Resources

• Victoria Strauss: Learn about the history of the ebook
• SFWA member Laura Bickle: Free Workshop for Writers – Before Copy Editing.
• SFWA member Nancy Fulda on why we need editors.

Member News

• Welcome to SFWA’s newest Affiliate member, Leonell Strong III!
• Congratulations to SFWA member Carrie Ryan whose THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH is on the New York Times’ list!
• SFWA member Yasmine Galenorn is having live online chat in her chat room Sun 7th; 6:00 PM PST.

Resources

• An interview with Nebula nominee Kij Johnson. Tentacles! Sex! And insights into writing.
• Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop, a NASA funded workshop for writers, is accepting applications through 3/31.
• SFWA member Jim C. Hines has an interesting post and discussion about advances.
• SFWA member Jonathan Strahan talks about managing your digital assets.

Member News

• Welcome to SFWA’s newest Active member Gord Sellar. Read one of his qualifying stories.
• Interview with SFWA member Mike Resnick.
• SFWA members: The direct link to ask your candidates questions is here.
• Welcome to SFWA’s newest Affiliate member, illustrator Apis Teicher.
• Watch SFWA member David D. Levine’s Ignite Portland (#ip8) talk on YouTube.

Industry News

• Victoria Strauss: Penguin experimenting with a book format for iPad.

Resources

• What do LGBTQ teens want to read?
• Victoria Strauss: Mokoto Rich on the math of ebook pricing: they’re not as cheap to produce as many people think.
• Bookends Literary Agency offers a handy publishing dictionary

Member News

• New issue of Apex Magazine is a single author issue with fiction by SFWA member Mary Robinette Kowal.
• SFWA member Jess Wynne has a story in the Steampunk issue of Crossed Genres.
• SFWA member Monica Valentinelli’s THE QUEEN OF CROWS is now available at DriveThruHorror.com.
• SFWA member Jay Lake is reading and signing new novel PINION at Powells Cedar Hills store on 4/1.
• Happy release day to SFWA member Seanan Mcguire for A Local Habitation.
• Happy Book release day to SFWA Member Blake Charlton's novel, Spellwright.
• Welcome to SFWA's newest Active member Rachel Aaron, author of The Spirit Thief.
• Welcome to SFWA's newest Active member Genevieve Valentine. Read one of her qualifying stories.

Industry News

• The Nebula final ballot is now open to Active SFWA members.
• Asimov's has posted their Nebula nominated stories.

Resources

• Victoria Strauss: Open Book Alliance: how Google Book Settlement gives Google monopoly in another area: search.
• SFWA member Jim C. Hines is conducting a survey about first novel sales.

Member News

• Welcome to SFWA’s newest associate member, Brad Aiken, who sold “Locked In” to Analog.
• Congratulations to SFWA member Edward Willett whose novel Terra Insegura has made the short list for this year’s Prix Aurora Awards!

Industry News

• Pyr Books is now accepting unagented manuscripts in certain subgenres.

Dear Authors, We want your e-books -- and we'll pay you for them!! * e-Books * Newsletters * Excerpts from books * Self-Published Articles Now, there's a new idea... actually get paid for writing your e-books and articles! We're launching a brand new website, where visitors can download free e-books on everything from running a business to fixing a car... and WE PAY OUR AUTHORS US $0.20 every time an e-book is successfully downloaded!

That's confidential. Why should it matter?

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

In a video posted to YouTube on Friday, and in an accompanying press release, the CEO of Author Solutions, Kevin Weiss, invited the Romance Writers of America, the Mystery Writers of America, and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (which he incorrectly dubbed the “Science Fiction Writers’ Association”–though I can’t fault him for this, as PW regularly gets it wrong as well) to sit down with him and other AS representatives to discuss the recent debate over AS’s “partnerships” with Harlequin and Thomas Nelson. (Weiss didn’t mention another professional writers’ group, NINC, which issued a strongly-worded statement in response to the debate.)

(To recap, if you have been living in a cave for the past six months: This fall, Harlequin and Nelson–both major commercial publishers–launched “self-publishing” divisions, whereby aspiring authors could pay a fee and have their books formatted, printed, and distributed online. Both divisions were run by AS. A storm of public criticism ensued, prompting RWA, MWA, and SFWA to issue public statements and to de-list Harlequin, Nelson, or both.)

