A Question of Ethics

[Mary Hoffman]

I have a slightly different take on this. The bound proofs (as opposed to genuine review copies of the finished book) are not printed in such vast numbers as to make a great deal of difference to our incomes. What was it Mark - about 500? And they will be sent to the trade anyway so all we're losing is the royalty on the re-sale so it's the same as with secondhand copies - peanuts.

What bugs me is that the proof copy is not the same as the finished book! Now, if every e-bay buyer would be so nerdy and collector-orientated as to buy the finished version AS WELL in order to compare the two, that would be just peachy, and bring in a royalty too.

Somewhere 'out there' is an American bound proof, with pretty jacket, of The Falconer's Knot, set by Bloomsbury US without my permission or knowledge from the original, first draft, CD I sent to Bloomsbury UK. Characters have different names and there is an acknowledgment to an academic who did b****r all and got excised from the final version.

That did rankle but then if someone had wanted to buy it on eBay even before publication I would have minded only from an aesthetic, not a financial point of view.

Mary

[Mark Robson]

I'm not bothered about losing the royalties, Mary. You misunderstand me. It's the fact that people are looking to profiteer on copies that were never meant to be sold ... before the publication date (which is the crux of my irritation) in order to try to coerce the keenies into parting with money for something that isn't (as you quite correctly point out) the finished article. It's irritating that they are not being read, as intended by the publisher.

I've not been told what the print run was. I don't imagine it was many, which, of course, does make them all the more attractive to those who collect this sort of thing.

I'm not about to get a big grump on about the whole thing. It's just not worth it.

[Julie Bertagna]

I don't think it's grumping, Mark. The publishing industry is fascinating, exciting, increasingly complex - and can be infuriating! And everyone involved in it has different excitements and frustrations along the way.

And I'm experiencing all of the above this morning re the fascinating, exciting, complex and infuriating issue of electronic rights !

[silvarbullet1]

Originally Posted by Julie Bertagna

Hi Mark,

It is wrong and it's pretty widespread (if that's any comfort). There was a big discussion about this a while ago on the Achuka children's book website. An author threatened legal action to Achuka and the upshot was a big debate and lot of bad online publicity for the author. So there are big risks in complaining.

I thought hard about it and eventually was persuaded by Darren Shan's argument that the way to look at it is as a kind of free publicity. If someone thinks your book is worth selling on ebay then it's a compliment. Darren thinks it has definitely worked in his favour.

There are plenty of good reasons for you not agreeing! But the reality is, to be honest, that publishers see it this way too, so it's a lone, brave author that takes a stand. I also don't mean to be cynical - and I would far rather people paid me for the book I've spent several years writing - but I think if there are a handful of copies on ebay then Darren is right, it can be a positive thing. People are seeing the cover of your book at the very least and a bidding war might make the bid losers (and others) seek out your book. I would be worried if there were too many copies on ebay though.

What I find much more pernicious and worrying is those Amazon sellers - who had my new book (£10) on sale days after it was published - at £1. How is this possible?! Neither Amazon nor its sellers responded to complaints other than with a 'suggestion' that unhappy authors can have their books removed altogether from the Amazon site. This stunned me until I read a report that said Amazon makes a much bigger profit from its sellers than from its own hugely discounted fiction sales.

It's a murky old business. There's an entire industry making piles more money out of books than the authors ever do. It feels all wrong. Makes me want to weep.

Didn't mean to depress you even more! Just trying to find a positive slant on the murky stuff.....

I follow almost exactly the same lines along a music-industry approach.
I am studying Sound Engineering at university and whilst not (currently) an artist myself, it annoys me that 90% of people I know pay for 10% of the music they own. That means that an awful lot of people download most of their music without a second thought for those who wrote it, those who performed it, those who recorded it, etc, etc...

Of course, in the music industries case they take the opposite stance and are aggressive as they can be. Which has either
(a) No effect whatsoever. (I don't know anyone who has stopped downloading music illegally)
or
(b) Annoys everyone who likes music. (I know that as a legitimate music purchaser: 98%+ of my music is legal, I get very annoyed by DRM, copy-protection and all manner of junk that the music industry come up with)

In some ways, Mark, you could consider yourself lucky!

I just checked ebay and didn't find anything untoward, by the way. Although search for DVDs and CDs (especially hard to find originals) and you'll be lucky not to find a few dodgy ones.

Anyway, what I'm really trying to say in all this, is that all of the media industries are suffering in some way but all have much to gain in the digital one-world 21st century economy.
And I feel your pain.
Keep up the good work.
I sent a message to you (Mark) via your publisher contact on your website (how I found this site) so hopefully that will get to you. Anyway, to explain who I am:- I'm Dan the sound engineer from Spring Harvest minehead in the skyline, I got Imperial Spy signed by you. Loved it!

sb1

[TheEndIsNigh]

This may be rubbish so please forgive a naive idiot...

It seems to me that if there is a 'case' against a publisher or anyone involved in the supply chain in these unsavory goings on, copyright for example. It should be looked on as a possible pension plan.

In time to come when you no longer have the strength to lift your digits to the keyboard. When you no longer have the will to put quill to paper and the danger of upsetting your future royalty providers are long long behind you. When everything that used to give even a smidgeon of pleasure is now just an endless soul destroying tedium.

At that time you can turn to the the 'secretary' who attends to your faltering decrepid body, drawing him/her near to be better heard (and coincidentally catch a glimpse of his/her firm young muscular body - else you may as well be dead) in your best crackling gurgle of a voice you can say

Sue the b******s.

It's something to look forward to in the short time we all have left.

[Mark Robson]

Originally Posted by silvarbullet1

I sent a message to you (Mark) via your publisher contact on your website (how I found this site) so hopefully that will get to you. Anyway, to explain who I am:- I'm Dan the sound engineer from Spring Harvest minehead in the skyline, I got Imperial Spy signed by you. Loved it!

sb1

Great to see you here, Dan. Thanks for the words of encouragement. I've just got your message through the contact page. Will respond soon. Glad you liked Imperial Spy.

Originally Posted by TheEndIsNigh

In time to come when you no longer have the strength to lift your digits to the keyboard. When you no longer have the will to put quill to paper and the danger of upsetting your future royalty providers are long long behind you. When everything that used to give even a smidgeon of pleasure is now just an endless soul destroying tedium.

At that time you can turn to the the 'secretary' who attends to your faltering decrepid body, drawing him/her near to be better heard (and coincidentally catch a glimpse of his/her firm young muscular body - else you may as well be dead) in your best crackling gurgle of a voice you can say

Sue the b******s.

It's something to look forward to in the short time we all have left.

LOL! My good lady wife is a barrister, so if there were a cause of action you can bet your bottom dollar she would have been onto it like a flash. Any action would be brought by the publishers, not me. I'm not litigation happy anyway, so I wouldn't be in a hurry to jump in. I did chuckle at your message, though. Thanks for joining in.