Month: February 2011

bookmark_borderCivil Discourse

Posted on by PaulaO


(source)

What kind of society do we have where a class has to be offered for political civil discourse? One of the outcomes of the shooting in Tuscon where Rep. Giffords and others were shot is the University of Arizona in Tuscon is starting a “Civility Institute” and will offer classes and seminars in political civil discourse. We have to take classes to learn how to be speak nicely to each other? Sure, in high school we had debate classes and in college we took speaking classes. You’d think that politicians would remember at least some of what they learned there.

But, nope. News programs are focused on sensationalism instead of journalism because it “sells” better.Who wants to watch two political opponents being nice to each other during a debate? Even the Weather Channel is more about drama than the weather.

Dr. Milward said the institute would focus on political disagreements “from the grass roots all the way to the top.”

“In a great democracy, it’s important for people to hold fast to principles, but at the same time to understand where they might be able to compromise,” he said.

(…)

Mr. DuVal, who was a friend of Ms. Giffords’s and was a co-chairman of her finance committee, said he hoped the institute would be one way the nation could work toward such a goal. One of the first steps, he said, would be to attempt defining “best practices and corrosive practices.”

“How do we nurture robustness on one hand and not in any way chill speech, and keep it in bounds that are not destructive to democracy?” he said. “Will it change the nature of dialogue? That will be a tall order.”

(source)

I don’t mind arguing during a debate. It can reveal flaws as well as the beauty and truth in your point. Or theirs.

I think one of the things that has created this kind of separation between common decency and our words is the creation of the internet and it’s many outlets. On a forum, no one knows you are sitting in your robe or in a cafe (hopefully not both at once). You can say what you want because no one really knows who you are. That feeling of anonymity flows over into places where we are known. Sensationalism eggs us on. A chart with crosshairs over your “enemies” isn’t really violence or promoting violence. It is a visual imagery representing your goals. It is your site so you can limit who can contribute and no real debate takes place. Only your side is presented. You don’t have to be nice. Why should you? Would Palin have told Gifford to her face in a civil discussion that she considers her to be within her group’s crosshairs? The she considers Gifford worthy of elimination, not just defeated in an election?

It’s not just the politicians who need to attend any classes they may have. We all need to learn how to discuss things as rational beings. From Westboro representatives protesting at funerals to politicians denying civil rights, common decency is going extinct.

bookmark_borderMore on Borders Books

Posted on by PaulaO

More information and better written articles are slowly appearing. Writer Beware has an excellent (as always) post about it that has good links to further explanations and opinions.

Borders isn’t the only bookstore to announce bankruptcy. There’s one in Canada (which came as a surprise as opposed to the slow shipwreck crash of Borders) and a huge chain in Australia.

What is interesting are the comments to the post. I was going to quote some of them and decided not to. My theories on the self-publish mentality belong in another post/rant for another time.

bookmark_borderBorders Books Bankruptcy

Posted on by PaulaO

(say that real fast three times!)

At first, I was saddened by the bankruptcy filing of Borders Books. Not that we have one near us, but that any bookstore closing/failing is never a good thing.

But then someone reminded me of why it is an awful thing in this case. Let me explain.

As a writer, my publisher sells my book for me. Regal Crest is listed with several distributors who produce catalogs from which bookstores, such as Borders, order books from. But, unlike you and me ordering from a catalog, books are done differently. If I order seeds from a catalog, I pay for those seeds first, get them, and if I don’t use them all, unless the packet was unopened and IF the company has a decent return policy, I am S.O.L. and have seeds left over. Now let’s say Borders orders 5 of my books. They don’t pay for them. Consider it commission sales, I suppose. They sell 3. They return 2 (returns are standard practice and publishers who don’t accept returns, don’t survive for long). And, eventually, they get around to paying the distributor for the 3 they sold. Then, the distributor pays Regal Crest who then pays me. Bigger publishing houses are their own distributors so Borders would be paying them directly.

Now, back to the seeds. If I bought the seeds on my credit card, the credit card company pays the seed company then waits for me to pay them. If I declare bankruptcy, I can either pay them back a very small fraction or not at all, depending on the type of bankruptcy. So the credit card company is out of the money I owe them.

Borders is declaring bankruptcy. They sold a lot of books. They got paid for them immediately by the customer or shortly after by the credit card companies. But they’ve not paid the distributors or publishers yet. Which means RCE’s distributor isn’t getting paid which means RCE isn’t getting paid which means, you guessed it, I’m not getting paid.

In reading an article about Borders, I came across this information: (bolding mine)

Now the company is set to close some 200 stores and shed much of its staff in the coming weeks. The stores slated for closure are scattered throughout the country, including three outlets in Manhattan, 35 in California and 15 stores in the Chicago metropolitan area.

