TB, that's one of those questions I've never yet got the hang of. Are you agented? Ask him/her how to get it. Or take a plunge and go by the Amazon stats: number of reviews, etc. You won't get more than a wild fantasy guess. but honestly, if they're going to insist, you may need to just pull numbers out of your ass anyway, and asterisk the damned things with "estimated" highlighted.

Nice thing about fiction, they don't pull this crap much.

I also raise my hand with a question. Looking at my contract (wheee!) I understand everything but this: The Work will contain no material from other copyrighted works without the Publisher's consent and the written consent of the owner of such copyrighted material.

I thought that as long as a passage was attributed to the author and acknowledged in the bibliography, I was kosher.

And I have a lot of internet quotes from message boards. What's a girl to do? How do I get this written consent?

Oh, and Gus, don't normally remember authors by publisher - but Eric Flint has done some really good stuff at BAEN. Bujold has alread been mentioned as good company. Seem to remember they have a board call Baen's Bar or some such.

Allyson, short quotes from published prose works (posting on internet including boards counts as publication) is fair use. What is a "short quote" in this context is unfortunately not as simple as a word count - though often some arbitrary word cutoff is used as proxy. Most of the legal texts give word counts that can be used for practical purposes with various numbers. Ask your publisher which they use. If they tell you that there is no such thing as fair use, several lawyers have told that at the moment yes there is. Using an entire work does not meet that standard, and it is true to some extent for poetry and lyrics, but for prose short quotes are still kosher.

Allyson, what TB said. Also, have a look at the source boards from which you got your quoted material. Is there a disclaimer of any kind on the FAQ or home page for any of them? You know, something like "All participants in this forum understand and agree to open and free use of their material" or, maybe, just the opposite?

Because some boards have them, and some don't.

Ah. But let's say it's someone's entire internet post.

I include entire posts from both Joss and Tim, for example.

I have both Godwin's Law and Snacky's Law included. I wouldn't know how to get in touch with either of them.

kicks internet

Folk here can get you in touch with Snacky, I'm pretty sure. But, ex cloaca, I doubt you need to get permission to reprint a law.

No, I'm with ita. And if Tim and/or Joss are giving you blurbs from the book, it's a safe bet they aren't going to piss or moan about a post. Besides, hasn't Tim already read his bit?

Joss refused me a blurb. Yes, I shook my tiny fist of rage Brentwoodly.

Are Joss and Tim the only public figures you quote? If so, just as a CYA thing you might ask for a release from them, and I expect they'd give it to you with no problems.