2007-08-30

Another Epub to Bite the Dust?

Read this at Smart Bitches, and draw your own conclusions.

I read one post that said it was documented that authors had to pay something like 35 cents per book that was put up on the Mardi Gras website.

Yeah, you read that right. I mean, WTF? If this is true, if this is documented, I wonder if those authors had any recourse. Was this something stated in their contracts in fine print, or was it just sort of slipped in, without anyone finding out?

Without anyone finding out, apparently, except near the end.

My sympathies go out to those authors who have been or will soon be stiffed.

~Nancy Beck
Posted by Nancy Beck at 2:33 PM
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2 comments:

Angie said...

I was browsing through Piers Anthony's site just yesterday and noticed that the entry on Mardi Gras was unusually long. The June update there said that it's 59 cents per title rather than 35, although I suppose it might've changed in the last couple of months. But at any rate, yes, they were charging for listings, which just sounds bizarre. What, were they having to pay for electronic shelf space...?

There seemed to be a lot of bad feeling between various people, including members of their editorial staff as well as writers, some of whom were happy with Mardi Gras and some of whom definitely aren't. Check it out:

http://www.hipiers.com/publishing.html#M1

His conclusion (with the June report, no specific statement with the latest) was that it was safe to do business with them, but it sounded rather cautious to me. My own feeling was that with such strong opinions both pro- and anti-, I'd send my work elsewhere until there's been a nice long stretch of pro-opinion. With all the fussing back and forth, though -- of a volume and intensity to become this public -- I'm not really shocked to hear that they're folding.

Angie

6:34 PM
Nancy Beck said...

Wow...59 cents per title? That's even worse than I originally thought.

Sounds like you did the right thing, Angie.

12:21 PM

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