Copyright, Schmopyright

Yes, copyright, that fancy set of U.S. laws (other countries have them, too) that protects you (and your publisher) from having all your (their) intellectual property stolen by some crazy hack. In case you haven't been keeping up with all the PubHubbub this week, the question of copyright has once again been raised in the mini-debacle over the third installment in the late Stieg Larsson's bestselling mystery series. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is already available in Ye Olde United Kingdome, but won't be released in the United States of Awesome until May of next year. In order to compete with on-line retailers like Amazon.co.uk, independent retailers in the U.S. have begun importing and re-selling the U.K. versions. The problem is that the U.S. publisher (Alfred A. Knopf) has already paid for the right to do this, and so anyone who imports the U.K. edition and sells it here in the States is in violation of U.S. copyright law.

Now, I'm all for independent book stores and applaud virtually any means by which they can stick it to The Man (whoever that actually is). However, I am also a fan of the law, and while I sympathize with the situation independents like Murder by the Book are in given the encroachment of Corporate America onto their turf, I can't condone illegal actions. If we bend the copyright rules to level the playing field for indies just this once, what's to stop us from doing so in the future? It's the slipperiest of slopes, bros and she-bros, and I think the eventual solution will have to be a greater international awareness in copyright (and other) law as The E-pocalypse draws ever nearer. Questions on everything from first print rights to electronic distribution will have to be re-thought in the coming decade, and I think cases like this one are an indication of how complex the issues involved will be. What do you think? Will we need some kind of international copyright law to police international sales/Teh Internets? Will e-books make this easier or harder? (I tend to think harder, but then again, I'm afraid of pirates.)

Stealing a Page From the Bransford Playbook

The holiday season is upon me in full force, friends and fans, so today is an open thread. I'll be back tomorrow, but in the meantime: have at it!

You Can't Spell "MWA HA HAAA" Without "MWA"

We all know how I feel about self-publishing, so it likely comes as no surprise to you that my reaction to Dellarte Press (originally known as "Harlequin Horizons") is largely negative. I'm not the only one crying foul, though, mes auteurs: the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America, and Romance Writers of America have objected to the project, with the latter two de-listing Harlequin as an acceptable publisher due to their violation of both organizations' "no vanity press"-type rules. (These reactions, as well as others like them, are what lead to Harlequin Horizon's changing its name in the first place.) Edit: I've been informed that the SFWA has also de-listed Harlequin as an eligible publisher for the same reasons as the MWA and RWA, but books published by Harlequin are still eligible for the Nebula award because no prohibition exists against granting it to self-published works.

The source of the brouhaha (at least, as near as I can tell) was that Harlequin was talking out of both sides of their collective mouth: on the one hand, they were saying that your manuscript wasn't good enough to be published by Harlequin Harlequin, but—but!—for the low, low price of $599.00 (packages run from $599.00 to $1,599.00), Harlequin Horizons would make you into a Real Live Author™! (Tragic character flaw not included.) The solution to this contradiction? Change "Harlequin Horizons" to "Dellarte Press." Et voilà! You no longer have a traditional book publisher playing a weird joke on you by asking you to pay them to publish your book because they didn't think it was good enough for them to pay you.

So yes, I applaud you, MWA (to whom I ascribed the mysterious laugh in this post's title), as well as the RWA, SFWA, and the countless other members of the industry who voiced concerns over this less-than-honest move by Harlequin. Yes, I think self-publishing produces absolute bilge 99.999% of the time. Yes, I think authors who self-publish are more often than not shooting themselves in the foot (feet?) if they want to ever make money doing what they do. BUT. I also think that those self-publishing companies have the right to do what they do so long as they're being honest about it, and most of them are: they're not offering book deals or literary stardom, they're offering to bind your book for you. When a traditional trade book publisher, however—you know, the fancy advance-and-royalty kind—starts getting in on the game, it's no longer clear where traditional publishing ends and self-publishing—dare I say "vanity publishing"—begins.

Sure, Harlequin can take their name off the press to prevent confusion, but if they've got to take their brand off a product in order to sell it, what is that really saying about them and their enterprise?

Friday Wrap Up (That Was a Gift Pun)

Friday round-up and Laura time (I know you're excited):

Happy entire month of American holiday! First, a gift to me--the winner of the waffle iron usage contest is Rick Daley, with his braille printing press iron. Genius, sir. I know Eric has already given you a list of presents you can give to others, but in case you need even more gifts, I'm here to help. Do you need 105 ways to give a book? Or the 10 best cookbooks of 2009? I know, I know, the book of the year can be such a boring construct,but, you know, deal. Or at least buy this book on how to regift.

Now, are you worried about age appropriateness of books? Taken care of. Are you worried that it's unethnical for the Washington Post to shunt you to Amazon with all of their book links? Well, yea, that's kind of worrisome. And you might have to buy books at the library. And maybe Cornel West isn't the golden god we all take him to be.

While we're busting up dreams, try this on for size: the Brontes are only getting their due because of your friend and mine, Twilight (I know, I know, deep breaths). It turns out their lives are Twilight. Also check out this great video review of New Moon, from a dude who liked the books, and then figure out: what's next?