From the press release:

“I’m inviting the three writers guilds who’ve expressed the greatest objections with the partnerships we’ve established with traditional publishing to sit down with us and discuss how we can improve the opportunity for their writers and the choice for readers,” Weiss said in the statement.

In response to ASI’s announcements of partnerships with traditional publishers, the three writer’s guilds led a campaign to discredit the publishers involved in creating these groundbreaking opportunities, even going so far as to de-list one as a qualified publisher. Weiss believes the guilds may not fully understand the role self-publishing can play in expanding options for writers and consumers while at the same time providing benefits to traditional publishers who are in the midst of tremendous upheaval.

“Not only do I want to discuss the differences they have with our business, as well as the partnership models that we’re engaging with traditional publishing, but I also want to discuss the things that we are doing and plan to do to advance the cause of their members on a daily basis,” Weiss said.

In the video, Weiss claims that “choice is under attack,” citing concerns that cheap ebooks and book retailers’ price wars will undercut publishers’ revenues, resulting in fewer chances for new authors and fewer choices for readers. The implication is that AS addresses that problem by making publishing services available to all (though I would find this more convincing if so many of AS’s services weren’t predatory and overpriced–there’s a good analysis at Shiloh Walker’s blog–and if, by Mr. Weiss’s own admission, the average sales for an AS title didn’t top out at 150).

Weiss also gets a couple of things wrong. I’ve already mentioned SFWA’s name; also, RWA, MWA, and SFWA didn’t de-list just one publisher, but both–MWA and SFWA by implication, since Thomas Nelson doesn’t really publish in their genres, RWA explicitly, by removing Nelson as well as Harlequin from its conference-eligible publisher list. Plus, the press release’s claim that RWA, MWA, and SFWA “led a campaign to discredit the publishers involved” is hyperbolic. The writers’ groups made strong responses, but most of the outcry came from individual writers (and involved Harlequin; Nelson more or less got a free pass), and it was largely the outcry that spurred the statements, not the other way around.

I’d also love to know exactly what it is that AS does to “advance the cause” of RWA, MWA, and SFWA members “on a daily basis”–especially given that authors cannot qualify for membership in MWA and SFWA on the basis of self-published books–but I guess Weiss is saving that for the sit-down.

Will a sit-down, if it happens, be productive? Good question. Part of the objection to the AS/Harlequin/Nelson “partnerships” was the misleading way in which they were presented–seriously overstating the benefits of self-publishing for many if not most authors, using the carrot of possible transition to commercial publishing as a hook to draw in customers–as well as, in Nelson’s case, a promise of referral fees for agents who steered authors its way, plus a truly exorbitant cost. Given that high costs and less-than-transparent presentation are at the core of AS’s services, I don’t think that’s likely to change. Also, can there ever be a meeting of the minds between professional commercial writers’ groups and a company that wants to present fee-based publishing as an “indie revolution?” Part of the problem, I think, is that Weiss is speaking a different language.

I don’t want to be unduly negative. There are certainly ways in which AS could benefit RWA, MWA, and SWFA members–by providing a reasonable, efficient way for members to bring their out-of-print works back into circulation, for instance. And, simply as a matter of pragmatism, I do think that we will have to get used to at least some degree of cohabitation between commercial publishing and fee-based publishing–since commercial publishers need revenue and fee-based publishing is (for now) extremely lucrative. If, in these difficult times of economic pain and technological transition, launching a fee-based publishing division could help a commercial publisher maintain its core publishing operation–and if the fee-based division were straightforward, reasonably-priced, and transparent (i.e., no bogus farm-team promises, or referral fees, or exaggerated portrayals of the potential for success)–I might be able to make peace with that.

Is AS the right company to provide those services, though? Do publishers even need to hire an outside company to set fee-based publishing divisions up for them? Those are whole other questions.

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

An article in the North Devon Journal reports the court appearance last week of UK literary agent/film producer Robin Price, who is accused of stealing more than half a million pounds from clients.

