A contract had been signed with the publisher. The next step was to prepare the Manuscript according to the publisher’s specifications. It had to be portrait page layout and maximum 2 columns per page. This made sense as each page of the final book would have 2 columns on opposite pages making 4 columns side by side in plain view!
This didn’t take too much effort because Mike had written it in landscape page layout with 2 columns per page! We changed it to portrait and made sure that the “page breaks” were in the correct places.
Quotations and Referencing the Sources
The next step took a bit more effort and time! When Mike first started putting this Study Guide together it was only to be used in our small Bible Study Group which meant that he didn’t keep a record of WHERE he quoted commentaries from.
This brings us to the COPYRIGHT issue which is very important if you want to go public with your writing!
You can probably imagine what our next step was going to be!!! YES, I combed through the entire commentaries in the manuscript and compared them to the commentary books on hand trying to locate where and what Mike quoted from whom. It was tedious but lesson learnt for next time!
Finally the quoted material was referenced. Now the question was: “Do we need PERMISSION?”
Copyright guidelines of the individual sources can be found in the front of each book or on the publisher’s/copyright owner’s website. And there is the so-called GRATIS USE clause! This means that if the material quoted from a respective source falls under or within those guidelines then you don’t need to apply for PERMISSION. A GRATIS USE clause can look like this:
“Gratis Use: Text may be quoted in any form (written, visual, electronic, or audio), up to and inclusive of 250 words or less without written permission, providing the text does not account for 25% or more of the total text of the work in which they are quoted. This permission is contingent upon an appropriate copyright acknowledgment.” (Thomas Nelson)
We definitely exceeded the Gratis Use clause. It took a while to gather and complete all the paperwork to get permissions for the different sources we quoted. But we wanted to do it right, to honor God!
MEMORIES OF OUR FUTURE
To come and say goodbye… was not… what that visit was for
Was to continue the “hellos” again… to the one… I sooo adore
We both knew… the time would pass by… so very quickly… of course
But we can bring back the time… with our memories… such a wonderful source
When the time passes us by… it won’t be gone… nor… will it stay
We can bring it back… like we want… every month… every week… every precious day
Days that seem to be gone… and all the weeks and months… and… what will become years
To recall all these memories… like reflections… coming back from mirrors
All we must do… is recall the times… with each other… dreaming really deep
It will not matter… if we are awake… or… if we are sound asleep
Let’s hold on… to every moment… not one… do we ever want to lose
Let’s bring back… our favorite times… whichever ones… we want to choose.
WHAT IS DIGGING DEEP INTO THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST ABOUT?
CHECK OUT OUR NEXT BLOG POST!
