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Publisher's Office [Public] / Re: The pain of saying no to a trade offer

« Last post by David VanDyke on February 14, 2019, 07:24:48 AM »

There is an oversupply of good writers. There always has been. There's no incentive to value individual writers unless one has a "name" that will add to the trade's bottom line. I'm sure there are plenty others who will be happy to join the "Year's Best" anthology--but now we also know that the "year's best" needs a big asterisk.

Publisher's Office [Public] / Re: KDP pre-order issue

« Last post by David VanDyke on February 14, 2019, 07:08:17 AM »

JJ, you have misunderstood.

I was not trying to raise the price for anyone who had already ordered the book.

I was trying to raise the current price for future purchasers..

However, doing so caused all past orders to be cancelled.

There was no reason at all for Amazon to do this. It's bad programming and bad policy.

Quill and Feather Pub [Public] / Re: My Title is Taken

« Last post by guest957 on February 14, 2019, 06:15:24 AM »

Interesting subject. Does this mean it'd be okay to publish a thriller titled All the Way Gone Girl or The Girl in the Window? I'm not going to do it, I just wonder if this sort thing is largely frowned upon because it could look like you're trying to ride someone else's coattails?

Publisher's Office [Public] / Re: The pain of saying no to a trade offer

« Last post by Bill Hiatt on February 14, 2019, 06:08:06 AM »

Quote from: martialartist on February 14, 2019, 05:35:09 AM

Quote from: LilyBLily on February 12, 2019, 01:28:50 PM

Also worth noting, if a company will not negotiate with you in the slightest, that means it does not hold you in high regard.

It could also mean they have other options.

The two things are not mutually exclusive, and they could be causally connected. Having a wide range of options leads to not needing to regard any one of those options that highly.

And that's really a large part of our problem as writers. A few A-listers whose work is practically guaranteed to wind up on the besteseller list will still be respected by publishers. Everyone else can increasingly be treated like dirt because of the perception that if a writer says no, there are plenty are others that will say yes.

And there are plenty of others that will say yes. Some successful self pubbers like David will say no, but an awful lot of people will be sucked in by the lure of that trad pubbed validation or for other reasons. Trad pubs may speak derisively of self-publishing in public, but they know there are a lot of good writers who self-publish. They also know there are good writers who won't self-publish because they are waiting for that trad nod. Between those two groups, there are more than enough people to fill those trad pub needs.

The only thing I see reversing that trend might be what happens when today's debut authors reach the point of being really successful. It used to be that high levels of success meant better contracts. But will that be the case going forward? Does a publisher who has that new A-lister all tied up in life-of-copyright contracts with no reversion clauses, exclusive licenses to all the worlds the author has created so far, and non-compete clauses really have to offer a better deal? Before, an author could have walked away, and in recent years that author could have self-published, but maybe now that author will be contractually tied down in a way that precludes it. That tied up = no bargaining leverage.

I'm not saying all publishers will behave this way, but I fear the pattern could become more and more common.

Writer's Workshop [Public] / Re: The Importance of Fact Checking

« Last post by guest957 on February 14, 2019, 05:59:53 AM »

Quote from: Bill Hiatt on February 14, 2019, 02:15:05 AM

Quote from: idontknowyet on February 13, 2019, 08:05:25 AM
I agree. Personally I worry about legal issues involved.
It always pays to be cautious, but this is an issue that has been much discussed, and, as far as I can tell, the same conclusion is always reached: It's OK to use trademarked names in fiction as long as you follow certain simple guidelines. A quick Google search produces a lot of hits. Here is an example: http://www.rightsofwriters.com/2010/12/can-i-mention-brand-name-products-in-my.html

The four basic principles involved are fairly easy to remember, particularly the most important one--if you need to speak disparagingly of a brand for plot purposes, create a fictional one. Do not use a real one. (Strangely enough, people are seldom sued for saying good things about a company or product.)

Yep, good point. I wouldn't mention a brand in my story if it was going to be something disparaging. I'd make up a brand or company in that case, and that can be fun too.