DO NOT USE POP SONG LYRICS IN YOUR BOOK.
It’s the one piece of advice I consistently give other writers and the one piece of advice that is most consistently ignored. Yet if they were to listen to just one thing I tell them, this would be it:
DO NOT USE POP SONG LYRICS IN YOUR BOOK.
It is expensive — often prohibitively so — and it’s often unnecessary if you stretch yourself. I rewrote a lot of song lyrics out of my first book, Mahogany Slade. At the time, I didn’t see how it would be possible and the, once complete, I was glad I’d removed the lyrics, as they had become anchors on the story. Instead, I found other means of conveying how important music was to the characters.
Blake Morrison wrote a great “learn by example” piece about this in The Guardian.
Now did I forget anything? Oh right…
DO NOT USE POP SONG LYRICS IN YOUR BOOK.
serhasacomplaint 
observeratlarge
November 6, 2013 at 5:26 pm
Stephen,
You have to pay royalties to use song lyrics in a book? What about blogs? There are blogs using music DAILY! Oh well
I remember once being contacted by BMI when I was working in a law office, and told we have to pay them royalties for “music on hold.” I said, “I don’t think we have music on hold.”
“Are you sure” they said. “Let’s see,” I replied, and put them on hold. Sure enough.