Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America

Archive for September, 2011

Video Pick of the Week: Steal Like an Artist

Friday, September 30th, 2011

“Good Artists Borrow, Great Artists Steal.” ~ Pablo Picasso

Austin Kleon uses a Sharpie to create poems and visual art by selectively blacking out newspaper articles. Recently, he gave a talk at The Economists’s Human Potential Summit. His presentation, Steal Like an Artist, discusses creativity and the role of remixing: “We can pick our teachers and we can pick our friends and we can pick the books we read and the music we listen to and the movies we see, et cetera. You are a mash-up of what you let into your life.”

You can also see it here.

Tags: Austin Kleon, video pick of the week
Posted in Advice for New Writers, Information Center, SFWA Blog, Tips for Beginners | Comments Off

Bad Publishing Contract Clauses, Part 1

Thursday, September 29th, 2011

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware 

I get a lot of questions about publishing contracts, and many requests to review them. I'm not a lawyer, but I do have a fair knowledge of publishing contract boilerplate, as well as a good grasp of the issues that writers need to look out for, and I'm always willing to provide experience-based feedback. (Plus, I am fascinated by contract language. What can I say, I'm a geek at heart.)
 
Since I see so many contracts, and so many are from small presses (which may or may not have the expertise to create a rational contract or choose a good contract template), I encounter some really bad, bizarre, and nonstandard stuff. So I thought I'd start an occasional series, to let you all in on the weirdness.

I won't be posting the publishers' names here, but you can write to me (my contact info is in the top right of the sidebar), and I'll let you know who it is.

So, without further ado...here's an excerpt from a contract that came across my desk this summer. (A relevant bit of info: the term of this contract is 3 years.)

(more...)

Tags: Writer Beware
Posted in SFWA Blog, Writer Beware | 3 Comments »

Trouble at Aspen Mountain Press

Monday, September 26th, 2011

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

To all appearances, Colorado-based Aspen Mountain Press is an active and problem-free publisher. According to its Submissions page, it is currently seeking new fiction, and it recently launched a SF/fantasy imprint.

This attractive facade, however, is misleading. For a number of weeks now, I've been hearing from authors and staff about major troubles with AMP. Complaints (see this example, which is similar to the reports I've received directly) include nonpayment of royalties, continuing to sell books whose contracts have expired, delayed publication schedules, and lack of communication.

(more...)

Tags: Writer Beware
Posted in SFWA Blog, Writer Beware | 2 Comments »

Guest Post: The Habitable Zone

Saturday, September 24th, 2011

by Nathan Bergey

Recent astronomy news gave us word of a planet around a double star system. This is the first ever planet around a binary star that has been positively identified (outside of Tatooine – but that was in a galaxy far, far away). This is encouraging both because it looks like a habitable location, but also because as many as 60% of the stars in our galaxy are in binary systems and not single stars like our sun! At one fell swoop we more than double the number of places in the universe to look for habitable planets.

But what does it mean to be habitable? The short answer is we really don’t know … yet. So far we have decided to define a habitable planet as one that is similar enough to Earth that life as we know it could live there. (more…)

Tags: Astronomy, Nathan Bergey
Posted in SFWA Blog | 1 Comment »

PUBSLUSH Press: Update

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

On Tuesday I posted about PUBSLUSH Press, a new crowdfunding venture for books. I found it an interesting idea (rather than just donating cash to worthy projects, PUBSLUSH supporters actually pledge to buy books; if the number of supporters reaches 2,000, PUBSLUSH publishes), but had a number of concerns, especially regarding PUBSLUSH's publishing contract.

PUBSLUSH contacted me soon after I put the post online, and we had a cordial email exchange. As a result, they've made some positive changes--but unfortunately a number of important issues remain unaddressed.

The discrepancies in the number of supporters required for publication, as well as in the royalty rates, have been resolved. A new publication agreement has been posted, and the figures are now consistent with the information in PUBSLUSH's FAQ.

Authors' 120-day display commitment now extends from the date of submission (before, for authors who submitted while the site was still in beta, the clock didn't start ticking until the official launch).

The website's misleading characterization of the $5,000 publication bonus as an advance has been corrected.

I was also concerned by the fact that simply submitting to PUBSLUSH constitutes acceptance of the terms of its publishing agreement. That's not something PUBSLUSH seems to want to change, but they did tell me that they'll be re-desiging their submission page to make it clearer to authors that they're binding themselves to a legal agreement.

The publication agreement (though not the website) clarifies the circumstances under which PUBSLUSH will morph into writers' literary agent, and states a commission: 15%. This is good to know, but still a concern--there's an inherent conflict in a publisher also functioning as a writer's agent, possibly in what ought more properly to be a subrights licensing situation.

Unfortunately, also, PUBSLUSH doesn't seem to want to address the other contract issues I flagged. I'm particularly worried about the lack of an adequate rights reversion clause (not only is "out of print" not defined, books must be out of print for a full two years before authors can request return of rights; PUBSLUSH insists that "two years is standard in any publication agreement," but this is just not true); about the fact that royalty rates aren't fixed (they will be set only upon a work's selection for publication, which means that writers must bind themselves to a publication agreement with no idea of what they will actually be paid); and about the option clause's sweeping claim on sequels and related works.

Last but not least--and leaving aside all questions about the viability of the PUBSLUSH concept--I remain concerned about PUBSLUSH's staff's apparent lack of publishing industry experience.

