eBook Derision at crime Writing Festival

[Steerpike]

The interesting thing about this blog post, by writer Stephen Leather, is how vehement the reaction is from those who feel threatened by a new market they don't understand and can't seem to embrace. Personally, I can see benefits in both self-publishing and going the traditional route, and I buy a lot of traditionally-published books, but I think eBook are the future of the industry. Raging against them doesn't seem to be productive:

How To Make A Million Dollars From Writing eBooks (or How I Learned To Love The Kindle): Appearing At Harrogate - The Plot Thickens

 

[JCFarnham]

I tip my hat to Stephen Leather, and the "token bookseller" he mentions. I hope no one minds but I'm going to ignore people like that ... publisher was it? Hell, I don't really care to be honest.

Selling high volume at low prices is a well documented practice in all other industries. It's how wholesalers stay in business for goodness sake. It's hardly something to sniff at, and it's hardly something that's going to be the collapse of the fiction market.

It's happening. If you don't get on board with the new fangled internet thing then I'm not entirely sure you'll make it out the other side of this period in publishing history.

The next step would be walking into a shop, picking something physical up off the shelf, handing over your money, and having the book appear on your ereader instantly. If you can do this all by pointing your smart phone camera at the "something physical" then all the better.

I've just given away my million dollar idea. Enjoy it.

 

[morfiction]

I'll weigh in on this one. I have one book on Amazon. Well, several. You just have to know to search my pen name. Some company is selling a paperback of mine for $36. This is about sixteen dollars more than what it sells for on Lulu. I could be wrong, but there is a markup.

I also have ebooks on Amazon but I focus on updating my SmashWords ebooks whenever I get around to fixing my own mistakes. I'm selling for $1.25 and to the best of my knowledge have had no sales. SmashWords is continually sending me complaint emails that my books don't fit their publishing standards somehow. I'm okay with that. I make tons of mistakes!

My sales are almost non-existant. I am flattered some third party would buy my book then try and sell it. I'm one of those people the traditional press might complain about. And I'm okay with that.

 

[Chilari]

Wait, someone is selling your book without permission and without any money getting to you? That's illegal. You should do something about it.

 

[morfiction]

I should? *scratches head* I asked Amazon about it I think. I don't remember.

 

[Steerpike]

I should? *scratches head* I asked Amazon about it I think. I don't remember.

Yeah, unless they are simply selling a used copy of your book, which doesn't seem likely. Just send a letter or email to the company selling the book, identify yourself, and ask them to stop. That's where I'd begin. Again, unless it is a used copy or there is some other means by which their sale is authorized.

 

[morfiction]

Well I never actually filed a proper copyright form.... Should I?

 

[Steerpike]

Well I never actually filed a proper copyright form.... Should I?

Are you in the U.S.?

Copyright vests in your as soon as your work is put down in a "tangible medium," like on paper, computer disk, or what have you. So your copyright is protected as of that time. Generally, you cannot bring an infringement suit in the U.S. unless you have registered your copyright, which is relatively cheap and easy to do.

However, if you're just going to send an email or letter asking them to take the book down, you don't need a copyright registration to do so.

 

[morfiction]

Yes, I'm an American citizen.

 

[Steerpike]

Yes, I'm an American citizen.

Just send them an email and see what they say. Many times, that's the easiest way to get things done. If the site isn't in the U.S., it could be hard, from a practical matter, to force them to stop.

 

[morfiction]

Sounds combative.

I already emailed them if I recall correctly. They didn't reply.

 

[Steerpike]

Sounds combative.

It is, to some extent. If they're selling your book without your permission, you have two options:

1. Ignore it; and
2. Tell them to stop it.

The latter is more combative than the first

I suppose you could also work with them to try to make their sale authorized and ensure you get part of the proceeds. Hard to say much about that without knowing what the site is and what they're doing.

 

[morfiction]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0557048389/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

 

[Steerpike]

Hard to say, Michael. Looks like they may be selling an actual physical copy of the book that they acquired. There is nothing illegal about that, if that is the case. What they cannot do is print and sell the book themselves. But if they bought it from an authorized publisher (Lulu, just as an example), or bought it from a person who bought it from Lulu, they can do what they want with that particular copy. Probably requires more investigation. The fact that they only have one copy available makes me think they may have just bought the physical book somewhere.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

I'm pretty certain they possess exactly one physical copy and they're trying to resell it, which is entirely legal (right of first sale doctrine).

In other words, it's a used copy ("used" in the sense that they're not the publisher, rather than in the sense of "has been read before") and they're trying to resell it.

 

[TWErvin2]

If a book is released and made available through Ingrams, for example (or Baker and Taylor), it's possible that they ordered a new copy that way. It's also possible they're just listing it as available and would purchase the copy to direct to the buyer upon a sale.

 

[Chilari]

Ah yes, I misunderstood; I assumed you were selling ebooks only and not physical copies. If that is the case them selling a physical copy means a law has been broken somewhere. If they're reselling a physical copy they bought off Lulu from you, then nothing illegal is happening.

Edit: you might also want to change the product description, if you have the authority to do so, because it's not very flattering and it's not very helpful. I don't have a clue what the story is about, I only know if took ten years to write and you wrote it for an English class. Don't need to know that. Write a blurb, and you might sell more copies.