WRITING ON THE ETHER: Cleans Up | PorterAnderson.com

The prophecy in Rev?e?la?tion declares that a quar?ter of the world must die and now a shad?owy orga?ni?za?tion has the abil?ity to ful?fill these words. Can one woman stop the abom?i?na?tion before it?s too?late?

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Hm, did some?thing just change? Things feel dif?fer?ent to you at all? Maybe it?s just me. High on the E-gas?again.

No, wait, there it is again. Hear it? Sounds so civil ? thought?ful ? polite ? con?sid?ered ? artic?u?late ? busi?nesslike ? pro?fes?sional ? mature ? like a latter-day ?when in the course of human events? ? naaaaah, can?t?be.

But there it is again. Get a snoot?ful of?this:

When prices of media are high, they?re a bar?rier to entry. Many are avoid?ing buy?ing an ereader because the ebooks they most want are $9.99 ? $14.99. If prices came down, more Kin?dles (and Kobo read?ers and Nooks and Sony read?ers) would be sold. That widens the mar?ket, which leads to more ebook sales. This is good for authors, and for read?ers who can get more for their?money.

Never mind whether you agree with that line of think?ing. Hold your blow darts. Instead, I want you to guess who said?it.

I?ll give you a lit?tle more. This is so What?s My Line? I can?t stand it, but you?re too young to know what I?m talk?ing about, so never mind?that.

I write a pop?u?lar blog, notable in the indus?try for its con?trary opinions.

Notable in the indus?try for its con?trary opinions?

Con?trary opinions?

What, did they reis?sue Lit?tle Lord Fauntleroy? [Cue harp?si?chord]

That ?pop?u?lar blog? is more ?notable in the indus?try??for:

• putting the screamin? meemies into every?body who gets within 50?picas;
• mak?ing attrac?tive women curse and strong men?cry;
• whip?ping up half the self-described ?indie? camp into some?thing that might have inspired William Golden to think about flies on an island.

The ?pop?u?lar blog? is called:

A Newbie?s Guide to Pub?lish?ing and I?m includ?ing four recent blog posts to under?score some of the points I make above, and the struc?tural prob?lems in the pub?lish?ing indus?try as they relate to the DOJ?suit.

Can it be? The same guy? All under?scor?ing and includ?ing and structural-problems-as-they-relate?

Yes, Eth?er?naut, that?s Joe Kon?rath in his let?ter to the United States Depart?ment of Jus?tice (DoJ) in sup?port of its pro?posed antitrust set?tle?ment with three of the Big Six publishers.

J.A Kon?rath

He has shucked off his trade?mark rabble-rouser J.A. Kon?rath drag. And what a sen?si?ble fig?ure he cuts when he?s not play?ing to the groundlings, huh? In fact, his num?bers are more impos?ing when laid out with?out rancor:

I?m writ?ing to you as the author of forty-six books?eight legacy pub?lished, two Ama?zon pub?lished (with three more on the way), and thirty-six self-published, all of which inform the views I express in this letter.

Here?s an excerpt from one of the four posts he men?tions for the edi?fi?ca?tion of Jus?tice. In this post, head?lined The Agency Model Sucks (that?s the Joe we know and don?t love), he?s address?ing read?ers who may fear an Ama?zon?ian future:

You shouldn?t worry about being eaten by a lion tomor?row when there is cur?rently a pit viper bit?ing you in the ass. And if you?re defend?ing the pit viper, you?re an?idiot.

And now here he is, know?ing that the lords and ladies on Penn?syl?va?nia Avenue are unused to such poet?ics ? even in the most amici of curiae ? explain?ing to them that his Newbie?s Guise is just?that:

The lan?guage I?ve used to rebuke these agents is the lan?guage I use on my blog, which is casual, coarse, and accusatory. I men?tion this just so you?ll know that despite what I think is jus?ti?fi?able anger at the indus?try prac?tices which I believe betray authors and harm read?ers, I rec?og?nize there?s a dif?fer?ence in the kind of tone one can use in a blog and the kind one ought to use in a let?ter like this?one.

