You’ve seen the most wonderful picture on Google Images. An online blog has the perfect photo for your book cover. Look at that graphic – wouldn’t that make your book event notice/header/PR banner shine?
STOP!
Unless you pay a licence or ask the owner’s permission to reproduce it, it’s theft. The least you could expect is a reprimand and a demand to cease using it; you could also receive a huge bill or be prosecuted in court. Just because it’s online doesn’t mean you can use it. Only public domain and wide licences like Wikipedia’s Creative Commons Licence or Gnu can be safe; even then you may need to acknowledge the image originator or accept other conditions.
Copyright exists to protect the interests and income of the creator of an artistic work. I slog away on my 100,000 word novels for nearly a year. Average UK annual income for authors is £11,000* (Yes, it’s that low!). Even so, somebody pinching or pirating my work would represent a significant loss for me.
A photographer or artist takes time and expense to set up or compose an image/video/graphic and then sell it, whether freelance or on commission. This extends to websites, brands, book covers, adverts. This is their livelihood.
 So if an artist, writer, filmmaker, etc. creates an original product, it’s their copyright and they own the right to sell it or distribute it on their own terms. As soon as you write your short story, poem or novel, it’s automatically copyrighted to you. European authorities, thanks to EU harmonisation, take more or less the same strict attitude about protecting the creator’s ‘droits d’auteur’.
Some creatives handle the licensing of their own work, some use an agency and some distribute for free, but however published, the work’s copyright remains with the creator. A writer may give an agency exclusive representation authority to sell the rights to their work to a foreign publisher, or audio producer/retailer, but the copyright remains with the original author.
 Photo courtesy of Britannia www.durolitum.co.uk Switching round, I buy images from image libraries, e.g. iStockphoto, but it’s only a licence to use and the licence can have restrictions such as ‘editorial use only’ which means you can only use the image in a news media or blog post, but not in PR material or cover of a book. Always best to read the licence agreement! Sometimes I download from a free library; no fee and I (usually) have permission to use the image as I wish, but the image is not mine. It’s still a form of licence.
Sometimes you can contact a photo owner and ask permission to use their image, but you should always annotate it “Courtesy of XXX” or “With kind permission of YYY”. This is why you see the caption you do under the picture of the gladiatrix which I use now and again. The copyright remains with Durolitum as they took the photo at one of their events. The benefit for them is that more people become aware of them.
Even if a friend says, “Sure, lift it from my Facebook page”, it’s best to acknowledge it. And in reverse, if you let somebody use an image you originated, e.g. a photo, you should stipulate that they should credit you – with a link to your website or wherever you originally posted it.
One of the safest ways is to take your own photos or use images that are over 150 years old and in the public domain. I love using old paintings such as this one for the first book trailer for INSURRECTIO.
This is called Destruction from a series of four called The Course of Empire by Thomas Cole and dated 1836. It was perfect for the theme of the book. Later, in a redesign of the whole Roma Nova series, I swapped it for a much more sinister image with Caius Tellus projecting a seductive appearance that hides corruption. (Licence bought and paid for.)
In a connected topic, do remember that anything you post on social media is open book. Once posted, and whatever your privacy settings or legal niceties, your photos are public and you can’t stop anybody taking a copy. So post low resolution versions which, if anybody lifts them, won’t be good enough for printing or PR purposes.
Happy writing and stay legal!
* Source: Society of Authors
UPDATED 2021: Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers – INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO and RETALIO, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories. Audiobooks are available for four of the series.Double Identity, a contemporary conspiracy, starts a new series of thrillers. Double Pursuit, the sequel, is now out!
Find out more about Roma Nova, its origins, stories and heroines and taste world the latest contemporary thriller Double Identity… Download ‘Welcome to Alison Morton’s Thriller Worlds’, a FREE eBook, as a thank you gift when you sign up to Alison’s monthly email newsletter. You’ll also be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.
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 There, I’ve said it. I’m deep in the last third of my sixth book and I should know better. The crisis is coming, the characters’ nerves are shot and all I see is failure and death. I can’t sleep more than five hours nor stop thinking about those poor souls living under oppression or the brave efforts of our heroine to attempt to liberate them.
Every obstacle seems to be in their way. But I’m the one who put them there. The heroine’s lover has disappeared, their group is running out of money, their cause is met with sympathy, polite indifference, sometimes hostility. And the villain is in their minds, corrupting their normality.
