If I hadn’t been going to the football today with my friend Mr W. P. of Cromer, I might not have learned that my novel By The Sea is for sale to read on your iGadget from the iBooks store at £2.99 a pop.
In the interests of science I downloaded a copy, and the fact that I didn’t instantly receive a sales report from the publisher, print-on-demand site Lulu.com, suggests to me that the iBooks version won’t net me a royalty. Therefore, if you’re keen to support a struggling author of gothic horror schlock lab lit police procedural, please download it instead direct from Lulu – it’s cheaper there, too, at £1.99.
*** IMPORTANT UPDATE *** (20th October) Lulu got back to me to say that mine was one of a tranche of books they’d put on iBooks on my behalf, and that some time in the distant past they had sent me an email about this, down an unlit stairwell in a disused filing cabinet labelled ‘Hall of Supreme Harmony’, and yes, I would be getting a royalty. So that’s all right then!
Really? But how could the iBooks store sell it without your agreement?
I’ve no idea. I have asked my agent to look into it.
Great job!
For all the science-in-fiction aficionados out there, here’s your chance to read an entertaining and well-written story for the price of a cup of coffee.
Thanks Stephen – but I’d urge people to avoid the iBooks version and download the book from Lulu. That way at least I’ll get a royalty.
Maybe this link it helps: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Lulu
When did you last take chemistry? No pH in my name…
oooph.
For those of you who are spelling-challenged, that’s “ooove”
beer only.
I think that Mr. Caplan has serious identity problems thinks I’m his father, Mr. Caplan better go to a specialist psychiatric disorders.
Been there, done that. And please call me Ms.
NO.
Right. I have notified Lulu, Apple and my agent. Perhaps between us all we can sort something out.
Henry- the friends are for that…..
Not on Kindle yet? I’ll have to try Lulu.
Inspired by Steve Caplan I am hoping to do a Kindle edition. If I have time …
Off topic, but…
I know I asked you some time ago, but of course managed to forget which of the two you most recommend: “Jacob’s Ladder” or “Deep Time.” My kids are still wandering around the house singing “Vertebrae, oh vertebrae,” and “I used to be an axolotl”–and my daughter told a university recruiter at her school that she wanted to be a neuropaleontologist. I’m not sure the recruiter knew what that was, but we began to receive information in the mail, so she must have figured it out.
Anyway, this time I’ll put in an order (is Amazon the best for your royalties?).
S.
Thanks Steve! Jacobs Ladder is my favourite and the one you’d probably be most interested in. Amazon is OK. For your further viewing pleasure do go to YouTube and look up ‘Angry Birds Peace Treaty’, Crox Minor’s latest find. You of all my friends would appreciate the nuances.
Sold! It should be here Oct. 20th. BTW, Amazon sells your book used for 1 cent! But I bought it new. What a sucker…
Thanks for the tip on the website. We’ll definitely check it out.
S.
Henry, keep us posted what happens. That’s really sort of distressing – I can’t see how it’s legal.
Re: Kindle, try Kindle Direct Publishing. It’s pretty easy if you have a current electronic copy of your book.
H,
Concerning… and it would be great to find out what has happened…
Perhaps you omitted to uncheck the tick box on page 876 of some sign-up agreement?
J.
Latest – my agent requested the small print from Lulu, which I sent her. I read it too, of course, and I couldn’t see anything about Lulu licensing stuff to a third party. I suspect that what has happened is that the agreement only applies in the US. Outside the US it might be open season… which is why iBooks sells it in British pounds. I might post a revision to the book (ive been meaning to do this incorporating Jenny’s original chapter headings and edits from Lablit) saying that any copies bought anywhere else but Lulu are unauthorised and no royalty is paid to the author.
Btw, and notwithstanding inasmuch as which and moreover, fwiw, I re-read By The Sea, first time for years… and in my completely unbiased opinion it stands up well. All kudos to Dr J R of Rotherhithe who had the confidence to publish it in Lablit as a serial, as I wrote it. Kept it fairly taut and pacy. Sure you could buy it online. But it’s all still there on Lablit for free!! I’d rather that if you read it all, you read it there rather than paying for an unlicensed copy.
My agent has done some digging. It appears that Lulu has packed off a lot of its titles to iBooks unilaterally without asking the authors. it does mention that we’ll get royalties at a set rate (at Lulu you can set it yourself) though I haven’t got any yet for the book I bought as a test, or even a notification of this sale. Normally you’d be notified immediately.
All’s well that ends well – this just in from Lulu
‘
Thank you for contacting Lulu customer support regarding our free epub conversion campaign. Your book “By The Sea” was specifically chosen by our staff to receive a free epub conversion (a $99 value). This service was designed to allow us to place your unique book on the iBookstore to reach an even greater audience of readers (with full copyright protection). You should have received an email about this back at the beginning of April or even sooner letting you know about this free campaign. In the email there was an option to opt out of the program. If possible, please attempt to search your email for this letter; it is possible that it might have been sent to the spam folder as some email accounts have very strict filtering.’
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