From Publishers Weekly:
The New York Law School is launching a Web site dedicated to the Google Book Search settlement that will include discussion forums, a comprehensive archive of settlement documents and related commentary, and a tool for users to insert their own analyses and commentary on individual paragraphs of the proposed settlement. The project, dubbed “the Public Index,” is part of the Public Interest Book Search Initiative overseen by NYLS professor James Grimmelmann, an expert who has written extensively about the deal. The effort will be staffed by NYLS students and is being underwritten with a grant from Google competitor Microsoft.The Quill & Quire reports:
. . . Kunati Books – an Ontario-based company that won acclaim in 2007 as ForeWord Magazine’s Publisher of the Year – has not been paying its authors. Furthermore, publisher Derek Armstrong . . . has been unresponsive to authors’ phone calls and e-mails, and has failed to provide the financial statements due them. According to several Kunati authors . . . no one in the Kunati stable – which includes more than 20 authors – has been paid in the last nine months.Publishers Lunch directed me toward an article in the UK's Daily Mail on Stephen King:
. . . as is revealed in a fascinating new biography, he [King] spent most of the Eighties on an extended drug and alcohol binge which so fogged his mind that even today he cannot remember working on many of the books he wrote during that period.The book is Haunted Heart: The Biography of Stephen King by Lisa Rogak. Read the Mail Online article here.
6 comments:
Re: Stephen King
It explains a lot. His books were much more to my liking then, less weird. He is still one of my favorite authors though.
LA: Back in 2006, I wrote a blog about King and my feelings about his writing. I called it "Can This Relationship Be Saved." Here's the URL:
http://tiny.cc/XE5mI
Thanks for writing.
I know someone who's been published through Kunati and she's doing her best to promote her book, so it's disheartening to read about what's happening there.
Just wish there was something I could do about it.
Yes, the mess at Kunati IS disheartening. Believe me. I'm one of their authors.
You can find more information about what's happening at Kunati at:
Absolute Write Water Cooler (7 pages) and Implosion of a house of cards and Quill & Quire: Kunati Books neglecting its authors
I am also a (former) Kunati author. I received my rights back after asking for them in January then not receiving them until May 1, 2009. The problems detailed in the Q & Q article are very real and very sad. At this point, I, like Cheryl Tardif, still have not received any statement or royalty check from Kunati, even though I was a Kunati author during the time period for which statements are due. This is very frustrating and will not stand. At least I am now free to seek a new publishing home for Courage in Patience, my novel.
Beth Fehlbaum, author
Courage in Patience, a story of HOPE..
http://courageinpatience.blogspot.com
Ch. 1 is online!
Cheryl and Beth: I'm so sorry.
I know exactly how Marian feels because I feel the same way--wanting to do something to be helpful.
Every time something like this happens, it hurts all writers.
Best wishes to you both as you move away from this mess. There are ethical publishers out there. Stay strong.
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