As deadline is extended for Google objections, today's pot and kettle award goes to Amazon.com

As the deadline for objections to the proposed Google settlement is extended by a few days to Tuesday 8th September, today's pot and kettle award goes to Amazon.com.

In a 50 page legal document filed on September 1st, Amazon said the agreement was "unfair"to rights holders as it gave Google "an effective monopoly" over scanned works that would create "a cartel of authors and publishers". It also questioned the legitimacy of the "class action" and warned the court that it was being asked "to exercise powers that it does not have" stating that the agreement "restrains competition in ways that ought not be sanctioned by this court".

I detect a large slice of mirroring in relation to Amazon's own actions last year when they effectively forced US print on demand publishers to use their own printers or have their buy buttons removed.

Amazon state in relation to the proposed settlement:

"It is anti-competitive and violates anti trust laws because it provides Google an effective monopoly in the scanning and exploitation of millions of works whose copyright holders cannot be located or choose not to involve themselves in this class action."

"It also creates a cartel of authors and publishers - the Books Rights Registry - operating with virtually no restrictions on its actions, with the potential to raise book prices and reduce output to the detriment of consumers and new authors or publishers who would compete with the cartel members."

In Amazon's favour, it is true that they have only scanned books where permission has been obtained from the rights holders, but I cannot help feel that these are empty words from a retailer that bemoans others from basically doing what they have done themselves - what the hell they feel like! I am not the only one to notice this, since the Authors Guild in the US have published a letter online accusing the retailer of what they term as "breathtaking hypocrisy".

Katie Price most abandoned author by budget hotel chain

Budget hotel chain Travelodge, whom I often stay with myself, has today unveiled its list of top 5 books most often left behind in their rooms. To my utter surprise (what do you think) the list is dominated by celebrity 'autobiographies' - headed by Katie Price's "Pushed to the Limit". Personally I would have thought that reading this book would push just about anyone to the limit!

Barack Obama's "Dreams of My Father" comes in at second place, with comedienne Dawn French in third place with "Dear Fatty".

According to the report, hotels in Wakefield, Leicester and Birmingham had the most copies of "Pushed to the Limit" left behind, while those in Manchester and Oldham had the most copies of the Kama Sutra. Business books were not surprisingly, most likely to be abandoned in London, Edinburgh and Cardiff.

A total of 7000 books were abandoned, among them a case of Mills and Boon's which were left in Nottingham by a "high flying businessman". I cannot speak for others, but personally about the only things that I have left in a hotel (purely by accident) were a pair of socks and a torch!

Google book deal violates German copyright

Following complaints by several European countries, the German government have confirmed via a US court ruling, that Google's plans to digitise millions of books is in violation of German copyright laws. I suspect that Germany is not the only country that this applies to.

Johannes Christian Wichard, Deputy Director General of the Directorate Commercial and Economic Law, in Germany's Justice Ministry said that the deal would allow Google to "flout German laws that have been established to protect German authors and publishers, including with respect to digital copying, publishing and the dissemination of their works."

He went on to say "The decision of this court with respect to this settlement will have the dramatic and long-range effect of creating a new worldwide copyright regime without any input from those who will be greatly impacted - German authors, publishers and digital libraries and German citizens." He also made the point that German authors not published in the United States were not represented by the Authors Guild (and neither of course are British ones or for that matter any authors who live outside the US but whose books are available in that territory).

Authors have until the end of this week to raise objections to the proposed settlement, the hearing for which is due to take place on October 7th.

Amazon denied right to dismiss anti-trust law suit

Amazon may have been in the news recently regarding charges levied against publishers for 'rejected deliveries' and the launch of the Kindle electronic reading device in Europe, but one story that seems to have escaped the British publishing press which pays little heed to most stories that affect then print on demand sector, is that in a 26 page order on August 26th, Chief US District Judge John Woodcock Jnr has denied Amazon's right to dismiss an anti-trust lawsuit brought against them by US print on demand publisher Booklocker. What this means is that the case against them can now go ahead.

This is a monumental victory for the little man against the mighty giant, and although there is still a long way to go, this is the first step towards what will hopefully be a victory for common sense, which sends a strong signal that what has been popularly regarded as bully boy tactics will not be tolerated.

The full report can be read here (PDF).

My own initial post regarding this can be read here

A day in the life of the Editor

I have been Editor of my village newsletter for just over 2 years now, and despite the hard work, it is very rewarding. I agreed to take over the reins before we even moved here, in December 2006, after my friend Gillian notified me that my predecessor (who has continued in his role as Chairman) wanted to give up his role in order to spend more time with his grandchildren. For the first 6 months Des and I worked together with me gradually taking on more responsibility, until I took over on a permanent basis in June 2007.