Price is alleged to have “encouraged authors to pay exaggerated literary fees and invest in non-existent film deals,” and has been charged with six counts of theft, most committed over the course of several years:

● £293,603 from Cecil Humphery-Smith OBE between 2001 and 2007.
● £99,335 from Judith Day between 2001 and 2008.
● £120,000 from Dr Bryan Walton between 1999 and 2006.
● £14,250 from Chris Bailey between 2001 and 2004.
● £4,200 from Michael William Hawkes between 2004 and 2006.
● £646 from Evelyn Joyce Jolley in 2005.

Price has pleaded not guilty to all charges. A date for his trial will be set in February.

I first heard of Robin Price in 2001, when I began receiving questions about a literary agency called Avalon Associates, which was asking writers for £150 upfront “to cover initial costs of representation.” The fees were an obvious red flag, as was the fact that the agency had no discoverable sales, either of books or scripts. Price, who made big promises to his clients and touted his industry connections, also owned a production company, Avalon Films, whose website boasted a huge roster of film and television projects planned or in production, many with well-known writers, actors, and/or directors attached.

There was just one problem: It was all a fabrication. The deals and the connections did not exist. Price never sent out the screenplays and manuscripts he claimed to be submitting on his clients’ behalf, and the meetings and phone calls he claimed to be receiving from film industry movers and shakers were all invented. Here’s one example, from Writer Beware’s files: a client was told by Price that the managing director of a major film studio was seeking funding for the client’s screenplay. When nothing came of it, the client herself contacted the individual, only to discover that he’d left the studio some time earlier. He’d never heard of the client’s screenplay–but he had heard of Price. “I have known about Price’s activities for some years,” he wrote in an email to the client, “through my former work at [the studio]. We had continual stories from him of financial, creative, and production involvements which turned out to be entirely fictitious.”

By all accounts, Price was extremely persuasive, at least initially. Several successful writers were caught up in his schemes (Price returned their trust by using their names to boost his credibility and ensnare more clients). But in 2001, after one writer spoke out about his experiences with Price, complaints began to surface, and Avalon Associates’ listing was removed from the The Writers’ Handbook, one of the major UK writers’ guides.

With word getting round, Price did what dodgy agents often do: he changed the company’s name. In 2002, Avalon vanished and Media Arts International took its place. The M.O. was basically the same: upfront representation fees for writers; a production website with suspiciously enormous numbers of projects, none of which, somehow, ever came to fruition; false claims of contacts, meetings, etc. This time, though, Price did send round a few manuscripts, and even managed to place several books with a publisher called First Century (here’s a news story about one of them). Again, though, not everything was as it seemed. As I later found out from one sadder-but-wiser ex-Price client, First Century was a vanity publisher. (It now appears to be out of business.)

More ominously, I began receiving reports that Price was soaking writers for large amounts of cash–persuading them to invest in the production of their own screenplays, or to pay thousands of pounds in setup or legal fees to release production funds. Similar complaints appeared online. Not surprisingly, the productions never got off the ground, and the funds never materialized.

In 2007, still trying to stay ahead of his poor reputation, Price changed the company’s name yet again, to Prospero Films. But by this time the police were on his trail. In late 2007, search warrants were served on Price and an associate, and computers, manuscripts, and other documentation were seized. Price was effectively out of business. Amazingly, however, some of his clients continued to give him money for a time, even after being interviewed by the police. As a friend of one of these clients told me, “thus was the incredible hold he had over people.”

So why the long delay–more than two years–between the seizure and the court appearance? I don’t know the answer to this. Possibly it took that much time to track down far-flung victims, disentangle Price’s fictions, and assemble evidence. Possibly the case got put on hold for a while (as happened after the FBI raided the premises of fraudulent literary agent/vanity publisher Martha Ivery). What’s important is that Price did eventually find himself in court, and will now be prosecuted.

I’ll provide updates as I receive them.

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

No way, you say? Well, fee-charging literary agent Eddie Kritzer begs to differ.

Since Writer Beware’s founding, I’ve been getting questions and advisories about Mr. Kritzer and his company, EKP Productions. In 1998 and 1999, most involved Kritzer’s referrals to Edit Ink, a fraudulent editing service that paid kickbacks to agents who sent clients its way. More recently, I’ve begun hearing that Mr. Kritzer is asking for a $500-600 “advance on commission.” (I have documentation of these fees, but you don’t have to take my word for it–a number of writers have blogged or posted about their encounters with Kritzer, and there’s a whole thread on him at Absolute Write.)

