I am very sorry that I cannot find the correspondence that brought this to my attention, so please contact me again so I can credit you.

The Google/ Authors Guild case concerns Google’s attempt to scan all books and post them to the internet without first obtaining the permission of the copyright holder. While Google claims this act is their do-no-evil public service as internet uber-librarians, Google stood to earn millions of dollars from the exploitation of these works and had no intent to provide the creators or publishers of same with one penny from the use. While Google claims that only a small portion of any of the books is available for public perusal at any time, this is de facto copyright violation for commercial use.

When I have found these books scanned online via Google, huge sections of the books were available for use by the reader. Nifty for research purposes, but crappy of Google to take advantage of the content provider (author). Google’s empire made some 6 billion dollars last year alone.

(EDIT)While this article, which is written by someone who is clearly unhappy with the settlement, claims Google only made “snippets” of works available. I was able to read 20 pages of copyrighted texts at a time. Basically, entire chapters.

One commenter demanded to know had ANY of the annoyed authors ever made any money on their books after the advance?

Why, yes. I have. Thanks for asking. That’s how I have made almost every penny I have ever made on A Distant Soil.

The Authors Guild settlement will, supposedly, make a portion of the advertising funds raked in by Google payable to authors. How that is all going to work out remains a bit murky.

Further confusing the matter, children’s book illustrations are treated differently under the settlement terms than other book illustrations, which are excluded from the settlement.

This is the correspondence that recently came in the email, directed at all parties who registered to receive info about the claim and settlement outlined here.
(more…)

Must Read.

A few years ago, I wrote an article on my work schedule (reposted just a few weeks ago, click the Time Management tab), and the rather intense demands in it led some people to observe that my attitude showed a disturbing level of American go-get-it drive, a sad obsession with “being #1″, and a workaholic tendency.

Darn those crazy Americans! When are they ever going to learn to stop and smell the roses (I grow roses, by the way.)

Well, this very interesting article is yet another look at the simple fact behind success; PRACTICE is a greater indicator of success as an artist than innate talent, and the work habits of those artists who succeed show that those who work harder get better results. It’s not God-given talent, it’s drive and work ethic.

Scientists have investigated this question of expertise — specifically, skill at a level that seems unobtainable by normal, motivated individuals. In one study, researchers led by Florida State University professor K. Anders Ericsson studied musicians at a Berlin conservatory. Students were divided into three skill levels, including one the faculty had identified as having the best chance of becoming world-class soloists. The researchers had the students keep diaries of their schedules and looked at such information as when they started playing and their practice habits as children…

The results were clear-cut, with little room for any sort of inscrutable God-given talent. The elite musicians had simply practiced far more than the others. “That’s been replicated for all sorts of things — chess players and athletes, dart players,” says Ericsson. “The only striking difference between experts and amateurs is in this capability to deliberately practice.” The group even determined the number of hours musicians must play to compete at the highest professional level — about 10,000, the equivalent of practicing four hours a day, every day, for almost seven years. (more…)

I’ll be in Artists Alley at table G10.

Basically, go inside the front door, go to the extreme right until you hit the wall, TURN LEFT keep walking. I’m in the right hand corner next to The Artists Choice display. Bad sale location, great for security.

My panels are:

Writers on Writing with Chris Claremont, Jimmy Palmiotti, Tom DeFalco

Friday 5:45-6:45 Room 1A18

Men are from Krypton, Women are from Paradise Island with Jimmy Palmiotti, Jamal Igle, Barb Kesel

Saturday 4:15-5:15 1 A17

Creator Resources

Sunday 12:30-1:30

Free Creator Resources list for 300 participants. Insurance, legal, online resources.

There will be a small snippet preview of the new GN I am drawing for Vertigo at the Vertigo panel, but I can’t recall when that is.

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