Market My Novel

Recently, I've surfed through several blogs that quote news stories verbatim. I've seen this same trend with authors quoting reviews on their Web sites.

Typically, these sites write a few paragraphs about what they think of the news story, or a thank you for the great review, then they put the publication name, date it posted and byline, followed by the entire story. Sometimes they link directly to it, but many times they do not.

As a former journalist, I want to scream with the wrongness of it. You never, ever quote an entire review or article for a blog post – even if you are writing specifically about it and even if you are crediting the publication.

Reposting an article or review verbatim is like someone republishing your book on their blog because they are writing a review about it.

You can quote from articles and reviews – with proper attribution:

• When you get a great review, share maybe a quote or short paragraph from it, then give readers the link so they can see the full review. DO NOT post the full review. While you may love it, the writer will NOT. Those links are just as crucial to the reviewer as they are to you, not just for hits, but for publication credit.
• When you use a direct quote, section it off using indentations, customized quote marks, or italicize it so it stands out from the rest of the text. You want your readers to know those words are from someone else, not you.
• Be clear who you are quoting. If it is a blog, use the blog name. If it is a newspaper, use that newspaper name. Some bloggers even use the reporter's name: Joe Public of AuthorNews reported that…
• Never take a quote out of context. If you have questions about it, ask someone else to read it to be sure you've got it right. Better yet, track down the author and ask them.
  
• Check the Web site to see if it requires special permission to reprint an article in full. Some sites even ask that you request permission to use quote.

I've had a few emails from authors who want to quote from this blog. I'm great with that – as long as I get proper attribution. I'm not a publicity hog; I just want credit for what I write – like any author.

Exceptions to the rule:

Quoting Tweets. It's 140 characters or less. You will likely need the whole phrase or a portion of a hashtag string for it to make sense. Be sure to link to the entire search string with your post.
Quoting comments. Unless the comment is an article itself, you will typically need to quote the entire text – with a link back to the article.
Quoting government notices. Cities and counties are now posting hearing notifications and rules online. For the most part, these general public notices can be reprinted verbatim. However, if you have a question, contact the agency that sent out the notice.