatever you post on the boards then go on to say " the only 'caveat', per se, is that you also give/grant TAN non-exclusive rights to the same..."

The member either has the rights or they dont.

Now, should the member own the rights, YOU then as ATS MUST ask the member for permission to use their material.

If you dont ask then its contradictory in and off it self.

If you dont ask the the member to use their material and use it without consent then they have no legal grounds to stand on.

Your saying " ATS/TAN can do what they want with your content just as you can continue to do your own self. " This, this is contradictory because your telling the member they have control over their content but NOT when you want to do anything with it.

Cheers

Spiro

reply to post by Spiro


By using posting on the site, you agree to the TOS, which states you give them the permission. Now, personally I don't believe in licensing schemes and blanket TOS legality, but it seems most of the world is in disagreement with me at this time, including our courts.

Springer
reply to post by Taupin Desciple

 

Just because you can't see the trees doesn't mean the forest isn't there.

the content here isn't worth a dime to any advertisers, the audience it attracts here is what's worth a few shekels to the advertisers.

Maybe I worded my response wrong, but that's exactly what I was getting at. Specifically, the size of the audience here is what is worth a few shekels.

We've had members who have received paid writing gigs because what they've written here got seen by people who matter, we've also had members ask us to remove short stories because they were about to get a publishing deal and the publisher wanted to make sure no part of the story they were buying was available online (and yes we removed them).

We never saw a penny from any of those deals and nor should we, we aren't entitled to any part of what you can make off your content.

And that's good, I'm glad for those members. I don't approach things that way though because I'm not interested in getting my online work seen by people who "matter". I'm old school Springer, I take this from the angle of submitting work to a publisher in person, not via an online venue. If people want to do it that way and it works for them, that's fine. in fact, I guess it's a good thing that I approach things that way because there's content on here authored by me that I wouldn't want a publisher to see. Not that it matters much because my style and the way I view topics and then write about them has changed over the years. My point being, when I come here and post content I do so knowing this site is to be viewed for entertainment purposes only, not to make money.

I would suggest that when you're ignorant of how things work you do a little research before accuse someone who does know how things work of "making this something it's not".

Then correct me if I'm wrong but we, the members, retain rights to what we write in order to make money from publishing deals. The owners retain the rights to the content as well in order to make money from advertisers based on the amount of content, not specifically what was written. Otherwise, couldn't the members ask for a percentage of what advertisers pay, and the owners ask for a portion of the royalties paid from content that originated here?

That's the way I see it Springer.

brazenalderpadrescorpio
reply to post by Taupin Desciple

 

I'm not trying to suck up to anybody like Springer, but I don't think that he's making something out of it that it's not. That part that you quoted doesn't say that. He's saying that you can make money from it technically, but he's not trying to say that it would make you, or anybody, anything (money) realistically speaking. I think that everybody understands that that's just the nature of the medium (the internet as it relates to business).

I'm not trying to butt into your conversation, but it's just the way I see what he said.

No, you're not butting in. It's all good. If Springer and I were having a private conversation it would be at the Talking Stick over cocktails. On the open board here though, we're all fair game.

I do understand the need to clarify everything about this site legally, and this, the content, is a legality that many people bring up.

Springer
reply to post by Taupin Desciple

 

I would suggest that when you're ignorant of how things work you do a little research before accuse someone who does know how things work of "making this something it's not".

I think they were trying to get an answer by asking the question. Not everyone is a brilliant as you are. I suggest you tone down your rhetoric; not a very good example to set.

Spiro

12m8keall2c
YOU, and every MEMBER who posts here 'OWN' whatever it is you place, post on the boards....

the only 'caveat', per se, is that you also give/grant TAN non-exclusive rights to the same...

meaning that ATS/TAN can do what they want with your content just as you can continue to do your own self.

no harm nor foul either way !??

That is a contradiction in its own right. Seeing as you used " YOU " and " MEMBER " and " OWN " whatever you post on the boards then go on to say " the only 'caveat', per se, is that you also give/grant TAN non-exclusive rights to the same..."

The member either has the rights or they dont.

Now, should the member own the rights, YOU then as ATS MUST ask the member for permission to use their material.

If you dont ask then its contradictory in and off it self.

If you dont ask the the member to use their material and use it without consent then they have no legal grounds to stand on.

Your saying " ATS/TAN can do what they want with your content just as you can continue to do your own self. " This, this is contradictory because your telling the member they have control over their content but NOT when you want to do anything with it.

Cheers

Spiro

Meh Now I understand. Sorry for butting in. We all learn

Cheers

Spiro

I'll break it down to the simplest terms I can.

You own what you post here, you can do ANYTHING YOU WANT with it WITHOUT asking us, paying us, or even telling us (though I'd suggest letting us know, we can probably help you get a better deal and we're happy to try but that's totally up to you). You can sell it to anyone who will buy it without ever having to tell us.

We can do all of the above too. That's because we provide you with the venue and the huge audience that's going to get your stuff noticed. It's a value proposition that is not only very fair, it's among the best offered on the interwebs,

I hope that clears it up for everyone, we WANT you to succeed if you can from posting on ATS. It's good for ATS to have success stories. Make sense?

reply to post by soulpowertothendegree


You saw a question in the declaration (s)he made that I was "trying to make this something it's not" when all I did was point out that members have received deals from their posts on ATS that we have done nothing but try to help make happen while asking for nothing in return?

OK.

The last two posts seem to about cover the question, now and in the future. Until the next time this comes up at least, and those would be good links for that thread. Thanks Springer.