Whatever's next, I hope it's not by a ghostwriter, because that shiz gets complicated. And I'm tired of complicated. Let's move on to the less complicated: this history of romance covers (which I would love to visit but have to ask, why do we still use the clinch?). And my gym believes in my ability to write a novel and get ripped--at the same time. Well, I'm off to buff up and simultaneously be the next Dan Brown. Until next week (or until later this afternoon at Combreviations)!

(Novel) Pimpin' Ain't Easy: Part 2 of 2

Continuing from yesterday—

6. The author. This kind of ties into #4 from yesterday's post, but it deserves its own treatment. If the author of the title in question is a celebrity—even D-list (or lower, if such a thing exists)—that will generally translate to a larger buy than would be the case if the author were not already famous. I mean, come on, do you think Jodie Sweetin could have even gotten a book deal at all had she never been on Full House?

7. House enthusiasm. This is sort of an extension of #2 from yesterday. Simply put, certain titles generate more excitement in-house than others, meaning they are higher priority and are more likely to receive advertising dollars, co-op, a stronger marketing push, and so on. Not all titles are created equal, and those that receive more support from editors, publishers, &c will more often than not see bigger buys than those that don't.

8. Comp titles. As I've said before, your book is going to be compared to similar titles that have already been published. If you've published a book in the same genre before, you'll likely be compared to yourself; otherwise, a book similar in genre, seasonality, and format will be chosen. While comparative titles are only one factor among many, they do have an effect on the size of the buy for your book.

9. Awards. If your book won a major award in hardcover, the buy for the trade paperback will be significantly higher than it otherwise would be. The same goes for any of your new hardcover or trade paper titles that go on-sale shortly after you win a major award for any of your previous books. (NB: by "major award" I mean National Book Critics Circle Award, National Book Award, Pulitzer Prize, Man Booker Prize, and so on.)

10. Rep and/or buyer preference. Maybe the buyer is a huge fan of this particular book and wants to put it in special promotion (e.g. Barnes & Noble's "Discover Great New Writers" program or Borders' "Original Voices"). Maybe the rep feels so strongly about the title that his/her enthusiasm convinces the buyer to take more stock. Either way, significant interest on either party's part can drive the buy up.

(Novel) Pimpin' Ain't Easy: Part 1 of 2

Over the past few months, several of you have asked about the kinds of factors that affect the size of an account's buy of a given title during a sales call. Having relatively little experience with actual sales calls (but a lot of experience preparing materials for them and analyzing their results), I can tell you it's not exactly a straightforward process (which is why this post is going to be a two-parter). Said factors include, but are not limited to:

1. Time. Buyers, especially buyers at national accounts, are extraordinarily busy people who can't afford to spend more time than necessary on any given task. This means that if a sales rep has 100 titles to sell in and the the buyer only has 90 minutes free to meet with said rep, a few titles will get a minute or two of attention and the rest will get less. Sad, but true.

2. The publisher's goals. When your book is first run through the amazing P&L machine, a rough print run is figured out. This number is further refined in launch meetings, print meetings, and sales meetings, after which the sales reps make their estimates based on these numbers, previous experience, comp titles, and so on. Long story short, though: unless you get phenomenally lucky, a lot of the information necessary to figure out the buy at any given account is sort of baked into the infamous P&L.

3. The American people. If you were offering a teenage vampire romance two years ago and you managed to score representation and a deal with a publisher, chances are your print run and account buys were larger than someone offering male ennui. If The People want what you're selling—or if the rep and the buyer think The People want what you're selling—it'll obviously factor into the sales call.

4. Media attention. Will the book be featured on NPR? Was it a hit at ComicCon? Does the author have a crazy-famous blog? The list is endless. Some things (like the oft-cited and impossibly nebulous "national media attention") aren't going to be of great help in the sales call, but if the book's going to be on Good Morning America or the author is an Internet celebrity, that can change the game entirely.

5. Co-op program cycles and minimums. Many co-op programs run on weekly or monthly cycles, which may not jibe with the scheduled on-sale date of the title in question. (Occasionally on-sale dates are altered to accomodate co-op promotions.) Additionally, some placement (especially those coveted front-of-store tables) require a minimum buy, and if the sales rep can't justify a buy for the account at a promotable quantity, the account won't promote the title and will lower their buy accordingly.

Tomorrow: part two!

NaNoWriMOh, Fine

Not quite a month ago, I wrote a post about NaNoWriMo. Or, rather, I lamented its very existence, noting that it is often used as an excuse for people who really have no business writing to produce not-quite-novel length pieces of... fiction and then proceed to harass other people with them. Based on my hard-won experience in publishing, I fear I must stand by my remarks, which were something to the effect that NaNoWriMo incites a lot of terrible querying and overall madness for the industry and most writers shouldn't need the "kick in the pants" that the event supposedly offers in order to get their writing lives in order.

HOWEVER.

I am not above admitting when I (may, if only once) have been wrong, and I do admit that the majority of the crazies (none of whom are here, Thank Google) would probably find a way to deluge agents and editors with their nonsense even without the vehicle of NaNoWriMo. I further admit that it's nice to have someone or something besides your own guilt/personal demons/spouse to help you make your writing a priority, which is far easier said than done. Therefore, I hereby join The Rejectionist in giving those of you who completed NaNoWriMo—or even attempted it—a round of applause.

Congratulations!