I would like to put together a book compiled of stories from people about a subject, what precautions do I have to take legally?

I am not licensed in Wisconsin, but your issue involves copyright and other intellectual property issues that are governed by federal law and law that is similar and similarly applied in Illinois.

You would be better off having the parties who submit their stories sign an agreement that assigns all copyright, "moral rights" and any other intellectual rights to you. Such agreement can provide you not only with the rights to modify, compile and create derivative works of the submitted stories, but it can "cut off" any rights to any profit or other payments for the use of their stories by assigning a perpetual and royalty free license. So, your should invest in your project by consulting a local intellectual property lawyer or a business lawyer who is experienced in copyright and intellectual licensing matters.

This answer is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be legal advice nor does it establish an attorney-client relationship. Please consult a local lawyer to obtain legal advice that is tailored to your circumstances and facts. Good luck to you.

As my colleague has noted, your book implicates federal copyright law, since each author owns the copyright to their stories (assumng they wrote them) and to their photos (assuming they took them). If you want the rights to the stories and photos so you can publish them in an anthology that you're compiling, you need contracts with these individuals so that they assign their rights to you. Assuming you want ownership or exclusive rights to these works, the assignments must be in writing.

You will also want to acquire the usual representations that the works are original, and the usual indemnities if the authors have infringed on anyone else's rights, etc.

See an IP lawyer to fully disclose your particular situation and get some specific advice.

Disclaimer: Please note that this answer does not constitute legal advice, and should not be relied on, since each state has different laws, each situation is fact specific, and it is impossible to evaluate a legal problem without a comprehensive consultation and review of all the facts and documents at issue. This answer does not create an attorney-client relationship.

The very quick answer to this question lies in copyright. Each one of these stories are copyrighted, meaning that the rights holders have the exclusive right to publish the stories. For you to do the same, you would have to either have them transfer their copyright to you, or as is more commonly the case, license the rights to you so that you may feature them in the your book. Profit participation in the book sales is not a legal requirement. However, you will have to demonstrate in the license contract that something of value was exchanged (e.g., 10 dollars) as "consideration", a legal term meaning that a bargain was struck. Essentially the same principles apply to the pictures as well.

However, you may also want to be wary of any "personal" rights that these people may have in the stories/photos. This refers to life story rights, rights of publicity and other rights that you will require a release or license to if the actual people are featured in the stories/photos.

Finally, I would not try this on your own without legal counsel, if you are not experienced in publishing legal issues.

Good luck.

Disclaimer: This answer is for informational purposes only and does not constitute general or specific legal advice, nor create an attorney client relationship.