A few days ago, I was fortunate to have received a free ticket to attend the Member First event organised by Copyright Agency at Tom Keneally Centre in the Sydney Mechanics School of Arts building; one of the benefits I received as a recently joined publisher member of the Copyright Agency.
While listening to the speaker talk about litigation, infringement, protection of work etc. my mind strayed into the foyers of nostalgia where memories of having received a torrent of harassment emails crowded thickly. Despite the fact that I had obtained a genuine copyright certificate from the then valid Copyright Australia organisation and had purchased my ISBN from Thorpe Bowker as is the norm, the harasser continued to send emails on a daily basis and it irked me to such an extent that I complained about the emails, that threatened me with court charges, to Amazon Kindle and Balboa, the publisher of my first book. Negative experiences such as these influenced me to start my own publishing company ‘Wordmagic Publishing’ and become a member of Copyright Agency to just be able to protect my creative work.
The incidents that followed these emails left me wondering if people entertained doubts about I being the real author of ‘Pneuma’. It was ironical that on the one hand jealous people, whom I like to call my enemies, tried to steal my thunder away from me by calling it my autobiographical experiences just to insinuate that the work was inferior in quality. On the other hand, there were a few or many who chose to disbelieve my author status. How easy is it for impostors to claim another’s work as their own without thinking about consequences such as litigation or infringements? I think there is a need for such impostors to develop their understanding of the term ‘copyright’.
If people are believing in a few copyright myths, then it is about time to bust those myths. The video attached, which is taken from Copyright website, might be useful and instrumental in clearing the ignorant minds off the usual myths they harbour.
Although the Member First event enlightened me with some useful information besides providing me with significant contact details, I left the venue thinking about all the issues that I had to discuss with the concerned authorities. In order to drown an overwhelming feeling of insecurity and develop a sense of belonging with the writer’s community, I recently submitted my application to become a member of Australian Writers Guild and was excited when my membership request was approved. It is not hard for one to comprehend that if one is a creative person, especially an author, copyright protection is an inevitability that one cannot do without.
A Writer's Exposé 