Imagine what it’s like living in this world. Well, I am. I am in thrall to it. Little housework is done, that the garden is not a wilderness is solely due to visitors arriving this weekend. Lunch is as ad hoc as it can be.We haven’t been out to eat for weeks. My back aches and my caffeine consumption has rocketed. And let’s not mention chocolate. I can’t bear to look at the scales. I’ve replied and reacted to essential emails and deadlines, but my Facebook posts have dwindled to almost nothing. That’s a sure sign something’s up.
I’m off to a major conference in the UK in less than two weeks’ time. I’d better get over this by then.
Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers, INCEPTIO, PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO and AURELIA. The fifth in the series, INSURRECTIO, was published in April 2016.
Find out more about Roma Nova, its origins, stories and heroines…
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 “Harrogate” – that’s what the regulars call the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival. After three days, I call it exhausting, energising, exhilarating. It was my second conference in July and I took the travelling easy. No point killing yourself before you get to Murder Central for the weekend!
 With fellow scribe David Penny As a newbie, I was made very welcome, especially by my writing friend from the Alliance of Independent Authors, David Penny and his wife Megan. David’s a “Friend” of the festival and knows everything and everybody.
I was also delighted to share a good part of Friday with Carole Blake from Blake Friedmann (BFLA) which represents me for ancillary rights and to renew my acquaintance with Isobel Dixon from BFLA. They were responsible for whisking me off to be filmed doing a short interview masterminded by Lara James for Peter James’s video channel. Juno knows what my hair looked liked; I just hope I didn’t burble.
 On the Thursday afternoon before the festival proper, I made my way to the Oxfam Bookshop where Val McDermid was scheduled to appear. Imagine how delighted I was to bump into her and her partner Jo Cox when I was panting up the hill on the way there. Both were charming; I just hope I wasn’t too fan-girly. It was an excellent hour in the company of book people and Val signed a copy of her Austen rewrite Northanger Abbey for me. What a start to the weekend!
Milling and lurking was the flavour of the weekend. The warm weather, grassy slopes, flags, fairy lights and dramatic marquees on the lawn in front of The Old Swan made a perfect ambiance for meeting virtual friends in the flesh. I was delighted to greet writers Effie Meryl, Jo Derrick, Mari Hannah, Louise Mangos and Nic Ford, plus Juliet Pickering from BFLA who had clinched the Audible deal for me. Of course, I made new friends over the weekend – that’s what festivals and conferences are about
 Gerald Seymour in full flow Celebs surrounded us and mixed freely; chats with NJ Cooper, Peter James, Steve Mowsby, Alix Gray (Bloody Scotland).
 Susan Calman and Val McDermid If I had to pick out the best sessions I’d include the “Val and Sue show” (more properly Susan Calman in conversation with Val McDermid), Mari Hannah’s Book Club featuring P D James’s “An Unsuitable Job for a Woman”, the masterly Gerald Seymour raconteur extraordinaire and the political thriller panel especially Frank Gardener. Martina Cole (interviewed by Peter James) just made us shriek with laughter.
But the festival is about fans and pretty dedicated they are too. I had some lovely conversations, especially over meals and in queues. Confessing to be a thriller writer, I was pressed for information about my own work and handed out a number of Roma Nova cards.
So, tired and happy, I trudged my way home to France. Would I recommend this festival? Undoubtedly. Book up soon for next year.
Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers, INCEPTIO, PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO and AURELIA. The fifth in the series, INSURRECTIO, was published in April 2016.
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 With Denise Barnes (left) and Jean Fullerton (right) 2010, I was a trembling newbie; 2016, I was teaching historical research and pontificating on a trade panel. What a transition!
The Romantic Novelists’ Association embraces every type and sub-genre of romance and romantic fiction, from the sweet, inspirational, gritty contemporary through gay romance and historical to high epic adventure. How’s that? You thought it was all pink tulle and Regency flirting? Er, no.
Of course, there are pert misses and stubborn dukes as well as modern fairytale romances, but also urban and paranormal, spy stories, tough women coping with harsh dilemmas whether in the Lancashire mills, as emigrants or just modern life with its multiple juggling acts. But there’s always a boy meets girl/boy, a strong emotional relationship that somehow makes it through all the problems and leads to a happy ending or at least a ‘happy for now’ ending.
Romantic fiction or fiction with romantic elements is life-affirming, optimistic and something that touches us all whether on the surface or somewhere deep in our psyche. We all want to be loved. Sometimes our nearest and dearest express it very differently from how we would wish and this is where fiction can give us a buck-up. Who hasn’t read a Georgette Heyer and felt a little better? Or a JD Robb Eve Dallas in her tangles with the elusive Roarke? Or a Lindsey Davis Roman detective Falco as he tries to work out his relationship with senator’s daughter Helena? Oh, and Carina and Conrad in Roma Nova – there’s one full of ups and downs!
