[Carradee]

Well, that was fast. The site emailed back confirming the existence of a valid model release. What a relief!

Maybe you should get a copy?

I'm no photographer or anything, but that seems like it would be a good idea. I always make sure to have a copy of the license for all fonts and images I use on my covers.

 

[Carradee]

A license for fonts too? Even the ones that come standard in programs like Word, Pages, Illustrator, and Photoshop?

I never considered the possibility that I would have to obtain licenses for these. Egads, I'm glad I am frequenting this place while I'm still writing and before I dare release a book.

Yeah, for fonts, too. The ones that came with your computer are probably okay for personal use, but not commercial. According to what I've been told (by professionals in publishing), licenses for fonts used in book interiors aren't a big deal; e-book readers change the fonts at will, and printing companies are responsible to get the commercial licenses for the fonts they print.

The problem comes with covers. The fonts, being made part of the image (or part of, say, a sign in a store) are now being used for commercial purposes, so you need a license.

So far, I've been using freeware-for-commercial-use fonts that actually have documentation from the font creator, because I trust that more than just some comment on a website that something's free for commercial use. It only takes one person "misunderstanding" a font's license (that can be free for personal use but cost for commercial use) to start spreading misinformation about a font's licensure.

Am I likely to be sued? No. Do I want to have all documentation on-hand in case of worst-case scenario. Yes.

 

[Carradee]

Font sites like http://www.myfonts.com/ clearly list the license terms for all their fonts. (And they package the fonts in an easy-to-use installer, too, which is nice.) On a Mac, when you look at a font in FontBook, you can hit command-I to hopefully find some license information if you need it, or at least to give you an idea of where to look.

Some fonts come on a site like MyFonts that have clear standard license terms that apply to all fonts on the site, with differences in what it costs for those license terms (from $0 on up).

When you use other font sites (like Dafont), sometimes fonts come with a "ReadMe" file from the creator that has license terms in it. (I rename the file with the font name and store it, in that case.)

Sometimes, though, you can only verify a font's licensure by tracking down the creator. Sometimes this is easy, like for Jakob Fischer of http://www.pizzadude.dk/. Sometimes it's a pain in the neck. There's more than one font creator for whom I haven't been able to find functional a e-mail address, so I use different fonts.