@ I?ve read the first books in the Time?caster series, great. Nit?pick: atmos?pheric reen?try heat is due to com?pres?sion, not friction @ Thanks! But what about bed?room reen?try?heat? ;)

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In a thor?ough depar?ture from the daily ?tude, our nor?mally Kon-wrathful one, in fact, makes his points to the DoJ with finesse and with?out the hos?til?ity that can turn his best com?ments into a?sneer.

Here?s an exam?ple of his per?spec?tive in his DoJ let?ter (PDF), empha?sis?mine:

Though it is my under?stand?ing that the goal of the DOJ?s suit is to pro?tect con?sumers, it is my belief that the group most harmed by the actions of the pub?lish?ing car?tel is writ?ers, who have been forced to accept oner?ous, often uncon?scionable con?tract terms with?out recourse. The Asso?ci?a?tion of Authors? Rep?re?sen?ta?tives, and the Authors Guild, which pur?port?edly defend the rights of writ?ers, in fact work for the pub?lish?ers. For decades, thou?sands of writ?ers have been exploited by a pow?er?ful indus?try that uni?ver?sally offers non?nego?tiable, one-sided terms, which have gone unchallenged.

And Kon?rath isn?t alone. (I wasn?t just hear?ing voices, you?see?)

I?m sure you will have already received plenty of let?ters regard?ing the terms of the pro?posed set?tle?ment; I would like to apol?o?gize at the out?set for adding to the?pile.

David Gaugh?ran

That gen?er?ous opener is from fedora-ed author David Gaugh?ran, who posted his let?ter to the DoJ at his site before send?ing it, under the head?line An Open Let?ter to the DOJ from Some?one Who Actu?ally Cares About Writ?ers (and Read?ers).

While he writes that he hadn?t antic?i?pated it serv?ing as a kind of a peti?tion, Gaugh?ran was approached by 186 col?leagues either in com?ments or in email: they wanted to have their names appended to his let?ter. And so it is that his let?ter is listed by DoJ as ?Gaugh?ran et?al.?

Unlike some of the pub?lish?ers named in the suit, I?m not part of a major media con?glom?er?ate that owns news?pa?pers and tele?vi?sion sta?tions around the globe. I?m a one-man oper?a?tion who set up a pub?lish?ing com?pany to release my own?books.

That?s what?s com?pelling about these mes?sages to the DoJ from self-publishing authors. Here is Gaugh?ran dis?tin?guish?ing his stance from that of orga?nized efforts:

Vocal resis?tance is to be expected?One such group are best-sellers like Scott Turow, the Pres?i?dent of the Authors Guild ? an orga?ni?za?tion that claims to rep?re?sent the inter?ests of writ?ers. Another such group are lit?er?ary agents like Gail Hochman, the Pres?i?dent of the Asso?ci?a?tion of Authors? Rep?re?sen?ta?tives ? an orga?ni?za?tion of lit?er?ary agents, which also claims to rep?re?sent the inter?ests of writ?ers. To be clear, nei?ther orga?ni?za?tion speaks for?me.

These com?ments got through.

The DoJ state?ment specif?i?cally calls out an asser?tion in Konrath?s let?ter, writing:

Joe Kon?rath, author of 46 books, clar?i?fies that letter-writing cam?paigns by the Authors Guild and the Authors Rep?re?sen?ta?tives ?did not solicit the views of their mem?bers, that they in no way speak on behalf of all or even most of their members.?

And Jus?tice men?tions Gaugh?ran specif?i?cally, as?well:

Many com?ments from self-published authors, in par?tic?u?lar, expressed appre?ci?a?tion that Ama?zon opened a path to pub?li?ca?tion that was immune from Pub?lisher Defen?dants? hege?mony. David Gaugh?ran, writ?ing on behalf of 186 self-published co-signors, writes that ?Ama?zon is cre?at?ing, for the first time, real com?pe?ti?tion in pub?lish?ing? by chart?ing a ?viable path? for self-published books.

Came across this today. ?Using our POD facil?i?ties, pub?lish?ers can ensure titles remain in print indef?i?nitely.? Mustn?t let rights revert!

