Writing Rights

Gordon Aalborg

Authors are very strange folk indeed. I can say that because I am one.

But some are stranger -- by far -- than most, and therein lies a tale.

An author [who shall remain nameless] of my acquaintance had a book published with a publisher [who shall remain nameless] of my acquaintance in JULY. [Note the date, please; it is relevant] Not the author's first book, by any means, but the first with this particular publisher.

And the ink was barely dry when this author, for reasons I cannot begin to comprehend, not only stuck up an $8.99 version of the book on Kindle, but then went on to put -- and promote the hell out of -- a FREE version of the book on the author's website. The author did this--it had nothing to do with the publisher.

Which leaves us, gentle reader, with an author giving away a free version of his/her own book to compete with an $8.99 Kindle version, to compete with the $20+ hardcover version that the author's *new* publisher is trying to sell!

Let it be clear: the author hadn't sold the ebook rights, much less the *give it away for free* rights, so the author broke no laws except perhaps the law of simple common sense. But still ...

It sounds to me like a lesson plan for "HOW TO SHOOT YOURSELF IN THE FOOT - FOR DUMMIES," or "HOW TO ALIENATE YOUR NEW PUBLISHER IN ONE EASY LESSON."

But another element of the woeful tale is that it illustrates how pervasive/persuasive modern technology hath become, and how much more complicated the *business* of writing has become. 

All sorts of authors are busy putting up their backlists on Kindle, for example ... or trying to ... and running into all manner of complications with regards to the various rights which may or may not have been tied up in their original contracts, and it gets even more tricky for books existing in print under contracts that never involved ebook rights at all.

And then there is the COVER issue, because it seems many, many authors who scream blue murder about *their* rights seem only too happy to ignore the fact that COVER ARTISTS have rights too! Not only that, but many cover artists KNOW their rights, and have farmed them out in myriads of complicated contracts that ultimately affect the authors who think [often erroneously] that the author owns the rights to the author's book cover. Often -- VERY OFTEN -- the author does not!

Which gets tricky indeed if an author plans to put up a book on Kindle or some other ebook medium using a cover paid for by the publisher, under contract with the cover artist, and for which specific rights for the cover illustration might be involved. Sometimes, indeed, authors are rightly expected to pay for covers they think they already own!

Comments

[Gary Corby]

Wasn't there a clause in the contract saying the author couldn't do anything to devalue the publisher's product?

[Kevin R. Tipple]

Sounds to me the author is just implementing some of the "advice" out there on various lists. ;)))

[Gordon Aalborg]

Same old story, Kevin -- advice is usually worth about what you pay for it ... if youre lucky.

g.

[Lisa]

I don't see the point of excluding your friend's name from this post.

Posting one's work for free can have advantages and disadvantages. One of the advantages is that when these kinds of discussions come up, at least their name is getting bandied about. (Well, you did say "acquaintance"--maybe you're not very good friends?)

If I read a free book and enjoy it, I might be moved to buy a copy to keep. I might be moved to buy a copy as a gift. I might go buy one of the author's backlist titles. I might actually notice when the author's next book comes out and buy that.

Chortling over someone's stupidity doesn't really add to the discussion--I'd be more interested in knowing if the author feels, down the line, that this experiment was worthwhile or not, what worked and what didn't.

I do appreciate the information about cover art not being part of an author's rights, though. Makes a lot of sense. As we move into an era where books are beginning to take on many forms, such reminders will prove invaluable.

[Gordon Aalborg]

Lisa suggested that Posting ones work for free can have advantages and disadvantages.

The point is, Lisa, that giving away your book before your publisher has had any significant opportunity to *sell* the work seems to me to be counter-productive. To do so without even consulting the publisher is ... tres strange to me, perhaps ignorant and perhaps outright contemptuous.

An author is supposed to be working *with* his/her publisher, not in direct competition. If the author wants to post a book on-line for free, why involve a publisher at all?

Lisa also said: I dont see the point of excluding your friends name from this post. To which I have no useful reply except to suggest that the identity of the author in question is totally irrelevant to the issue I raised.

g.

[Lisa]

I appreciate the response. Especially since I came so late to the party!

Taking actions that hurt your own publisher would be a bad idea, I agree. But I have to question whether that's really what happened. Why did the publisher not put electronic rights into their contract, if they wanted to reserve them? (Obviously, there aren't many details in the post, so I don't know what happened. I'm just asking the question.) I wonder whether an author CAN post a free version, or a Kindle version, without a contractual blessing.

I think that marketing, especially book marketing, can work in ways that are counterintuitive. I'm suggesting that it's *possible* that posting numerous alternate versions of your work *might* help ALL versions to sell better. I've got no guarantee that this is true, any more than the author does, and I imagine that many factors play into the outcome, but I am personally interested in the cold hard facts of the result. And I applaud the author for taking a chance and trying something risky.

As for mentioning the author's name--it came across to me as a little bit mean-spirited. That may not have been the intention, but that's why I questioned it. Like I said, one of the reasons an author might try posting alternate versions is to engage people in conversations about their work. As a blog reader, I'd like to go see what this author did. How does the quality of the publisher-produced book appear? Does the Kindle version come up when I'm on the book's page? Do I have to go to the author's website to see the free book? What's the quality there, and how does it influence me to read or dismiss the author's work? Etc.

To me, these are all related issues. Of course you can post whatever you want, and you should express your opinion. But you haven't convinced me of the stupidity of the author's decision; there's simply not enough info here to reach that conclusion.