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I'm a bit tardy on reporting this, but what can I say--I was on vacation last week, and didn't bring my laptop. What's more, I didn't miss it a bit. No email, no blogging, no Twitter--bliss! Which just goes to prove that I'm not an Internet addict. No, not me. I can quit any...time...I...want...to. Anyway. Last week, the U.S. Justice Department's anti-trust division urged the court to reject the Google Book Search Settlement , citing " concerns of the United States regarding class action, copyright and antitrust law. " (The full text of the DOJ's brief can be seen here .) However, it urged the parties to continue discussion, since "a properly structured settlement agreement in this case offers the potential for important societal benefits, [and] the United States does not want the opportunity or momentum to be lost." As a result, the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers petitioned the court to adjourn the Fairness Hear...

In May 2008, the Indiana Attorney General filed suit against vanity publisher Airleaf and its owner, Carl Lau for taking authors' money without providing services in return. Additionally, Lau was accused of violating Indiana's Deceptive Consumer Sales Act, of using company assets to cover expenses not related to the business, and of continuing to solicit authors, promise services, and accept payment for months after Airleaf became insolvent. The suit sought restitution for Airleaf authors, civil penalties of up to $5,500 per violation, and reimbursement for the cost of the investigation. A Consent Judgment between the AG and Airleaf/Lau was entered on June 30, 2008. There was a provision for restitution--but for just two of the 120 authors named in the suit. On August 21, those authors received the following email from the Attorney General's Office: Dear Consumer, As most of you know, on June 30, 2008 the Office of the Indiana Attorney General entered into a Consent Judgm...

For some time, I've been receiving questions about VDM Verlag Dr Mueller , a German academic publisher. VDM describes its business thus: VDM publishes academic research worldwide - at no cost to our authors. Annually, we publish more than 10,000 new titles and are thus one of the leading publishing houses of academic research. We specialize in publishing theses, dissertations, and research projects. VDM uses digital technology (which it dubs "print-to-order [PTO], a further development of the print-on-demand [POD] procedure") to make its books and monographs "available" (which just means they can be special-ordered) through online and physical booksellers. There's no cost to authors, who receive a "fee" plus "up to" 20 free copies of their book. There's also no editing or proofreading : what you turn in is what's printed, and the process for doing so, in which authors essentially create their own books and covers, is very similia...

We've punctured a number of writers' myths on this blog, including the notion that commercially-published writers must give back their advances if their books don't earn out, the fear that agents and editors will blacklist writers who displease them, the conviction that " just getting it out there " (via self-publishing, for instance) is enough to jump-start a career, the idea that getting published is some kind of crapshoot , and the " everyone has to start somewhere " excuse that throws so many writers into the arms of amateur agents and publishers. Here's another one: "You have to know someone in order to get published." Agents and editors simply aren't interested in work by unknown writers, this myth goes, because unknowns are too risky. In order to get attention for your debut manuscript, you need to be famous, have a friend or relative in the publishing biz, be referred by a client, or already possess a publishing track record (...

This morning, I opted out of the Google Book Search Settlement. For several months, I've had no question that I did NOT want my books included in Google's database. It's not the display of bibliographic information, or even snippets, that I object to--it's the possible uses the settlement empowers Google to make of my work down the road (including selling my books in electronic and POD form). If those uses were limited and clearly defined, I might not have a problem--but they aren't, and I just can't see allowing such a sweeping license to my work, where the implications of granting that license are so unclear. My only question was whether my desire not to participate in the Settlement would be best accomplished by opting out--in which case Google would "voluntarily" honor my request not to digitize or display my books, but not be barred from changing its mind at some point in the future; the advantage is that I would retain my right to sue Google for ...

As many readers of this blog know, Robert Fletcher, purported literary agent and publisher, from whom Writer Beware recently won court costs after he filed a frivolous defamation lawsuit against us, has been the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Florida Attorney General's Office. Today, the Attorney General, Bill McCollum, announced that his office has filed suit against Fletcher. Here's the official press release : Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that his office filed a lawsuit against a Boca Raton company that allegedly preyed on aspiring authors. According to the Attorney General’s lawsuit, Writer’s Literary Agency and owner Robert Fletcher used more than 20 websites and related companies to collect funds from potential authors, but misled victims about fees, costs, and promised results. The Attorney General’s Economic Crimes Division received more than 175 complaints from around the world claiming Fletcher and his associates, who claimed to act as ...

Writers: The deadline for deciding whether to opt out of the Google Book Search Settlement is September 4, 2009. That means you have just four days to decide. If you want to opt out, you must do so by September 4, or lose your chance forever. Opting out must be done in writing. You may opt out online , or send a written notice by US mail, postmarked on or before September 4 (instructions and address are here ). If you don't opt out, you will automatically be included in the Settlement. You'll then have until January 2010 to log in to the Book Search website, set up an account, and claim your work . (Note: many of the links below are from the FAQ on the Google Book Search Settlement website.) The Book Search Settlement covers all works published on or before January 5, 2009 (so if your work was published after that date, or is yet to be published, you aren't affected), and anyone with a US copyright interest (don't assume, if you're not a US writer, that this do...