Thanks to the genius which is Mari Adkins, I checked out this post here: “[publishing] The banal evil of the Google copyright settlement | jlake.com”.

Apparently the Google plan of putting every book in the world on-line is cleared to happen, and all writers (or their estates) who do not wish their work(s) to be available to everyone without charge have a little under two months to state their objection in writing. If they do not do so, they have no legal right to control of their writing.

All over the world there is the sound of authors saying “Eh? How’s that again? Isn’t this completely opposite to anything that’s ever been agreed?” The answer to that is ‘yes, it certainly is, but it’s too late now.’

For a dose of “the new reality”, let’s try this on for size, shall we?

The real problem, the evil here, is the notion now being put into practice that a copyright license can be asserted by a third party in the absence of the copyright holder specifically forbidding it.

All through modern copyright history until now, a licensor seeking a sub-right was required to negotiate with the copyright holder before exploiting that license. No differently from a tenant seeking to rent a property is required to negotiate with the landlord before they move in.

As of now, I no longer control the sub-rights to my copyright. Under the terms that Google and the Authors Guild have set up, anyone who wants to make a commercial use of them can do so. It’s up to me to notice, to be aware, and to take steps to defend my copyright. If I don’t, well, too bad for me.

And if you don’t think Hollywood lawyers aren’t already all over this, you’re dreadfully naïve.

Have a read through the article for the complete run-down, especially you authors, as this will have an effect on everything you’ve ever written or will write ever again.

And I’m working on the long-mentioned post about my last day in London right now, so that’ll be here tomorrow. No really, it will! I swear!

None of you care do you…? Well, alright, my mother will, but that hardly counts, does it?

Tags: author, Authors Guild, book, copyright, Google, Jay Lake, Marie Adkins, money, novel, Publishing, royalty, writer

This week brought news of Lauren Conrad getting a young adult three-book deal with HarperCollins. The writing world immediately reacted in three ways:

1. bitterness, envy and hatred
2. support and comments akin to ‘good for her!’
3. indifference and a quick return to the keyboard

Let’s clear up a few things and state in a fairly neutral and non-specific manner how some things work.

…and, lest someone mistake this for official policy, note that this is my blog, not the one for the Limited Company for which I’m acting President and C.E.O.

Publishers — including Peter Crowther, me, and HarperCollins — need to make money. Selling just enough copies of a title to cover the printing isn’t enough, we need to pay the writers, pay for shipping, pay the cover artist (possibly), and we’d rather like to put a little food on the table for ourselves (‘beer’ and ‘week’s holiday’ are pipe dreams). When a woman such as this appears and is the latest ‘hot thing’ in the media, the creation of a few ‘Horatio Alger / pull yourself up by your boot-straps’ stories for teens is a god-send. A ‘cash cow’ perhaps not, but certainly one to be taken advantage of.

This is not a bad thing, trust me.

First, it will encourage the young ’uns to read. This can never be bad, can it?

Additionally, it might give some anonymous writer some work for a few months creating the books. This is also good. It gives the Publisher a chance to find out what it’s like to work with that author on a no-risk title.

The extra income to the house permits the staff of the publisher to continue working and no-one gets laid off.

Those not laid off now are able to read more submissions.

One of those submissions could be a novel like Rain Dogs. Or even a collection called Bull Running for Girls. The increased money in the coffers of the house permits the optioning of the books to the authors of these un-tested books. Yes, they’ve sold in the triple digits, but that’s a run of ARCs for them. So what if it’s sold out its first run of… how many…? 200? It is to laugh!

The fact that a book like this bint’s has been picked up, and will likely sell like the proverbial hot cakes is good. The money will filter into other projects which will benefit you as well.

‘Quality of writing’ isn’t a question. ‘Will it sell?’ is the first and foremost one any intelligent publisher has in their mind when reading a submission. After the market is clearly present, or the way it can be created is discovered, only then does the ability to write come into examination.

The number of times I’ve watched a complete incompetent walk around on a movie sound stage being paid a good five or six figures for their few weeks’ of work is incalculable. Their ability to act in a film isn’t the question. My ability to blow them out of the room with my skills as an actor with the same character and inane dialogue isn’t of relevance. They, talentless though they may be, have A Box Office Name and the editor can work with the poor timing of delivery so that they seem brilliant (and if their tits are so high they touch their ear lobes, all the better).

It’s because of those Name Authors and Name Actors and Name Architects… etc… that those who do not have A Name can continue to do their work. The big people like Lauren Conrad, Rachael Leigh Cook, and Arthur Erickson create an awareness of the category of work they do (or attempt, anyway) that permits others in the field to peddle their wares.

No one — no one — is better or worse than another, no matter the quality or price of their wares. A success for someone in the field, no matter who they are or what their quality of output, is a step ahead.

If the latest ‘hot thing’ cannot score a deal with Hodder, or Virgin, or Knopf, or whoever, that’s a reason for moaning, as it means that no one can get a deal and it’s time to hang up your keyboard.

Here endeth the lesson.

Tags: economic whoring, HarperCollins, Lauren Conrad, Publishing, the way the world works, writer

Well, this is intriguing…

Which Lovecraftian Deity Are You?

Azathothother names : Daemon Sultan, Blind Idiot God He is basically the king of the Great Old Ones (although I can’t imagine why an idiot god would be king). He is a writhing mass of nuclear energy at the centre of the universe dancing to the insane beating of drums and piping of charnel flutes. These instruments are played by frog like deities, which it would be wiser to communicate to them instead of Azathoth himself. He is absolute chaos, and has no orderly manner of thinking. So any conversation with him would be impossible to comprehend. Basically the purest of randomness. Take this quiz!

And I promise to have a post on the first day of the UK trip later today this week! Really! Maybe even Wednesday! We’ll have to see how that day goes.And just describing the first four hours on UK soil will be enough, I assure you…

Tags: Azathoth, Gary Fry, horror, Humdrumming, Lovecraft, metaphysics, personality, quiz, surveys, World Wide Web (& Other Lovecraftian Upgrades), writer