Egregious (Reversal of Royalties) And Urgent

What is the point of "selling" a book to a reader, if the middleman (an Amazon company, for instance) actively encourages the reader to return that book --after reading it-- for a full refund or free exchange for another book, at the expense of the author?

That's not a "sale", it's a merry go round.

Read all about it.

https://www.authorsguild.org/industry-advocacy/sign-our-letter-and-tell-audible-to-stop-charging-authors-for-returns/

Egregious! 

Please read the full letter and  sign the petition.

https://www.authorsguild.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/AG.Audibledemand-collective.11.19.FINAL_.pdf

How can an author make a living if book sales can be cancelled, and book revenues can be clawed back up to 365 days after the assumed sale?  

 

How can an author plan her finances, or project what her tax obligation will be?  However, assuming that one has something to leave, or something to invest, or a rollover IRA, this is the time to do some urgent tax planning.  One probably has until December 10th, 2020 to get ones financial ducks in a row.

Three links:

https://www.ml.com/articles/tax-tips-that-could-save-you-money.html?pageurl=peter.shunyia

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/hobbyist-vs-pro-tax-guidelines-for-book-authors-2799859

 

https://www.michaelbest.com/Newsroom/250409/Estate-and-Tax-Planning-After-the-2020-Electionnbspndash

While this writer cannot offer financial advice (not being qualified), the most interesting advice might be to transfer one's biggest losers into either a Roth or a GRAT. 

All the best,

Rowena Cherry 

SPACE SNARK™ http://www.spacesnark.com/

 

National ? "Emergency"?? Library???

The Authors Guild is asking all comers to sign a petition.
Link:
https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/sign-our-open-letter-to-internet-archive-to-shut-down-the-so-called-national-emergency-library?source=direct_link&

Here's what you can expect to see:

The excessive punctuation is mine. I apologize.

For authors, it would probably be quite effective and legitimate to use the comments box to name ones titles that have been pirated on this site.

All the best,

Rowena Cherry 

SPACE SNARK™ http://www.spacesnark.com/  http://www.rowenacherry.com

Of Petitions, Persecution? White Roofs and White Roads.

Are you an author and a copyright owner? Do you agree that copyright promotes and protects free speech and creativity? If so, the copyrightalliance has written a petition to the 2016 political candidates, and you are urged to sign it, too.

http://takeaction.copyrightalliance.org/21036/open-letter-to-2016-political-candidates/

That's the positive. On the negative side, an artists' rights blogger has made a strong statement that President Obama has presided over the worst every administration ever with regard to copyright and the rights of creators (especially songwriters). It's interesting reading.

https://musictechpolicy.com/2016/08/04/mr-obama-meet-mr-kafka/

This week (and this is purely personal) I had my flat roof painted with silver-coating. I do this every few years to preserve the roof, also to reflect heat and thus put less strain on my a/c system and on my wallet.... and on the planet.

Here's an interesting article about The White Roof Project.

http://www.whiteroofproject.org/faq

Apparently, cities are "Heat Islands" and can measure temperatures up to 22 degrees F hotter than the suburbs owing to the heat-absorbing properties of black tarmac on roads and roofs, and of cement etc. One wonders what the science fiction DUNE worlds would have been like if modern scientific theory had been followed, and the desert sands were covered with (presumably white) plastic sheets.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2009/jan/16/ethicalliving-climatechange

As we may lose the reflective whiteness of snow and ice, perhaps substituting other white expanses might be helpful, even if they are not exactly cold white?

Like white roads? http://cleantechnica.com/2014/06/04/white-roads-help-reduce-urban-temperatures/
It is claimed that white roads in Australia have reduced temperatures by as much as 12.6 degrees F!
http://livinggreenmag.com/2013/01/03/climate-change/can-white-roofs-fight-global-warming/

All the best,

Rowena Cherry
For a limited time, Forced Mate, autographed, is $4.70 + $3.99 shipping.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0505526018/ref=olp_f_new?ie=UTF8&f_new=true

Amazon charges the seller (me) $3.05 and media mail shipping is $2.61

Will SCOTUS Hear The Authors Guild?

Last week the Authors Guild filed a petition with the Supreme Court asking it to review an October decision by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Authors Guild v. Google, a case that began in 2005 as a result of Google’s wholesale copying of millions of copyright-protected works.

Please read the press release here.

https://www.authorsguild.org/industry-advocacy/authors-guild-petitions-supreme-court-to-rule-on-google-copying-millions-of-books-without-permission/

The Authors Guild is encouraging authors to help raise the visibility of the petition and of the issue in general by promoting our press release and any positive media coverage. Additionally, the Authors' Guild put together a sequence of questions and answers highlighting why it’s so crucial for the future of authorship and copyright law that the high Court weigh in to redress the Second Circuit’s alleged misinterpretation of fair use. 

You can find it here.

https://www.authorsguild.org/authors-guild-v-google-questions-answers/

Here are two examples of the important Q & As.

Why is the Authors Guild still pursuing this case against Google?Google copied 20 million books to create a massive and uniquely valuable database, all without asking for copyright permission or paying their authors a cent. It mines this vast natural language storehouse for various purposes, not least among them to improve the performance of its search and translation services. The problem is that before Google created Book Search, it digitized and made many digital copies of millions of copyrighted books, which the company never paid for. It never even bought a single book. That, in itself, was an act of theft. If you did it with a single book, you’d be infringing.

How complicated can it be for Google to ask an author permission to use her work?Exactly our point: the rights are eminently clearable. The court refused to acknowledge this point or take it into consideration. For example, our sister organization, the Authors Registry, as well as the Copyright Clearance Center, find authors for royalties from overseas uses with little difficulty or expense. And there are innumerable collective rights organizations around the world who do this all of the time—without much difficulty, and with much less money than Google.

Happy New Year!

Rowena Cherry