Mr. Kritzer’s bio and credits drop some well-known showbiz names–Art Linkletter, Bill Cosby, Burt Reynolds, Christina Aguilera, Phylicia Rashad–and cite a number of TV and radio production credits. Though most of these do check out, many prove on investigation to be rather elderly. For instance, the Rashad TV movie, False Witness, aired in 1989, and the Burt Reynolds TV special, Shattered, premiered in 1986. Animals Are People Too, featuring Alan Thicke, was broadcast in 1999, and How Do They Do That?, a radio show with Ed McMahon, in 1991. Aguilera, who Kritzer’s bio claims to have “just” secured for New Dana Perfume, signed with New Dana in 2000, and parted ways with the company in 2002.

Kritzer also cites a number of books sold to publishers. Some of the publishers are reputable, but again, there’s a certain lack of recency. Art Linkletter’s Kids Say the Darndest Things, published by Ten Speed Press, has a hardcover pub date of 1985, with a softcover re-issue in 2005. Bill Cosby’s book of the same title, from Bantam, was released in 1998. And Saving Money With the Tightwad Twins, from HCI Books, came out in 2003.

Other “sales” are, well, not really sales at all. Barry Broad’s Eve of Destruction (2008), Dr. Tom Yi’s The Practical Patient (2004), and Dominic Spinale’s G-Men and Gangsters (2004) have all been placed with Seven Locks Press, which offers contracts charging thousands of dollars to publish (Writer Beware has received documented reports of these fees), and has been sued by at least one of its authors for nonperformance (other complaints can be seen here). Craig A. Miller’s The Making of a Surgeon in the 21st Century (2008) was placed with Blue Dolphin Publishing, which asks authors to find “investors” to fund the multi-thousand dollar cost of publication (again, Writer Beware has received documented complaints, similar to the one that can be seen here).

So what does all this have to do with wrinkles and lesbianism? Well, this past Sunday, Kritzer emailed me to let me know about his latest book sale. If you’re wondering why he’d bother, he’s unhappy with me because of what I’ve posted about him on Absolute Write (he’s been emailing me for some time to let me know), and I guess he thought maybe the following would make me change my mind, or prove me wrong, or something. You be the judge:

Hi Victoria,

I know your not really in the Publishing business, since you “books” were self published, and you probably dont read much, since your books were a giant flop. Your to busy being a busy body “old decrepit lady with all wrinkly skin; IM sure your husband (if you still have one) which I doubt; because all you do is complain, you are the negative Nelly of the Internet, your so fucken boring, and bored.

Of course I wish you the best of luck and I have nominated you to the “Complainaclochs Hall of Fame; because all you do is bitch and moan and groan [except when you have sex; then you just lay there like a lump of coal, which is what your personality is.

I just wish your “husband” or more likely “Girlfriend” could look at this. actually

All the best during this festive holiday season, and of course a Happy New Year;
read this and fucken weep ?

FLASH/BULLETIN

Eddie Kritzer announces the sale of Psychiatrist Dr Jerry Bruns & Dr Rick Richards The Tiger Woods Syndrome to HCI Books, the publishers of The Chicken Soup for The Soul Series, the best selling book series in the history of Publishing

The sale doesn’t seem to have been officially announced anywhere (an Internet search turns up only the fact that “Tiger Woods Syndrome” is a popular phrase with a variety of definitions), but HCI is a real publisher, and I’m content to take Kritzer’s word for it, especially given the delightful professionalism on display above.

Congratulations on the sale, Eddie. I’m wishing you a happy New Year too, and also a supply of apostrophes.

(P.S. I’m not the only one getting love notes from Kritzer. Check out this series of blog posts from another writer who displeased him.)

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

The National Writers Union, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America have written to their author peers in Congress, seeking their support in encouraging the Department of Justice to continue its opposition to the Google Books Settlement.

The text of the letter is embedded below. The Los Angeles Times reports that Google has declined to address the letter’s concerns, and the Authors Guild did not respond to a request for comment.

Writers to Congressional Authors

Member News

• Victoria Strauss: From the Electronic Frontier Foundation: Which companies respect ebook readers' privacy
• Congratulations to SFWA member Caren Gussoff, winner of the SLF's 2009 Gulliver Travel Research Grant
• We have 1199 Active members. Who will be number 1200?