Legal Battles Rage Over E-Book Rights to Old Books
By MOTOKO RICH
Published: December 12, 2009
William Styron may have been one of the leading literary lions of recent decades, but his books are not selling much these days. Now his family has a plan to lure digital-age readers with e-book versions of titles like “Sophie’s Choice,” “The Confessions of Nat Turner” and Mr. Styron’s memoir of depression, “Darkness Visible.”
But the question of exactly who owns the electronic rights to such older titles is in dispute, making it a rising source of conflict in one of the publishing industry’s last remaining areas of growth.
Mr. Styron’s family believes it retains the rights, since the books were first published before e-books existed. Random House, Mr. Styron’s longtime publisher, says it owns those rights, and it is determined to secure its place — and continuing profits — in the Kindle era.
Author Monte Schulz discusses the sale of his critically acclaimed first novel, and his decision to write a better book, This Side of Jordan, at the Southern California Writers’ Conference.
While he’ll be sharing his wisdom behind the success of his breakout novel, America Libre, at this weekend’s conference in Irvine, tonight author Raul Ramos Y Sanchez will be making an appearance, confabbing about topical immigration issues, and likely passing out chocolate in San Diego. Be sure to support a writer the best possible way — buying his book and shaking his hand.
When: 7:30 PM
Where: Mysterious Galaxy Books
7051Clairemont Mesa Blvd, #302,
San Diego, CA 92111
Phone: 858.268.4747
Rumor has it that celebrated(ing) columnist/poet Ed Decker’s gonna show up…
DEXTER TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) – An author from Whitmore Lake is facing charges that she shot her father in the rear end and leg.
Washtenaw County Sheriff’s deputies say Lisa Reardon drove to her parents home on Brand Road Friday. Once there, deputies say Reardon, whose website describes her as the queen of redneck noir, got into a fight with her father. Following the fight, investigators say Reardon shot her father. He is currently in stable condition.
Reardon was arrested a short time later, with the help of the Livingston County Sheriff’s Department. According to her website, Reardon is the author of several plays and novels, including “The Mercy Killers.”
Police are not commenting on a possible motive. Reardon has been charged with assault with intent to murder, using a firearm to commit a felony and a motor vehicle violation. She was ordered held without bond.
The realities of being a book editor can prove challenging to those editors migrating from the magazine world, as this piece from The New York Observer attests.
Notes for Andy Ward, on the Eve of His Move to Random House
By Leon Neyfakh
Random House surprised the publishing industry Monday with the hiring of GQ executive editor Andy Ward, who will be joining the editorial staff of the house’s flagship imprint in mid-September. Though Mr. Ward began his career in letters as an editorial assistant at Little, Brown, he has spent the past 13 years working in magazines—the most recent six at GQ, and the seven before that at Esquire. Mr. Ward is just one of several magazine editors who have made the jump into the book business during the past year and a half, a trend that made us wonder: Just how different is the life of a magazine editor from that of a book editor, and do the people who trade one in for the other know what they’re getting into?
And so, having conducted interviews with a number of publishing people who began their careers in the magazine world, we’ve come up with the following crib sheet for Mr. Ward and anyone else who follows in his footsteps:
From author/attorney Lawrence Lessig, via his blog:
Amazon has caved into demands from the Authors Guild that it disable the ability of the Kindle to read a book aloud. This is very bad news.
We had this battle before. In 2001, Adobe released e-book technology that gave rights holders (including publishers of public domain books) the ability to control whether the Adobe e-book reader read the book aloud. The story got famous when it was shown that one of its public domain works — Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland — was marked to forbid the book to be read aloud. (Here’s a piece I wrote about this in 2001).
Now the issue is back. The Authors Guild has objected because Amazon’s Kindle 2 has a function built in that enables the book to be read aloud. So when, for example, you’re commuting, you can plug your Kindle 2 into your MP3 jack and have the book read aloud.
Amazon rightly argued that this did not violate any of the exclusive rights granted by copyright law to the copyright owners. In that, Amazon is exactly right. But nonetheless, it will now enable publishers to decide whether the Kindle books they sell will permit the book to be read aloud. And of course, that includes public domain books.
So here we go again — How long till we can buy Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and be told that this book “cannot be read aloud”?
Judy Reeves, a beloved mainstay of our SCWC community always finds time to bring us the benefits of her wisdom. The author of A Writer’s Book of Days and Writing Alone, Writing Together, among other instructional materials for writers, Judy brings a more than quarter-century worth of practical writing experience (newspapers, television, PR, books, and more) to San Diego this year for a Read & Critique.
Apparently, she also acts, but that should not come as a surprise. She’s quite comfortable in front of an audience, having taught at UCSD, CSU Fullerton, The Writing Center, The Writers’ Room, and various conferences. So why should a camera bother her?
Her dedication to educating writers won her recognition in 1999 as San Diego Writer’s Monthly Woman of the Year, and the San Diego Writers and Editors Guild bestowed upon her the 2001 Odin Award for Community Service.
