Julie's Web Journal: Monday Mumblings

Monday Mumblings

Fresh when it gets here from Julie Barrett
Monday, April 24, 2006

I'd hoped to spend the weekend doing a whole lot of nothing, but you know how that turned out! To be fair, I did get some sleep, but I spent more time in front of the computer than I'd planned. But I did get some things done, as evidenced by the updates post below.

Part of our weekend was spent fooling with a Bluetooth dongle. I'd like to use these new headphones on more than one computer, and we also thought it would be a good thing to have wireless headphones for our next show. I don't know if Bluetooth is the answer, but I'm sure I'll find out soon as I play more with it.

On to another story making the rounds - the fanfic for sale on Amazon.com. I'll link to the Making Light post as it links to several other relevant posts.

The story in a nutshell is that a writer published her Star Wars fanfic and put it up for sale at Amazon. What kills me is that this woman is an editor and co-founder of a small poetry press. You would think she'd have some conception of the idea of copyright. But check out the Google cache of an author interview:

Q: Having set Another Hope in an already existing universe, I find myself wondering if there was any concern on your part regarding copyrights?
No, because I wrote this book for myself. This is a self-published story and is not a commercial book. Yes, it is for sale on Amazon, but only my family, friends and acquaintances know it’s there.
Q: I also wonder how far a writer is allowed to write in a world and to use characters introduced by another author?
If it’s not a commercial project, I don’t see any problem. George Lucas’ Star Wars universe is fertile territory for so-names “infinities,” or alternate storyline material. Thousands of people write them, and they are posted on hundreds of unofficial Star Wars-themed web sites on the Internet. Lucas himself said that as long as no one is making a profit, he thought such tributes were wonderful.

How can someone place a book on Amazon and expect that only friends and family will see it? She says this is a non-commerical venture, but is offering it for sale in a clearly commercial venue. In this case, the potential for profit is there, if the book is good.

Is it? Here's an excerpt (again via Google cache). Judge for yourself.

The other thing that boggles my mind about this is that it has apparently been available since July of 2005. I can't believe that it flew under the radar for that long.

You might want to check out check it out on Amazon before it goes away.

[Edited because it's Monday and I obviously can't spell my way out of a paper bag.]

Picture on the way.

Filed under: Writing Technology

14 Comments

Comments are closed

deslily said:
Off the wall question.. seeing as you were into fanzines and such and conventions.. just wondering if you know someone i know named Jackie Edwards? She was Patrick Stewarts aid for many years and wrote alot of fanzines of all sorts.
Date: 5/30/2006 8:04:31 PM Date: 5/30/2006 8:04:31 PM

julie said:
Sorry, no. It's a small world, but not THAT small, I guess. ;-)
Date: 5/30/2006 8:04:44 PM Date: 5/30/2006 8:04:44 PM

deslily said:
ah well, it was worth a try hahaha...
Date: 5/30/2006 8:04:57 PM Date: 5/30/2006 8:04:57 PM

deslily said:
Don't quote me but i could swear I've read that when you "self publish" your work gets copyrighted.. the fact that she is "sellling" the book (and it doesn't matter if it's only to family) means she is making a profit. Of course she is hoping that Lucas won't search out small amounts of profit someone makes on his copyrights. But then I've always wondered about those that wrote fanfic (fanzines) not in book form but simply xeroxing it and selling them at conventions when they use the characters of a television series such as star trek..
Date: 5/30/2006 8:05:24 PM Date: 5/30/2006 8:05:24 PM

julie said:
I'm not a lawyer (and I don't play one on TV), but here's how it's supposed to work: Your work has a copyright as soon as you create it, but it should have a registered copyright before publication. This is something the publisher generally takes care of, at least in the book world. Her book has both a copyright (to her) and an ISBN.
Date: 5/30/2006 8:05:44 PM Date: 5/30/2006 8:05:44 PM

deslily said:
what i didn't understand with fanzines is that they ARE sold at conventions so money is being made (granted, very little) I look into self publishing from time to time.. and generally it includes a "true" copyright. She's obviously counting on the fact that someone as big as George Lucas will not bother to go after "small potatoes".. more power to her.. I can't see admiring so much you use their characters and yet break the law for your own benefit.. if she printed the book for family and friends there's no need for it to be on amazon or anywhere else that is "public domain"...
Date: 5/30/2006 8:06:04 PM Date: 5/30/2006 8:06:04 PM

julie said:
I don't personally know of any fanzine publishers who made a profit from their zines. Most usually sold for enough to cover production costs - at least the ones I've been involved with. And some of the production companies actually support fan projects. I spoke on a fanzine panel at a convention put on by Creation and Universal Studios/Belasarius Productions. They didn't actually sanction the zines, but they certainly didn't mind them. I suppose it all depends on the studio/production company.
Date: 5/30/2006 8:06:21 PM Date: 5/30/2006 8:06:21 PM

julie said:
Sorry, no. It's a small world, but not THAT small, I guess. ;-)
Date: 5/30/2006 8:04:44 PM Date: 5/30/2006 8:04:44 PM

deslily said:
ah well, it was worth a try hahaha...
Date: 5/30/2006 8:04:57 PM Date: 5/30/2006 8:04:57 PM

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