http://www.yourauthor.org The Author's Rights Awareness Campaign Sat, 06 Feb 2010 20:10:01 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en To RIAA or Not to RIAA, That was the Question, according to this blogpost by the Authors' Guild. Not to was their answer. I'm happy to read that. It is very sensible. And the reasons behind it are equally sensible. "One could fill a good-sized ... http://www.yourauthor.org/blog/to-riaa-or-not-to-riaa-that-was-the-question-authors-guild/ According to an item on electronista, Apple is this week in talks with US publishers to sort out deals for bringing books to its much-rumoured tabled. Publishers are said to want to control access to files (as Amazon does with the Kindle). Other rumours include Apple-book prices going to be ... http://www.yourauthor.org/news/apple-in-talks-with-nearly-all-major-us-book-publishers-electronista/ "On Christmas Day, for the first time ever, customers purchased more Kindle books than physical books", amazon.com reports in its press release on 26 December 2009. Commentary: This could mean that online delivery foor books, after a long wait and a few false starts, might be accelerating much faster than for other ... http://www.yourauthor.org/news/amazon-sells-more-e-books-than-paper-copies-this-x-mas/ A broad swath of American enterprise ranging from major software makers to motion picture and music companies are joining forces to oppose a new international treaty that would make books more accessible to the blind. On Monday, dozens of nations will meet in Geneva to consider adopting the WIPO Treaty for Sharing ... http://www.yourauthor.org/news/us-industry-fights-to-keep-blind-people-in-the-dark/ Germanys Intelligentsia is involved in a continuous fight against everything that cuts publishers' revenues, using authors' and human rights as a fig leave. We've seen the "Hamburger Erklärung", and now it is "Lettre International". In its most recent edition, Uwe Jochum tries to make us believe that Open Acces (i.e. ... http://www.yourauthor.org/blog/germanys-intellectuals-fight-to-revert-publishing-history-next-chapter/ There are no other words than "stupid" or "insane" to the recent PR stunt of the US Authors Guild calling Amazon Kinlde's text to speech technology "illegal" (see http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2009/02/10/authors-guild-claims.html). It's most likely the Germans will follow suit. This alleged "audio right" isn't. It's like reading abook using glasses. But ... http://www.yourauthor.org/blog/stupid-authors-guild-text-to-speech-illegal/ Google will pay $125 million in a settlement with the Authors GUild and AAP (the american publishers' association), which still must be approved by a federal judge before it takes effect. $34.5 million will be used to set up an independent Book Rights Registry. Authors whose books have been scanned ... http://www.yourauthor.org/news/publishers-net-125-million-from-google/ yourauthor.org supporter Matthias Mala sent us a letter he wrote to the VS-Bundesvorstand, in which he comments on the e-book, on the associated risks of piracy, and on the example of Paulo Coelho. Liebe Kollegen, Thema der diesjährigen Buchmesse ist das E-Book. Es ist zwar noch nicht so top, wie dies berichtet ... http://www.yourauthor.org/news/a-letter-on-copyright-to-the-vs-bundesvorstand/ Paulo Coelho got quite some press exposure after his speech at the Frankfurt Book Fair last week -- which he startet with a reference to the heretic Giordano Bruno. Quite purposefully, I think, as he goes along picturing himself as the "pirate Coelho" who is giving his books away for ... http://www.yourauthor.org/blog/your-author-paulo-coelho/ A new organisation, the Featured Artists’ Coalition was launched yesterday (Sunday 5 October 2008) at the music industry’s In The City in Manchester to campaign for the protection of performers’ and musicians’ rights. Formed by some of the best-known names in music -- Billy Bragg, Craig David, Iron Maiden, Radiohead, ... http://www.yourauthor.org/news/campaign-for-the-protection-of-performers-and-musicians-rights/