Selling Use Rights

[GailF]

I've sold a few use rights and my understanding was that they had to use the article as it was bought, with the byline and everything as I wrote it. Is this true? If not, I've seen some of my articles, the ones sold for use, that have been changed and don't have my name. One of them says it was written by Anonymous. If anyone could shed some light, I'd appreciate it. It seems like some chancers are just buying the cheaper rights and then pretending they bought the full rights and are mucking about with it.

[ScottBrodie]

Your understanding of usage rights is correct. They aren't allowed to change anything.

Unfortunately, some clients violate their contract. You can try contacting ConstantContent, but I haven't had a response when I've sent messages about these kinds of issues. You might get somewhere contacting the client (or filing a DMCA?), but I think that might violate our contracts here as writers.

[HiredGun]

with the byline and everything as I wrote it.

When you uploaded your article to CC, did you include your byline with the uploaded text?
i.e.

This is the Article Title

by Gail F.

The buyer only has to include your byline if it is included as part of the submitted article.

[GailF]

Yes, I always include the byline right under the title. They're deliberately removing it. If there's nothing we can do about it, and it sounds like essentially there isn't much, I'd consider selling both use and full at the same price.

It's disappointing to hear that CC haven't responded when you've reported similar problems. They're losing out on money as well when clients pull this sort of thing.

[Judith]

I always have the use and full rights prices the same. THe first year I wrote here, I tried separate prices, and decided I didn't like a lot of use aricles sitting in my inventory. I have only sold one price for a long time now and I prefer it. I still include my byline with every article, because occasionally a client will include it.

[GailF]

That sounds like something I should consider. I guess I didn't mind selling use rights because I tend to price them only 5 or 10 less and it seemed like a good idea, with a required byline (not that it means all that much) but I hate feeling cheated in any way. Watching people buy use rights and then pretend they have full rights will slowly do my head in.

Thanks for the input!