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| By Tracy S. Williams |
In case you missed it, Author Roni Loren shared an important tip — Bloggers Beware: You CAN Get Sued for Using Pics on Your Blog — My Story. If you use photos on your blog, you need to check out her post.
If you think I’m trying to scare you, you are correct.
Loren, a romance writer, shares a valuable (and expensive) lesson after a photographer asked her to remove his photo and demanded compensation for its use.
Others who have shared Loren’s story with some helpful hints about photo resources include:
- August McLaughlin shared Blog Images Made Easy: Tips from a Non-Graphic Artist
- Debbie Maxwell wrote Keep from getting sued for the photos on your blog. She includes two links to free photos.
- Loren shared this a few days after the original post: A Bright Side – Writers Building a Photo Sharing Community
- Updated: Thanks Tonia for sharing this Hugs and Chocolate post with lots of free sites for photos — Sharing is Caring.
What areas should you check on your blog? Guest posts. Blog hop badges. Anything you “just grabbed” from Google Images.
For my Perfect Picture Book Friday posts. I’ve been operating under the fair use idea that it’s a review or criticism. Anyone have any thoughts about using an image of a copyrighted book cover? I’m all ears on this one.
Loren’s story is a cautionary tale. If you have photos you are unsure about, remove them from your blog.
I asked a number of well-established book bloggers about the use of covers when I started reviewing last year. They all agreed that covers were totally acceptable, but inner pages/photos of content etc were not. But, I’d love to see others’ opinions.
Joanna, I’ve understood the same thing about covers. A couple of times, I shared a couple inside pages.
I’ve been hearing and reading about her misfortune. I think the photographer is a pos but that’s neither here nor there ex post facto.
She just occasioned on one of those longshot chances, unfortunately.
I try to use my own pictures whenever I can, but have used some from Google back in the day. I am considerably more careful these days what with all the knuckleheads trying to make a buck anywhere they can by hook or crook.
By the way, if you’re up to it, I am hosting a Dog Days of Summer blog fest August 10-12 if you’d be interested.
Cheers!
Jeremy, Your blog fest look like fun, but I’ll be in the middle of final projects for school. I doubt I could swing extra blog visits.
I’ve been blasted with emails warning about this very thing.
Hmm…I wonder what triggered that.
Gack! I thought I was covering myself by using photos from free clip art sites and have been vigilant on crediting the source.
Great photo by the way.
Tracy, I find it difficult sometimes to find the “free” photos on the free sites. All these warnings give us another opportunity to “be creative.”
This is scary stuff! I am going to be a lot more careful from now on
Yes, I know Heather. I actually deleted a couple photos from guest posts and blog hop badges with photos. I guess the drive to “always have a photo with a post” isn’t always good.
Thanks for sharing more links. I love all artists and photrographers, they need to make a living, too. I feel for Loren, it could’ve happened to nearly any blogger. I’m thankful she shared her story and saved many the same trouble.
Hugs and Chocolate shared a few more links to free images. Here’s the link: http://hugs-and-chocolate.com/2012/07/25/sharing-is-caring/
Thanks for helping to spread the word.
Tonia. Thank you. I missed that one this week, but updated the post.
It was a terrific post & I also have been concerned about those book covers. I saw several that said it was okay with reviews, but no inside pages. I’ve used Photo Pin recently which offers free pics for bloggers, but usually I just do my own pics. Thanks for the extra links!
Thanks for the reminders and to everyone who posted alternate photo sites.
I’ve changed a few posts and found new, appropriate and safe photos and given attributions. No need to invite trouble!
Glad to hear everyone weighing in on the book covers. Thanks.
– Cathy
Hi, Stacy! I’ve stopped by several blogs that have been posting about this topic. I think it is good to share about it, because people need to know about this. I like to try and be careful about the pictures I use on my blog, but I’ve been going through and any that are even the slightest bit questionable are being removed.
It’s a good reminder. I’ve been careful lately, but Roni’s article reminded me to go back and do a sweep of my older posts. Thanks Stacy!
This was a wonderful idea, Stacy, to post about the concern over photos…it is a danger that is well worth being careful about. I always try to use my own photos…or ones that my family has taken. I do use book covers from Amazon for the reviews…and usually have a link back to the sale page…so I don’t think they would argue with that. 🙂 Or I try to use photos that are in the public domain.
Sounds like your summer has been busy…I’ve not been good about visiting blogs and commenting and I’ve missed reading yours. 🙂 You always provide wonderful tips and valuable posts.
Thanks for the links. I am going to be more careful. Can’t afford to get sued on writer’s salary… Wait a minute, I don’t have a writer’s salary. I’ve heard this before but this time I am going to listen!
Thanks for this post, Stacy, and for including my link!
From what I understand, many people see books as fair use. That said, not everyone does. I ask authors to send me photos. So far, they’ve all complied. You can also take photos of the book with your own camera. Seems like a silly technicality, but it’s a safe option. You could even prop a book up (or the book cover on your computer screen ;)) in a nice setting with snacks, flowers, etc. May as well have fun with it, right?
I’m so glad this information is circulating. I only use my own photos, but I’ve been worried about others who might not have photos of their own to use. It’s so important to pull photos with the consent of the photographer. Photos are art. If a blogger wouldn’t consider plagiarizing words, she also shouldn’t “lift” someone else’s photo. It’s a matter of artistic respect as well as liability.
I haven’t used a Google photo on my blog in a long while, but I have used a few on my FB page. I prefer to use the free photo sites or my own pics on the blog. Or pictures that I have gotten the ‘ok’ on.
Thanks so much for the link, Stacy! I’m going to check out the resources you posted. We all need all the help we can get!
~Debbie