Writer Beware

The issue of orphan works–out of print, still-in-copyright books, films, photographs, etc. whose rightsholders can’t be found–is one that has been much in the news lately.

Writer Beware hears from a fair number poets. Much of the time, they’re contacting us to ask about self-publishing, or to check the reputation of a journal or a contest. Sometimes, unfortunately, they’ve gotten mixed up with one of the vanity anthology companies, such as Eber and Wein.

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

Just introduced from self-publishing conglomerate Author Solutions (owner of the iUniverse, Xlibris, AuthorHouse, and Trafford brands, and the power behind the outsourced self-publishing divisions of Harl…

If a display site is free, you lose nothing by signing up (as long as you’re careful about any contacts you receive). But if you have to pay a fee, you might want to think twice before pulling out your wallet.

On Tuesday, the Authors Guild posted the following article on its blog. It’s a must-read for anyone interested in the ways in which the book business is changing, and how we reached the point where a single retailer has the power to dictate terms to publishers, and thus, indirectly, to authors and readers.

Last December, I blogged about Amazon’s KDP Select program, which allows KDP authors to participate in Amazon’s Kindle Owners’ Lending Library and be paid per borrow from a fund established by Amazon.

Two weeks ago, Amazon issued a press release chart…

A little while back, I stumbled on a news story about Mitchell Gross, a Georgia man who was recently indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of wire fraud and money laundering for allegedly luring a woman into investing millions of dollars in a phony company.

Yesterday, with great fanfare, Apple rolled out two new applications: iBooks 2, with new features aimed at students; and iBooks Author, which allows individuals to create iPad-optimized ebooks.

One of the effects of the phenomenal growth of ebooks over the past few years has been to bring new value to the backlist–both for publishers who hold the contracts for backlist books, and authors who want the freedom to exploit a new range of rights.