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When the DoJ made its 64-page ?stay the course? state?ment avail?able Mon?day in response to the 868 com?ments filed about the pro?posed ebook pric?ing set?tle?ment with Harper?Collins, Simon & Schus?ter, and Hachette, only some 70 of the more than 800 let?ters were sup?port?ive of the set?tle?ment the gov?ern?ment has proposed.

And nat?u?rally, the over?whelm?ing bulk of the news cov?er?age went to the major?ity crit?ics of the proposal.

That?s why I felt it might be good to point out that among the writ?ers of those 70 favor?able opin?ions ? and in the signed sup?port of oth?ers like the 186 behind Gaughran?s state?ment ? we have heard some?thing?new.

DOJ shout-out to @ & @ for great work in coun?ter?ing Authors Guild bull?shit http://t.co/qDWfJUC6

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These are voices and opin?ions of dis?parate entre?pre?neurs, solo oper?a?tives, inde?pen?dent authors. And how?ever put out with them the estab?lish?ment mem?bers may be at times, these non-aligned writ?ers landed some pal?pa?ble input in this offi?cial exer?cise. These mes?sages were orga?nized, calmly expressed, made with?out exple?tives or anger ? and they got across.

It looks to me as if the self-publishing crowd did itself proud this time. And even if it means putting aside our respec?tive opin?ions of the DoJ action to observe this, each of us needs to rec?og?nize that these folks found a seat at the table for non-traditional publishing.

As the DoJ?wrote:

..Mr. Gaugh?ran observes that ?[t]he kind of dis?rup?tion caused by the Inter?net is often messy,? and those who ?do quite well under the sta?tus quo? nat?u?rally resist change.

I?m inclined to give the last word here to Kon?rath. And I?m glad I took the time to search out his let?ter in the DoJ com?pendium to see how he han?dled?this.

If he can find a way to address issues in the self-publishing com?mu?nity as he?s done this time ? with?out the fume-?n?-foam shtick, which only alien?ates some of the sup?port self-publishing needs ? then he?ll play a more pro?gres?sive role in a sit?u?a?tion that could use some effec?tive leadership.

Look at the snap and provoca?tive grace of his phras?ing when he leaves the snarl behind and instead ? to para?phrase the scrip?tures ? heaps hot logic upon their?heads:

Ama?zon has not destroyed com?pe?ti?tion. In fact, it is the only com?pany encour?ag?ing?it.

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What do you think Jeff Bezos had for lunch today? Freeze-dried book?seller tears? Kit?ten hearts? #bezoslunch What?ever Bezos ate, we know it was served to him on a sil?ver salver by an agent of the Depart?ment of Jus?tice. #bezoslunch

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I know pub?lish?ers are still mak?ing tra?di?tional advance/royalty deals, they?re still print?ing paper books, and they?re still tak?ing a year or more to get a book out. I don?t know how long this will continue.

Can an Ether item have a coda? You bet it?can.

What agent Rachelle Gard?ner is try?ing to get across in Know?ing What We Don?t Know is that we all need to keep qui?et?ing the nat?ural impulses we may feel to try to see a solu?tion, an answer, an end, an out?come when, in fact, none of that exists.

In some ways, the entire pub?lish?ing indus?try is still oper?at?ing ?busi?ness as usual.? Most of us have years or decades of expe?ri?ence behind us. We know things. Based on our expe?ri?ences from the past, we?re rea?son?ably accu?rate at mak?ing pre?dic?tions for the future and mak?ing deci?sions accordingly.

But look at the tremors sent though the indus?try by such events as the DoJ action. Need?less to say, try?ing to advise each other dur?ing all this is fruit?less, and exhaust?ing. Being hon?est about the widen?ing, deep?en?ing ques?tions will become more impor?tant before it becomes less. Gardner:

We?re often speak?ing from a lim?ited amount of per?sonal expe?ri?ence, a bit of evidence/data, and a lot of our instinct based on years in the busi?ness. But it?s a mis?take if we fail to acknowl?edge what we don?t know, and instead act like we ?know? what we?re talk?ing?about.

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Click to read this week?s full Writ?ing on the Ether col?umn at JaneFriedman.com.

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If you?re using an ani?mated gif for your twit?ter avatar, please STOP IT?NOW!

Source: http://porteranderson.com/writing-on-the-ether-cleans-up/

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