Re: [Long] Making Money in Technical Writing & Roger Peterson

[Peter Kent <pkent -at- TOPFLOOR -dot- COM>]

>> First, the idea that the title is plagiarised is quite strange: The
>> main titles are, after all, completely different.

Linda Sherman said:
> It doesn't matter. Titles aren't protected by copyright or
> trademark.

That's true. Still, I don't think it's ethical to steal a title!

> You could have called it "Tech Writing for Dummies" and the "for
> Dummies" people couldn't do much except rattle their spears at you
> in indignation.

Well, that's not quite correct. Try it, and you'll be bankrupt before you
ever get books to print! Titles can't be copyright, but a series style and
title can be trademarked.


> Doesn't matter either. Subject matter is not protected by copyright.
> The question is whether you copied parts of someone else's work
> word-for-word (or nearly so) without attribution and/or in violation
> of "fair use" principles.

Quite right. However I also wanted people to understand that there's no way
these books are even similar.


> Yeah, people seem to think that writing trade books is going to pay
> for a 50-foot yacht and a home with an ocean view in San Francisco. The
> fact is, it's about the lowest-paying form of "tech" writing you can do,

It's either the lowest-paying form of tech-writing you can do, or it's the
highest paying form of tech-writing you can do. A lot depends on luck and
persistence. (There are a few computer-book writers making $hundreds of
thousands a year, which is difficult to match in plain old tech writing.)

Peter

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