Caught in the Rye

J.D. Salinger, author of Catcher in the Rye, is once more battling to protect his work. This time his lawyers are trying to block U.S. publication of a novel that has already been touted as "the sequel" to his very famous book. Salinger's literary agent believes a sequel to her client's novel would be worth a $5 million advance. The defendent is claiming the work is effective criticism of Salinger and thus protected by the First Ammendment (although the judge seems to be having trouble finding the critical parts.) The original Catcher has sold over 35 million copies since its publication in 1951.

The reclusive Salinger, who according to the article is now 90 years old, completely deaf, and currently undergoing treatment for a broken hip, has not published any new works since the early sixties. Catcher is his only published novel.

In a similar case concerning copyright law, Alice Randall wrote The Wind Done Gone, a version of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind told from a slave's point of view. The book was published and was on the bestseller lists for weeks, but Houghton Mifflin, Randall's publisher, was obliged to make an undisclosed financial settlement agreement with lawyers for Mitchell's estate. I liked how Morehouse College ended up benefitting from that one.

It's interested to see how these cases play out. I kinda doubt Mr. Salinger is going to win, but you never know. Btw, I would have quoted from the original AP release, but then I'd have to pay them $25.00. Which I find beautifully ironic.

I think instead I'll take my money to the book store and buy a new copy of Catcher in the Rye -- the original.

FYI for Pubbed Authors

I'm posting this for published authors who haven't gotten a heads up from their agents yet:

"This" is the settlement administration website for the Google Book Search Copyright Class Action Settlement. The purpose of this website is to inform you of a proposed Settlement of a class action lawsuit brought by authors and publishers, claiming that Google has violated their copyrights and those of other Rightsholders of Books and Inserts (click for definitions), by scanning their Books, creating an electronic database and displaying short excerpts without the permission of the copyright holders. Google denies the claims. The lawsuit is entitled The Authors Guild, Inc., et al. v. Google Inc., Case No. 05 CV 8136 (S.D.N.Y.) The Court has preliminarily approved the Settlement. For further information, please review the Notice."

Important Deadlines: Claim forms: January 5, 2010 Opt out: May 5, 2009

Also, please note -- I am not discussing this offer here on the blog nor do I have any further information or advice for other authors. If this proposed settlement affects you and you don't know what to do, talk to your agent and/or your attorney.

Regarding the Bootlegger

For all my friends and colleagues in RWA: many of you have written and I do know about the bootlegged copies of my novels that were posted on MediaFire.com. I notified my publisher this morning and asked the folks at MediaFire.com to take down the illegal copies. Evidently they have complied, because the files are no longer accessible.

For the bootlegger, who I'm told also links to PBW and hangs out here: I would have contacted you directly and asked you to take down the files, but there was no e-mail address listed for you. I'm not going to enable comments on this post because I don't want to turn this into an attack on you or a flame war or anything like that. I just want to talk to you, because if you do come here, then maybe I'm someone you will listen to.

I give away a lot of my work for free. That doesn't mean you get to do the same thing without my permission. I know you aren't profiting from the bootleg copies you're posting on the internet, but giving someone a stolen book rather than selling it to them does not make it any better. It's still a stolen book.

Obviously you know what you're doing is illegal, or you wouldn't be using an anonymous handle, hiding the download links and protecting your blog the way you have. But the fact remains that you are using and distributing my work without* the right to do so or my permission. That's why I had the files deleted. You gave me no choice when you posted them.

The people who may really come after you are the publishers. They have a lot of time, money and great attorneys. The publishing industry loses billions every year to bootleggers, and if you keep doing this you might just be the one they decide to take to court. So please, stop. Delete the illegal files you've posted for all the books you've bootlegged before you get into more trouble.

*Corrected, and thanks to lxz for catching my typo. That was not meant to be with.

Resistance Reason #999

I wasn't going to write about this, but someone (you know who you are) suggested that it was a moral imperative, seeing as I was around the last time it happened, and my response basically got me blackballed from polite SF society for life.

About ten years ago I escaped from the Borg after the head drones created the WotC mess (for those who weren't around back then, read the third paragraph here. This was where it all started.) In the end the Borg made a financial deal with WotC on behalf of its membership that was not 100% supported by the membership, and I didn't want any part of it, so I quit. When they received my resignation, one of the board members actually called my house to browbeat and threaten me. It scared me because I was a rookie who didn't know any better, but it also convinced me that I'd made the right decision. Now it seems that the collective is at it again.

I'm not going to say I told you so. Much.

What an author chooses to publish for free on the internet is their decision (I would make sure to get a green light from the publisher for any work under contract so you don't end up in court.) I've published plenty of free stuff myself, I've been bootlegged, and I've had my issues with the Creative Commons crowd as well. Whatever my personal opinions, I'm never going to tell another author what they have to do with their work. Nor would I tolerate any writer or writer organization telling me what to do with mine.

I certainly would never remove their work from the internet without their expressed permission. Hello, this is like definition #1 under dumb in the dictionary.

I know this is a very weird concept, but writer organizations are supposed to support their membership. All the membership, not just the big names and Sacred Cows. I also understand the hysterics over bootlegging; some folks take exception to the virtual rabble despoiling all that net-virginal work. However, to use copyright law as an excuse to indulge in their own form of droit du seigneur is ridiculous and rather obscene.

I'm sure this will all be swept under the rug, the same way it was ten years ago, and the chief offenders punished for daring to stand up to the group. Excuse me for still hoping that it won't be, and that this time someone will be made to answer for their actions.