Friday, July 26, 2013

The headlines this Friday (with a tiny update)

1/ Kobo has promised to remove Plotting for Beginners from their site within 24 hours.
It’s taken a two week stream of emails from me and Snowbooks (the original publisher). Yesterday, in desperation, Isaac and I contacted them via Twitter.
In an apologetic email I received at teatime, Kobo said:
“Just as a bit of context for the delay on removing the book from the site: we are legally obligated to obtain permission from the entity that supplied the book to Kobo before we can remove it from our website”
That is fine, but I am puzzled as to why it took so long for my enquiry to be escalated to the next tier up where someone could actually do something.
Now there are other dragons to slay. It’s becoming a full time job chasing people on the internet who are “file-sharing” a book they have not written and to which they do not own the copyright. Why would someone (and I do not mean Kobo – who were acting in good faith with what they thought were legitimate copies) assume that because they can copy a book, or a piece of music, it is OK to offer it to the world for free – or for money? Do they think artists and musicians and writers live on fresh air?
2/ The Aging Hippie informed me that she can rarely comment on my blog because Blogger loses her comments. If this has happened to you, I am very sorry. If you are desperate, you can email me at infoatdelicatelynuanceddotcom, but I only respond to people I haven’t met, on the subject of my blog or my books.
3/ The strawberries are almost finished, and it’s time to start picking the blackcurrants and making jam.
4/ My elder grandson has become an archaeologist.


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