PUBSLUSH's willingness to respond to criticism, and to put changes in place, is welcome and commendable. But there's still plenty here to suggest that writers should be cautious.

Tags: Writer Beware
Posted in SFWA Blog, Writer Beware | Comments Off

Guest Post: Playing with Structure

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

by Christie Yant

The following article was originally posted on Inkpunks.com, a blog for new, nearly new, and newly pro writers.

Okay, so I’m probably a total freak, but I love structure. This is what gets me through first drafts (which I loathe). It’s what makes a nebulous idea sort itself out in my head. There are some wonderful books on structure out there, and I’d advise you to heed the wise words of writers much more skilled than I–but because I’m having so much fun with it right now, I thought I’d talk about how I apply it. (more…)

Tags: Christie Yant
Posted in Advice for New Writers, Information Center, SFWA Blog, Tips for Beginners | 4 Comments »

PublishAmerica and CBA: Rowling Redux

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

I'm sure you all remember the notorious J.K. Rowling Incident, in which PublishAmerica tied Rowling's name to one of its numerous author promotions. Rowling was not amused; through a spokesman, she made it clear that she had no relationship with PublishAmerica. Subsequently, her legal team sent PA a cease and desist demand, which occasioned a truly jawdropping "tone" response from PA.

Given how annoying or embarrassing this was for everyone involved, you might think there wouldn't be a repeat.

Whoops.

PublishAmerica authors report receiving the following solicitation:
(more...)

Tags: Writer Beware
Posted in News, SFWA Blog, Writer Beware | Comments Off

Quick Updates for 2011-09-21

Wednesday, September 21st, 2011

• Reminder: SFWA NW Reading Series is tonight with authors @cmpriest, @katrchrdsn, and @mark_henry in PDX at 7pm. http://t.co/4M5ZN0sL #

Tags: twitter
Posted in Excluded Categories | Comments Off

PUBSLUSH Press

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

I've been getting a number of questions lately about PUBSLUSH Press.

From PUBSLUSH's FAQ page:

What is PUBSLUSH Press? PS Press (as we prefer to call ourselves) is a full service publishing platform that connects writers directly with their readers using social media. We operate like a traditional publishing house, except we let the reading public decide what gets published. Best of all, we give you the power to change lives. For every book purchased, we will donate a book to a child in need.

What this means, basically, is that PS functions rather like Kickstarter, Unbound, and other crowdsourced funding websites--except that instead of pledging cash, donors promise to buy books once they're published. Writers submit 10 pages plus a summary of their manuscripts to the PS website, where the submission is displayed for 120 days. Potential supporters can read the material and, if they like it, pledge their support--from $25 to receive physical and digital copies of the book, to $500 to receive the books plus a variety of perks such as a dedication and a copy of the original manuscript (you must submit your credit card information in order to make a pledge, but according to PS's FAQ, your card is only charged if the book is selected for publication). Once a book receives 2,000 supporters (though see below), PS will publish it, and pay $5,000 to the author (again, see below). There are no entry fees or other fees to participate in the site.

(more...)

Tags: Writer Beware
Posted in SFWA Blog, Writer Beware | Comments Off

Top Ten Japan All Time Best SF Novels

Saturday, September 17th, 2011

by Nick Mamatas, Haikasoru

Hello from Haikasoru, an imprint dedicated to translating Japanese science fiction, fantasy, and horror into English. SFWA asked us to produce a list of the best Japanese science fiction novels. A hard-to-beat list, compiled by fan vote, appeared in 2006 in SF Magazine, the most important of Japan’s science fiction magazines. Since then, a few other books—such as Project Itoh’s Seiun, Japan SF, and now PKD Award Special Citation winner Harmony (2008 Hayakawa, 2010 Haikasoru)—have reached near-classic status, but the 2006 list is still as definitive as such lists can be.

JAPAN ALL-TIME BEST SF 2006 by SF Magazine
(Hayakawa Publishing)

Commentary by Nick Mamatas and Masumi Washington

1. Hyakuoku no hiru to senoku no yoru (Ten Billion Days and One Hundred Billion Nights) by Ryu Mitsuse (1967)

An epic, cosmic adventure in the manner of Arthur C. Clarke, covering the evolution of humanity, the lives of Plato, Christ, and the Buddha, a future technodystopia, and the very heat death of the universe itself.  For pure “sensawunda,” it gets no better. Haikasoru will be releasing this book in its first English translation in November 2011. Longtime US SF readers may remember Ryu Mitsuse’s “The Sunset, 2217 A.D.,” which appeared in Frederik Pohl’s Best Science Fiction for 1972.

2. Hateshinaki nagare no hate ni (At the End of the Endless Stream) by Sakyo Komatsu (1966)

Thematically similar to Mitsuse’s epic, Komatsu’s story involves a young physicist shown an hourglass, the sand of which never stops flowing. Even stranger, the glass was discovered buried in a stratum associated with the Upper Cretaceous. The hourglass is key to a billion-year war in which humans are pawns…and then humans begin to vanish. Sakyo Komatsu was one of the grandmasters of Japanese SF—three of his books appear in this top ten list—sadly, he passed away in July 2011, at the age of eighty.
(more…)

Tags: Japanese SF, Masumi Washington, Nick Mamatas
Posted in SFWA Blog | 6 Comments »

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