sàds

Last year, Amazon decreed that it would direct-sell no print-on-demand books that weren't printed by its POD subsidiary, BookSurge . The change in policy sent small publishers and POD self-publishing services, many of which used rival digital printer Lightning Source , into a frenzy of alarm. In order to sell their books on Amazon, they'd either have to enter into parallel relationships with BookSurge, or use Amazon's Advantage program . Storms of protest ensued. Amazon refused to budge. Most publishers and publishing services eventually came to an agreement with Amazon. Not self-publishing service BookLocker , however. In May 2008, its owners, Angela and Richard Hoy, filed a class action antitrust lawsuit against Amazon , alleging violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. In July 2008, Amazon filed a motion to dismiss . But yesterday (August 26, 2009) Chief U.S. District Judge John Woodcock Jr. denied that motion. This means that the BookLocker suit is free to proceed. R...

Whenever I think I've seen it all, something new comes along. The explosive growth of self-publishing options over the past decade or so has spawned a mini-industry catering to writers trying to get notice for their books. From publicity companies (some competent, many not) to the marketing packages hawked by self-publishing providers such as AuthorHouse (typically overpriced and largely ineffective) to completely worthless pseudo-services ( email blasts , online catalogs, book fair "representation" ), self-published authors these days have near-unlimited opportunities to spend money on self-promotion. Such as this one, from self-publishing service Outskirts Press : put your book cover on a postage stamp. No, I am not making this up. From an Outskirts' press release , dated today: Outskirts Press, the fastest growing full-service self-publishing and book marketing company, recently announced it is making available to its family of over 4500 published authors an oppor...

Traditionally, in the magazine and newspaper industry, a kill fee is "a negotiated payment on a magazine or newspaper article that is given to the freelancer if their assigned article is 'killed' or cancelled." (Read the full definition here .) The contracts for the magazine articles I and Ann Crispin wrote for Writer's Digest included kill fees--but that was a few years back, and I suspect they are less common now. In the world of small publishers, however, "kill fee" means something quite different: a fee--usually a few hundred dollars--paid by an author to her publisher for getting out of a contract early. I've seen a lot of small press contracts that include kill fees, and it's my impression that such clauses are becoming more common. For obvious reasons, kill fee clauses are onerous for authors, who in some circumstances might have good reason to want to end a contract early, and can't do so without opening up their wallets. Plus, many ...

To fee-charging services looking for more customers, what could be more lucrative than a referral from a literary agency or publisher? To a literary agency or publisher, what could be more tempting than to make money not just from its clients, but from the thousands of authors it rejects? This is the logic behind referral fee schemes, in which a fee-charging company or service offers a percentage or finder's fee to agents and/or publishers willing to send authors its way. Unscrupulous scams such as crooked editing service Edit Ink and dishonest vanity publisher Commonwealth Publications have done very well from such schemes, paying kickbacks to agents who placed writers with them. A number of "stealth" vanity publishers (publishers that charge a fee but publicly present themselves as "traditional") have also experimented with referral incentives, targeting both literary agents and non-vanity publishers. And some straightforward POD self-publishing services off...

Earlier this week, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America issued a statement on the proposed Google Book Settlement , to which it plans to file a formal objection. The statement is reproduced below. The National Writers Union has also announced that it will oppose the settlement. I've blogged previously about the settlement, here and here . -------------------- SFWA's Statement on the Proposed Google Book Settlement The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. (SFWA), in conjunction with outside counsel, has reviewed the terms of the proposed settlement between Google, Inc. and the Authors Guild, Inc., and other class action plantiffs. On April 19, 2009, SFWA’s Board of Directors voted to stay in the claimant group in regard to SFWA-owned copyrights so that SFWA has standing to file a formal objection to the proposed settlement with the court. This decision should in no way be seen as an approval of the proposed settlement, nor construed as advice ...

More good news for Writer Beware: the Mystery Writers of America is joining SFWA in sponsoring us. From the official press release : “We are pleased to be able to support the important work that Writer Beware is doing on behalf of all writers, professional and aspiring, by exposing scams aimed at defrauding authors,” said Frankie Bailey, executive vice president of the Mystery Writers of America, which is giving SFWA a financial grant of $1000 and providing other resources, such as inviting Writer Beware representatives to share their booth at BookExpo and supplying volunteers to speak at writing conferences about fraudulent publishing practices. Needless to say, we're thrilled to add MWA's support to the incredible support and backing we've had from SFWA these past 10 years. We had a great time this year at the MWA booth at BEA, and hope to be back next year. We look forward to this wonderful new partnership--and hope that other professional writers' organizations w...

In February 2008, Robert Fletcher and his company, The Literary Agency Group (a fee-charging literary agency/editing company/vanity publishing company currently doing business as Writers' Literary Agency/AEG Publishing Group, about which Writer Beware has been receiving complaints since 2001) brought suit against me and Ann Crispin, claiming that the warnings we were providing about the company constituted defamation. On March 18, 2009, that suit was dismissed with prejudice by the Massachusetts Superior Court, due to Fletcher's failure to respond to discovery or otherwise prosecute the lawsuit. Subsequently, through counsel, we filed a motion in Massachusetts Superior Court seeking recovery of our legal fees and expenses. We're thrilled to announce that on July 31, 2009, our motion was granted. The full ruling (which, despite the July date, we just received today) can be seen here , but here's the salient portion: The plaintiffs have exhibited extreme bad faith in br...

One of the strangest schemes ever covered in this blog was a faux magazine startup called Laray Carr . Operating out of Terrell, Texas, Laray Carr first came to my attention in August 2007 with a call for freelance writers, who could earn $50 per article for a minimum submission of 10 articles, paid on publication. The company purported to be planning to simultaneously launch 40 different lifestyle magazines focusing on food, fashion, music, home decor, and the like--yet with the launch date of September 20 only weeks away, was still scrambling to accumulate content. There was no website, and no information could be found on the company's owner, Quincy Carr. Company staff seemed to know little about Laray Carr's goals, finances, and business plans, and were unable to answer questions. Red flags galore, in other words. Even so, many writers went ahead and submitted articles. But by September, with no payment forthcoming, writers began to get worried. Laray Carr became a hot topi...