The company currently operates more than 650 stores and employs 19,500 people. Borders said that its stores would remain open during the bankruptcy process and that its rewards program would remain in effect. The company said it would continue to honor gift cards and coupons.

In its filing in United States Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, Borders listed $1.29 billion in debt and $1.27 billion in assets. As of the filing, Borders owed $272 million to its 30 largest unsecured creditors — including $41.1 million to the Penguin Group USA.

(source)

Now, first, FIFTEEN stores in the Chicago area?! Fifteen? For real? And that’s just the number they are closing. FIFTEEN!?

Second, $41.1 million owed just to Penguin. That’s a lot of money. And you can bet those writers aren’t going to be paid any more than I will be.

I am betting that we are going to start seeing other large chain stores start to falter. Like Borders, a lot of them exploded in growth that no longer has the demand. Borders (and the other Big Box Book Stores) killed a lot of small, locally owned bookstores. And now the Internet has killed them. Karma’s a bitch.

bookmark_borderSchedule: I Need One

Posted on by PaulaO

I don’t have a Real Job. I don’t have any chores, not exactly. So I go to sleep when I can and get up when I want to and eat when I get hungry. Sounds luxurious, doesn’t it? It can be. For the first year, maybe two. Then it gets to be…boring. And you feel kinda worthless since you’re not contributing to much of anything. And that worthlessness gets heavier and heavier.

Sure, I do the laundry. I feed the fish. When I can, I feed the critters. I am the main driver so I do errands or I drive us wherever we need to go. But my errands are limited. I don’t do the groceries. I can’t load/unload my chair by myself and I despise those slow poke battery operated humiliation things on wheels the stores have. (I seriously am going to start carrying a multi-tool with me and start clipping the back-up buzzers.) I can do maybe three walk-in errands if there is little to no standing around.

In an effort to be as worthy as I can, and to perhaps actually publish something, I am trying to establish a schedule. So far it isn’t working. Setting a schedule, that is. I don’t know if actually having one helps or not.

Any advice?

bookmark_borderA Note about E-book Piracy

Posted on by PaulaO

Let’s say you buy a printed book. You read it. You think it is great. You pass it on to a friend who also reads it who then passes it on to another friend, etc. By the end of the year, 7 hypothetical people have read that book. Yet, the author got paid for just one.

But that’s how it goes. Authors on the whole don’t mind you sharing your book. It spreads our name around and perhaps get some more sales later. Perhaps one of that 7 decided she wanted the book on her shelf so went and bought one.

Now here comes the e-books. That’s the digital form of books (electronic books) for those who don’t know. There are now a plethora of e-book readers out there which is good! People reading is always good. Except when it is a pirated book.

Back to that first scenario. You buy an e-book and you love it so you send the electronic format via email to all of your friends. Who then send it to their friends. And by the end of the year, umpteen have read it yet that same author has sold one book. And this time, those that perhaps wanted to keep it, can. They can send out copies vs the original.

Just so you know, that is illegal. In nearly all cases, all e-books are copyrighted and cannot be copied except as a backup copy for your own use.

But e-book piracy goes further. There are website specifically set up to display books for free. Tons of books. Sometimes an author’s entire collection. Sometimes even scanned in copies of printed books. This happens a lot. And it is all so very illegal.

People say it is good for the author. It spreads her name around and people buy her books. But do they? Why should they, really, when it will be up free just like this one?

In Big Name Publishing, they may not notice the sales difference. And unless they have a dedicated staff to track down these sites and watch them for pirated book re-distribution, they don’t do anything about it. But with lesbian fiction being such a niche market (read: small), we notice.

Like I said, people reading books is good. People reading illegal books is not. The author is trying to make a living, the publisher too. The editor. The cover artist. The distributor. The bookstore. All of these people depend on sales of books. But if the book is being given away free by the thousands (yes, thousands), it is noticed.

Work is being done to educate readers. Many have no clue it is illegal. Many think they are doing the author a favor by reading her book. And while myself and others think it is wonderful, we wish you had paid for that book. Else, we may decide to go flip burgers instead and you’ll not get to read another by us, paid for or not.

Karin Kallmaker, a wonderful writing and an advocate for fighting book piracy, has had several posts about this. And she says it much better than I do. As a writer of many books (vs my one), she has a vested interest in getting this stopped. Her way with words is amazing and she puts forth the problem both subtle and with the grace of a Mack truck trying to the next drop before the timer runs out. Here are some of her posts, in chronological order:

    Pirates Avast!
    Ye Olde Myths of Piracy
    Lesbian Fiction Fans—To the Rescue?
    Sunday, Day of Leisure
    “Appropriate Royalties” are Paid?
    No Bang. Lots of Whimpering.

So if you frequent any of those places. If you don’t see a problem with uploading or downloading pirated (ie stolen) books, then, well, I feel sorry for you. Karma’s a bitch and some day it and the law will catch up to you.