So, back to the conference, this year held at Lancaster University. Despite mixed weather, we had fun and I learnt some useful things and was reminded of others. My personal highlights included Liz Fenwick and Brigid Coady talking about branding, the RNA Open Discussion, Sarah Wendell’s hilarious and trenchant presentation about reviews, and Kate Walker’s imaginative one on packing an emotional punch.
Apart from giving my own talk and speaking alongside publishing colleagues as the independent author on the publishing panel, I had a fab time meeting up with long-standing friends and making new ones. So here are some photos…
 Doing my historical research talk (Photo courtesy of Anita Chapman)  General milling, chatting, exchanging stories and making friends
 On the Blackwells’s stand  George Barker Farm Lancaster University – a blend of the old and new
 Liz Fenwick on branding and marketing
 Tracy Bloom on marketing for authors
 Delighted to be part of the publishing collaboration panel with Dominic Wakeford (Piatkus), Carol Blake (Blake Friedmann Lit Agency), Katie Fforde, Nicola Cornick (Vice Chair RNA), Donna Hillyer (publishing consultant)
 Chairman Eileen Ramsay speaking at the gala dinner
 A thank you bouquet for conference organiser Jan Jones
 An appreciative audience at the gala dinner!
 Tired but happy – end of conference supper with April Hardy, Denise Barnes and Tessa Shapcott
Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers, INCEPTIO, PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO and AURELIA. The fifth in the series, INSURRECTIO, was published on 12 April 2016.
Find out more about Roma Nova, its origins, stories and heroines…
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Yesterday in Versailles, France honoured two murdered police officials. A national ceremony of homage led by the French president with hundreds of policewomen and men in dress uniform, all accompanied by drum rolls, funeral music and honour guards. Both were made posthumous members of the Légion d’Honneur.
 Commandant Jean-Baptiste Salvaing (42), a very popular officer, and his companion, Jessica Schneider (36), an administrative assistant at the station where they both worked, were stabbed to death; he as he arrived at their home after work, she when the attacker burst into the house after the first killing. The couple’s three year old was present when the attacker slit his mother’s throat.
Neither was on duty, nor on a stake-out or chasing a suspect; she was at home with her child, possibly thinking about dinner, her working day, what they might all do at the weekend. Her partner coming home after tough day at office – the state of emergency is still on in France.
 Britain is mourning the murder of a young MP who was in her constituency, a place she had grown up in. She was holding an open advice surgery for her constituents – an intrinsic part of an MP’s working life, often ignored by media and critics. An energetic and passionately sincere rising Parliamentary star Jo Cox (41) was respected across the political divide. According to eyewitnesses, she was shot three times – once near the head—and stabbed multiple times. Parliamentarians of all political shades united to condemn the attack and mourn the loss of this mother of two young children. The Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition (head of Jo Cox’s political party) and the Speaker of the House went to Birstall yesterday along with other Parliamentary colleagues to honour their murdered colleague.
Some have screeched police brutality, moaned about insensitivity and flinched at images of police charging rioters on TV. At a more mundane level, people find police checks tiresome, holding them up on their journeys. I was stopped locally for a routine check after the November killings in Paris. None of us is comfortable with burly men and women in uniform carrying heavy weapons on Charing Cross commuter platforms or at CDG Airport in Paris. We would far rather do without any of this.
And it’s been fun badmouthing MPs about expenses even if some were perfectly allowable, although duck houses were a tad off.
Yes, there are bad hats, twisters and corrupt public officials and these should be exposed and sanctioned. They work for us, we pay their salaries and they should not break our trust.
But much of the hype is exaggerated or even untrue. Public servants like police officials and MPs go into these jobs wishing to do good. A lot of their work consists of the quiet stuff; for MPs reading and writing papers, meeting constituents, serving on committees, promoting constituency and international initiatives and representing their party and Parliament; for police officers, similar administrative work, especially when heading a unit, but all the time dealing with the fall-outs from society, the accidentally and intentionally criminal and the mean, vicious and terrorist elements in society.
Both groups work long hours under pressure and sometimes make mistakes. Don’t we all? But they have been subject to persistent carping and attack, often not justified. I believe I’m thinking of the word ‘respect’.
The deaths of public servants Jean-Baptiste Salvaing, Jessica Schneider and Jo Cox have pulled us up short – they should.
#thankyourMP
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