05-16-2014, 09:18 PM | #1 |
Guru
Posts: 826
Karma: 18573626
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Canada
Device: Kobo Touch, Nexus 7 (2013)
|
Backward-Looking Authors' Guild Faces a New Challenger
Ah the Authors Guild, notable mainly for its fear and hatred of anything new (Amazon text-to-speech, Google book scanning, etc.), or that isn't entirely aligned with a small number of top authors and big publishing houses. If only there was an organization for authors in the U.S. that actually embraced the future for the benefit of its members, rather than one that has to be dragged kicking and screaming into the present.
Well, now one is launching. The Authors Alliance is launching May 21st, with a plan to "further the public interest in facilitating widespread access to works of authorship by helping authors navigate the opportunities and challenges of the digital age. We provide information and tools designed to help authors better understand and manage key legal, technological, and institutional aspects essential to a knowledge economy of abundance." https://authorsalliance.org/intro.html Last edited by Ninjalawyer; 05-19-2014 at 12:56 PM. Reason: A typo most foul. |
05-16-2014, 09:35 PM | #2 |
Readaholic
Posts: 5,199
Karma: 90000000
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: South Georgia
Device: Surface Pro 6 / Galaxy Tab A 8"
|
Apache |
Advert | |
|
05-16-2014, 10:20 PM | #3 | ||
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 7,152
Karma: 39600000
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: near Philadelphia USA
Device: Kindle Kids Edition, Fire HD 10 (11th generation)
|
Quote:
https://authorsalliance.org/intro.html Quote:
Now, if they want to put their articles out for free on the internet (AKA "maximize public access") rather than behind a scholarly journal pay wall (AKA "fortune," albeit not much of it), I wish them well. |
||
05-17-2014, 02:02 AM | #4 |
Guru
Posts: 826
Karma: 18573626
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Canada
Device: Kobo Touch, Nexus 7 (2013)
|
I think there's probably a middle-ground between putting up your work for free and locking it up completely behind a paywall. Their goal seems to be to help authors navigate the present, not to make everything free.
|
05-17-2014, 02:28 AM | #5 |
Fledgling Demagogue
Posts: 2,384
Karma: 31132263
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: White Plains
Device: Clara HD; Oasis 2; Aura HD; iPad Air; PRS-350; Galaxy S7.
|
You might be underestimating the significance of the word claim in that sentence. The idea, I think, is that the author might seek prestige mistakenly through restricted access in supposedly credible places. That idea is reinforced by the Authors Alliance's commitment to the opposite approach -- wider access -- as stated below the bit you quoted.
I know exactly what they mean by "signed-away copyrights for out-of-print books," which was the fate of a story collection of mine six months after publication, when it sold out unexpectedly and the publishers refused to print any more -- nor have they allowed another publisher to reprint since. Also, note that most of the academics behind the Authors Alliance specialize in law; the one person involved in writing as a profession teaches journalism, not literature. I don't think they can be accused of promoting an ivory-tower agenda when the intended effect is populist. Just look at their advisory board. Do Cory Doctorow and Jonathan Lethem seem to you to be academics with no experience or interest in commercial markets? Last edited by Prestidigitweeze; 05-17-2014 at 02:45 AM. |
Advert | |
|
05-17-2014, 07:55 AM | #6 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 11,732
Karma: 128354696
Join Date: May 2009
Location: 26 kly from Sgr A*
Device: T100TA,PW2,PRS-T1,KT,FireHD 8.9,K2, PB360,BeBook One,Axim51v,TC1000
|
Here, straight from the inbred old grey mare:
http://www.authorsguild.org/general/...hors-alliance/ Quote:
Oh, if anybody cares what actual authors think, here's what the bystanders say: http://www.thepassivevoice.com/05/20...ance/#comments Snark central. Last edited by fjtorres; 05-17-2014 at 08:05 AM. |
|
05-17-2014, 11:36 AM | #7 | |||
Fledgling Demagogue
Posts: 2,384
Karma: 31132263
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: White Plains
Device: Clara HD; Oasis 2; Aura HD; iPad Air; PRS-350; Galaxy S7.
