Quote:
Originally posted by Marcus
Im not really worried about plagarisism, if I got a complaint I'd take it down and give the info on who sent it to me.
I just wanted to know if I shold pay for submissions. Say $50 per story or article.
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I don't think you'd find "I'll take it down if someone bitches" would be very satisfactory to most artists (be they writers or photographers) if you didn't at least get defrauded by the person who sent their work to you. You have an obligation to only use legal material, which does NOT mean you can use anything anyone gives you UNLESS someone tells you that you don't have the right to use it.
Artistic expression is property just like a car. Would you want someone to borrow your car without being sure they have permission? It's called car theft.
So, make them go on record that they have the right to sell the story, either through being the author or the current owner of it. This must be done in writing. As far as I know, online forms have NO legal force at all. It's a pain to get things in writing, but you need to do this to protect yourself, otherwise why bother?
Also, be it a photo or a story, if you want to own it exclusively, it would be a foolish and/or fairly unaccomplished writer (or a pathologically vain one) who'd give it to you just to see it up on your site.