Despite his advertising for almost a year, I was the only person that came forward, which is strange in a village such as ours. We have perhaps 1500 residents, two thirds of whom buy the magazine in one form or another - most subscribe (it costs £4 per year or 40 pence per issue) and have it delivered through their door, but some buy it from the local shops, the nearby National Trust centre or the Doctors surgery in the centre of our village. It is a wonderful and friendly community, and other than the few poison pen letters I received in the early days (the writer, who used an assumed name objected to me mentioning my book in the newsletter) I have had no problems since, and often receive letters from residents telling me how much they enjoy what I write and how they look forward to each issue.

On average there are 24 pages of editorial with a separate section for advertising (the adverts are dealt with separately by another member of the team, whom I work closely with as each copy deadline approaches). There are sometimes extra ads that need to go into the Editorial section, and when this occurs, as it has been of late, I usually have to produce 28 pages of editorial in order to fit them in. This month I have had to do 32, since we have special 4 page centrespread - in colour - for the first time in the newsletter's 20 year history (the anniversary is actually next year - I am planning a special article to celebrate that as well).

This months centrespread features pictures from our village fair - held at the end of July, and the most important event for the village each year, since it is the major fundraiser for the Neighbourhood Council (the money raised goes towards a Christmas party for the village children and to sponsor local groups and charities) with news about next years fair and how much was taken this year.

Each issue features regular columns from several local groups - the WI and the Organ and Keyboard Club plus the National Trust, who are very much part of our community, one of their largest estates being less than one mile from the village. There are also contributions from the Christian Fellowship, a monthly letter from the Rector and a page of Church Services. This is quite a lot of Church stuff for a small community, and I am aware not only a small number of people go to Church, so I try to balance this out by giving a page to the Inner Journey group as well, and when I can, publishing some articles that I write myself on various spiritual topics - last month I included a piece on spirituality in schools, and how this is creeping into GCSE courses in the social sciences.

We publish 10 issues each year with double editions in July/August and December/January and operate to a copy deadline of 15th of each month with a print deadline of 24th - which is of course today. This month will be a day late, since I am still waiting for the colour proofs of the aforementioned centrespread to be delivered - they are being done by a separate printer to the rest of the newsletter which will be done by our usual printer in black and white, since we lack the equipment to do it ourselves. They should hopefully arrive some time today by courier.

This months newsletter then contains the usual regular columns with around 5 pages of news - the lead stories being a sponsored walk in aid of the Royal Marsden, the latest films to be shown at the village cinema club and some flower tubs that were stolen from outside the village hall. I also have a 2 page spread on a local man who is paralysed from the chest down and takes part in sponsored bike rides to raise money for other paraplegics less fortunate than himself, a one page article on a residents trip to Scotland, various flyer's advertising up and coming events (a charity fashion show being one of them), and a list of walks for the over 50's. There is also the very popular word game, the prize for which is a bottle of wine.

All in all I think is a very well put together newsletter with something for everyone. I look forward to seeing it in print.

Pigs might fly ...

This is traditionally a quiet time of year for publishing, but nevertheless a few interesting changes have taken place since I departed for Lundy on July 22nd (Ilfracombe actually, Lundy came three days later). Namely:

The organisers of the Booker prize have announced that from now on, the competition will be open only to self published authors of one book or less. Several new categories are also to be added for non fiction.

The Times and other national newspapers have decreed that from now on at least 50 percent of the space set aside for book reviews shall be reserved for books published via small presses (including but not limited to print on demand).

New legislation is to be passed forcing the publishers of ghost written celebrity memoirs to declare this on the front cover. Royalties are to be split equally between the celebrity and the ghost writer, whose name shall also appear on the cover, alongside that of the celebrity.

The translation rights for Genesis of Man have been sold for a 6 figure sum, enabling the book to be translated into 6 different languages. It has also been accepted as a text book by a major British exam board for GCSE's in Religious Studies and Philosophy.

Last but by no means least, a pig named Rodrigo has been granted his pilots license after completing 100 hours tuition from Piggin Hill airfield in Kent. He celebrated by buying a Piggles costume ....

Time to start the next book

After a month long hiatus (I was on holiday from 22nd July through to August 8th and have been up to my eyes with other things since my return), there has been too much going on in publishing to trawl through everything.

At a time when I am about to commence work on my second book, which will be aimed at children aged from 9 to 99, and which I hoped may be published commercially, I read today much to my dismay, that children's authors are increasingly turning to self publishing in order to break into the market as it is becoming more and more difficult to secure an agent, bearing in mind that most publishers refuse to even look at work that has not come via this route.

It seems that it is becoming increasingly the norm to utilise the services of peer review sites (notoriously closed to non fiction writers, and so little used up to now by myself) as a means to get their work noticed. Several agents openly acknowledge that they use such sites in order to scout for new and upcoming talent, especially where potential exists for the sale of TV and film rights, as I believe is the case with my own idea. It is up to the author of course to do the hard work of showing this, so I have a lot of work ahead of me - just as well I only work part time ... Of course I also now know why I self published the first book, so that I could lay the groundwork for the second book and knew what to do differently - and this book will be very different!