Disclaimer

Good morning uh evening and Happy Saturday! Er, Sunday!

Oh heck! Good evening and Happy Tuesday! 

Sorry, got sidetracked 🙂

Today I want to talk about disclaimers. Mainly because I have questions and maybe you do too.

You know, that short statement at the front of the novel, the one that goes something like this;

“This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author‘s vivid imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead are coincidental.”

When I googled disclaimer definition, this is what came up; “a statement that denies something, especially responsibility.” 

I never looked at them as a denying something, but….

I shared a video on facebook the other day and one of my followers came back (All in caps, I might add) that, that wasn’t so and so! I replied that it didn’t matter who it was, it was still horrible and she came back that it shouldn’t be shared because the statement with it wasn’t true, etc. So I googled it and came up with a post on Snopes about it and then went back to my post and stated that as she had pointed out it wasn’t the person mentioned and I gave the link to the Snopes article for others to check it out themselves.  Anyway, I ended up deleting it because nowadays people sue you for just about anything and that’s why we have disclaimers, right?

But is your disclaimer strong enough and appropriate for your book?

For the most part, for fiction novels, the basic disclaimer works fine, but what if your book is a non-fiction or self-help book? Then the disclaimer needs to be more intricate.

I was reading a post by, Angela Hoy. She talks about the importance of a disclaimer and about the need to have the right one. You can read it here.

Oh, that’s right! I have questions. Almost forgot about those.

Do you have a lawyer? I don’t. I have one in the family, but that might be a conflict of interest, even though I’d pay the fees for his time.

Should we have a lawyer?

As I stated up there, people will sue you for just about anything and sometimes it is for the craziest of reasons, and they win!

Being self-published authors, we don’t have all the resources that big named authors have. We don’t have lawyers, publicists, editors, etc. Or big named publishers to stand behind us.

If our work is fiction, I think the basic disclaimer is okay, but…

I have been working on an autobiography of sorts. It’s not a tell all, but more of…My thoughts, opinions, beliefs. Etc. The thing is, it might be controversial. Not intentionally. It’s just not everyone will agree with my thoughts, opinions, beliefs, etc. 🙂 And even though I’m not giving any advice, should I have it looked over by someone and should I use a more detailed disclaimer?

Okay, last question; I want to use a quote from Mother Teresa in one of my books.  Other authors use different quotes from different people at the beginning of their books. So if I were to use a quote using quotation marks and then her name below it on a blank page at the beginning of my book, do I need anything else?

Okay, your turn! Thoughts? Questions? Ideas?

Hope your week is going great and I will see you soon. Till then: Hugs!

• Posted in: Uncategorized
• Tagged: angela hoy, biographies, disclaimers, karen einsel, karens different corners, lawyers, mother teresa, quotes