|
Speaking of people who aren't authors primarily, here's a bit of info on the man behind your blog:
Quote:
Quote:
Samuel Delany is an academic, BTW. After winning every SF award that can be won, and after writing Dhalgren, a book that sold a million copies, he's spent the greater part of his middle and old age teaching in universities while continuing to write and publish. Before you buy into false dichotomies between academics and real-world writers, consider that. Our magazine has published him, but so has Harper-Collins. You'd be on firmer ground if you were balancing the professional career of T.J. Stiles (the author who wrote the AG response quoted in the blog) against that of various writers associated with the Authors Alliance. Even so, do you really consider Stiles to be more of an "actual author" than Jonathan Lethem? Also consider that anti-intellectual arguments with a pseudo-anti-elitist slant can be applied equally to the myriad of university-educated programmers on Mobile Read -- esp. if they've ever worked for a university themselves. Just because someone reads genre novels doesn't make their background any less suspect in the world of the accusing anti-academic. Of course the Author's Guild doesn't like the Authors Alliance. You're looking at a war between copyright hoarders and publishing-house-hording skeptics, and the side you choose (if any) should be informed by more than the invective of one organization against another -- against a second organization that the first considers to be both a competitor and antithetical to its aims. That AG chooses to characterize AA as "an astroturf organization . . . not organized by authors, nor is it governed by them" is not surprising, nor is the anti-liberal epithet "Berkeley academics" a shock. AG might make any number of valid arguments against AA, but those charges are clearly false. AA is not an "astroturf organization" that hides its true membership or significance. Here is what it has said publicly: Quote:
Tech Dirt's take on AA is far less reactionary, as is coverage by Publisher's Weekly. The problem with certain academic presses is that they're defined by nepotism -- the academic careerist's fast track -- which means that the books they choose to promote in their roster tend to benefit people on or close to their boards, some of whom are professors who assign their own books to their own classes. I've heard stories of national media being interested in a book and contacting the academic publisher for information -- only to be either (1) redirected to those authors whom the publishers wish to promote or (2) discouraged from covering a book that the parent university deems too controversial. That AA should be interested in breaking out of that sort of closed circuit suggests a specific agenda to me -- one that has been voiced by writers I know who have grown frustrated with academic presses. We have not seen (yet) that AA wishes to challenge every publishing relationship. Last edited by Prestidigitweeze; 05-17-2014 at 12:40 PM. |
|||
05-17-2014, 12:13 PM | #8 |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 11,732
Karma: 128354696
Join Date: May 2009
Location: 26 kly from Sgr A*
Device: T100TA,PW2,PRS-T1,KT,FireHD 8.9,K2, PB360,BeBook One,Axim51v,TC1000
|
I just think it is funny that the academics behind the alliance, rightfully offended at the bestseller-driven guild portraying themselves as representing all authors, turn around and do the exact same thing. As if their interests are representative of all Authors. Or even a plurality.
If you look at the comments at TPV, most from hybrid commercial authors, their snarky take is both camps are irrelevant to their concerns and interests. From my viewpoint as a reader, I see two gangs of politicians prepping to fight a thousand miles from me. Which is to say, a lot of sound and fury that will achieve nothing. But it might be amusing to watch the shoes flying by. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHMrgwAuJ_U Last edited by fjtorres; 05-17-2014 at 12:16 PM. |
05-17-2014, 12:47 PM | #9 | ||
Fledgling Demagogue
Posts: 2,384
Karma: 31132263
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: White Plains
Device: Clara HD; Oasis 2; Aura HD; iPad Air; PRS-350; Galaxy S7.
|
Quote:
Quote:
No amount of invective, inference or ranting will reveal the truth -- not just yet. |
||
05-17-2014, 01:44 PM | #10 |
occasional author
Posts: 2,315
Karma: 2064403292
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Wandering God's glorious hills, valleys and plains.
Device: A Franklin BI (before Internet) was the first. I still have it.
|
Well at least people are talking about the problems. That is usually useful.
|
05-17-2014, 02:24 PM | #11 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 11,732
Karma: 128354696
Join Date: May 2009
Location: 26 kly from Sgr A*
Device: T100TA,PW2,PRS-T1,KT,FireHD 8.9,K2, PB360,BeBook One,Axim51v,TC1000
|
Quote:
Those kinds of rants are just emotional venting at best. (And, btw, I wasn't endorsing the AG position, just highlighting their fearmongering.) Realistically, I don't expect anything meaningful to come from either camp. Not now, not ever. |
|
05-17-2014, 03:04 PM | #12 |
Wizard
Posts: 1,036
Karma: 12018368
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Canada
Device: Sony PRS-650, Kobo Clara
|
I'm glad to see this thread. The first I heard about the Authors Alliance was in the notice I got on my Internet Archive account yesterday. I like what they're saying, but I want to hear all kinds of comment so I can learn more.
|
05-17-2014, 11:09 PM | #13 |
Guru
Posts: 992
Karma: 12000001
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Seattle Wahington U.S.
Device: kindle
|
Some of the ranting sounds like they think the AA is some sinister conspiracy. What's wrong with helping authors to find all their options and offering advice to authors who want different terms for their book contracts? Surely not all authors are content with the currently offered standard contracts. Letting them know what possibilites they have while negotiating is surely a good thing. The only ones who might find this threatening would be publishers who prefer their authors to have as little leverage as possible.
|
05-17-2014, 11:20 PM | #14 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 11,732
Karma: 128354696
Join Date: May 2009
Location: 26 kly from Sgr A*
Device: T100TA,PW2,PRS-T1,KT,FireHD 8.9,K2, PB360,BeBook One,Axim51v,TC1000
|
Quote:
|
|
05-18-2014, 09:27 AM | #15 | ||
Fledgling Demagogue
Posts: 2,384
Karma: 31132263
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: White Plains
Device: Clara HD; Oasis 2; Aura HD; iPad Air; PRS-350; Galaxy S7.
|
Quote:
Quote:
Last edited by Prestidigitweeze; 05-18-2014 at 09:35 AM. |
||
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Google versus Authors Guild - the next chapter | doctorow | News | 8 | 09-01-2013 11:02 AM |
Authors' Guild wants Government action on Random Penguin | fjtorres | News | 11 | 11-08-2012 06:58 AM |
[APRIL FOOLS] Authors Guild to take on Amazon! | Daithi | News | 16 | 04-04-2012 09:29 AM |
Le Guin accuses Authors Guild of 'deal with the devil' | nick101 | News | 16 | 12-24-2009 10:44 PM |
Authors Guild to Random House head: What's in the water over there? | Nate the great | News | 8 | 12-16-2009 01:41 PM |