If you’re thinking about quoting copyrighted material in your book, think again. Although “fair use” provisions do allow some “free” borrowing, it’s more limited than you think.

Say you want to spice up a chapter with a stanza of Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind.” (“How many roads must a man walk down, Before you call him a...” etc.) Can you do so? Probably not under fair use laws.

How do you know if your quote is “fair use”? That depends on four criteria, listed at the U.S. copyright site: (1) the purpose of the use (e.g., nonprofit); (2) the nature of copyrighted work; (3) the amount in relation to the whole; and (4) the effect on the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work.

When it comes to songs, a few lines make up a big part of the whole. A stanza of “Blowin’ in the Wind” amounts to over 15 percent of the song. Quoting 15 percent would probably violate copyright law.

So if you borrow more than a smidgeon—text or tables or figures or art—you need to get permission.

When it comes to the practicalities of getting a book done, the more permissions you need, the more time and money it takes—and paperwork. The bigger the print run, the higher the cost of permissions. And you may need to get permission from both author and publisher.

To give you an idea of what this involves, I requested permission to reprint five short book excerpts in Stairway to Earth: How to Write a Serious Book. The entire process, for all five excerpts, took me from late February until the middle of May, about two and a half months of calendar time.

Some excerpts took little time—Tim Gallwey, the author of The Inner Game of Tennis, owned all his rights. Tracking down Gallwey and getting his gracious permission took only a day or two (although it took me five weeks for Random House to inform me that Gallwey was the owner).

Other permissions took longer. I sought permission for using 83 words from Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. It took ten weeks. I sought permission for using 114 words from Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. It took ten weeks.

Then there were the fees. The Dillard excerpt cost $100, the Carnegie one, $200. These were one-time fees, and I’m required to go through the whole process again, according to my permissions agreements, when my sales exceed 1,000 copies. Gallwey charged me nothing—nice guy! Buy his book!

You would think publishers might create some kind of permissions clearinghouse, but they haven’t. You have to go through different paperwork and endure different wait times with each publisher.

Permissions cover only some parts of the world, such as the U.S. and Canada. They may also cover only one language, English. Some also expire after just three years. You also need to be sure permissions cover all possible editions, hardcover, softcover and electronic.

Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? The lesson is, if you don’t like delays and paperwork, don’t re-use other people’s material. Find other ways to spice up your book.

You can freely quote material in the public domain, which includes all works published before 1924. Quote Aristotle, say, and you don’t have to pay anyone—if the translation is old enough to be in the public domain. You can also freely quote U.S. government publications.

There are exceptions that allow more extensive quoting of copyrighted material.

But the only way to know for sure if you qualify for an exception is to get a court ruling in your favor.

In other words, you can’t get a definitive answer until the copyright owner takes you to court for infringement. The judge then tells you whether you ran afoul of the law. Dylan’s lawyers, for example, would have a strong case against you for quoting a whole stanza.

Legal people say you can borrow a lot more material if your use is “transformative.” Parody writers can re-use long book passages because they are “transforming” the material. Scholars, researchers, and educators can use longer quotations when their work creates new meaning. Stanford University has a good discussion of transformative uses.

You can also freely use passages if you’re demonstrating a principle of nonfiction writing and thereby creating new value beyond verbatim reprinting. That’s how I used quotes in Stairway to Earth. I opted to get permissions anyway because my attorney would not (could not) rule definitively. His email: “You’re not going to know for certain if your use of the quotes falls under the banner of fair use until a federal court rules on the matter once you’ve been sued.”

If you do decide to re-use someone else’s material and seek permissions, here’s what to do: Inventory all excerpts at least three months before your manuscript deadline. Keep separate excerpts in separate electronic files to forward to publishers. Decide on the size of your print run and the rights you want to request. Contact the publisher’s rights department (often online), and fill out and fax the right forms.

A spreadsheet helps. Remember: Your editor will require that you acquire all permissions before deeming your manuscript “complete,” per your contract.

Is all of this a pain? Well, yes. But it can be worth it if the material is important to your book. And it’s not so bad if you set your expectations, schedule your time, and minimize the number of passages you use.

[Revised January 2020. Originally published November 24, 2014]