Publishing Trends- Resource Bites

Where to Locate Info On Copyright and Obtaining Permissions

 

Stephen Fishman’s _The Copyright Handbook

and

Richard Stim’s _Getting Permission: How to License & Clear Copyrighted Materials Online & Off

According to Stephen Fishman’s _The Copyright Handbook_, Section 107 of  the Copyright Act of 1976 explicitly lays out the four use factors of:

 

“1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit education purposes

2. The nature of the copyrighted work

3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole

4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of the copyrighted work”

 

This is a direct quote from the Copyright Act of 1976

 

AP and Fair Use

AP files 7 DMCA takedown requests on blog

http://www.cadenhead.org/workbench/news/3368/ap-files-7-dmca-takedowns-against-drudge

 

AP puts up web form to pay for permission to use as little as five words from their articles

http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/010341.html

 

The Daily Kos blog is telling the AP “make my day”

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/17/12241/5981/719/537292

 

*******

Question: I’d be interested to know the best way to deal with museum stores: how to find out who to contact, what to send them, what kind of deals what they expect on discounts, and shipping, etc.

 

Answer: Most major museum stores are in the American Book Trade Directory.  Send them the same marketing info you’d send a regular bookstore. Give them the exactly same terms you’d give a regular bookstore. That works fine.

 

Some belong to the Eastern National Parks & Monuments or one of several other chains, but it is the stores who decide what to carry, not the central office. You have to contact each store related to your books, it is useless to contact the central office in my experience.

 

Note that museums break down into what I call outdoor subjects (nature, geology, wildlife, etc.) and indoor subjects (art, history, etc.). Your book is likely to be suitable for only the one or the other kind of store. See the info in the American Book Trade directory and any book offerings the museum store has online, which a lot of them do now.”

Quote:

“Books are dangerous. They contain ideas.”  Dick Margulis

Journalists-Writers Resource

If you’re not already using www.helpareporter.com, check it out. It’s a service much like ProfNet, but free. It used to be on Facebook, but grew too large for it. Once you subscribe, you receive about three (sometimes two, no more than four, ever) emails a day with reporter, editor, and freelance writer queries, written so you can quickly and easily scan the topics for relevance.

Search Engines

General stuff: www.dogpile.com

Names and books: www.google.com

If I can’t find it there I go to: www.ask.com

There are many specialist search engines:

Answers.com

Technorati

del.icio.us

Yahoo

Webster

Dogpile

Dictionary.com

 

Ebook Formats at Fictionwise

 

 Fictionwise provides eBooks in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [887 KB], Palm Doc (PDB) [313KB], Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [275 KB], Microsoft Reader (LIT) [292 KB] -PocketPC 1.0+ Compatible, Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [303 KB], hiebook (KML) [706 KB], Sony Reader (LRF) [373 KB], iSilo (PDB) [256 KB], Mobipocket (PRC) [320 KB], OEBFF Format (IMP) [418 KB].  MobiPocket works on a Pocket PC.

 

Champions for Muslim Teachers and Students

All Praise and Honor to Allah and thanks for His gift of the sister and brotherhood in Islam

 

Champions for Muslim Teachers and Students

 

(Update for 6/12/2008 Donation Total is Now $1,232.77)

 

On May 8, 2008 the HalfDate organization (Half Date’s motto is “Approaching Jannah half a date at a time.”)  implemented a funding drive to help raise money for the design of 5 teacher study guides for Islamic fiction books intended for use by students and teachers in Islamic school classrooms.

 

I am deeply grateful and humbled by the response by sisters and brothers in Islam from around the Globe that made this project a success!  As of today I have received in my business PayPal account $1,122.77.   Br. Ahmed, the HalfDate.com representative that has been working so hard on this project, told me that pledges are still coming in.  It is safe to report that the goal established will be met! 

 

 A heartfelt thank you to each of you donating directly through www.halfdate.com

 

Many sisters and brothers in Islam donated time, money, and wrote articles and posted them to blogs and Muslim groups…thank you.  Also appreciated are the businesses which initiated activities that contributed to the fund raising effort. Many Muslims gave generously saying du’as for this project’s success.. thank you!  May Allah reward each of you generously.

 

As the owner of Muslim Writers Publishing I thank each and every one of you: 

–HalfDate.com’s organization management of this project: br Ahmed and Abu Maryam 

–Sister A’ishah (Raza Sulejmanovic) for writing and publishing the promotional article: Strong & Successful: Contemporary Sisters with Inspiring Stories

–Brother Tariq Neison for writing and publishing the promotional article Two Heart Attacks…But Full of Love  http://tariqnelson.com/

–Brother Dawud Israel for writing and publishing the promotional article A Role Model Muslim Woman and the new HalfDate Drive http://muslimology.wordpress.com/

–iMuslim published an article on Ijtema at:http://www.ijtema.net/2008/06/01/what-does-one-sister-have-to-say/

– For recommending HalfDate.com sponsor the TSG funding drive. Also $1.00 donated for each survey completed up to 100 surveys. Sister Iman, Optimize It. Designs.

–SISTERS Magazine  and Sister Na’ima Robert, owner and publisher.

–RUSH magazine at http://rushmag.com/

–Care4Converts http://care4converts.com Group: Omar, Ansar, and Tanweer

–Individuals who donated in memory of ”Umm Abdulkarim Mai” who passed away June 2, 2008.

Individuals who sent a donation through PayPal to Muslim Writers Publishing for the TSGs on behalf of Muslim Teachers and Students:

Mohammed Aman, Los Angeles, CA 

Safiyyah  Levine, Selinsgrove, PA (IWA member)

Arshad Khan, San Jose, CA

Zabeen Patel, London, United Kingdom

Mahdi Mekic, Gratkorn, Austria

Aminah Otmani, London, United Kingdom
Therese Bachhuber, Middleton, WI

Yamen Nanne, Los Angeles, CA
Syed Basheeruddin Ahmed, Santa Clara, CA
Ali Ardekani,  Sherman Oaks, CA 
Gloria Cano, Meriden, CT 
Qamar Khan-Malik, Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Mahdi Mekic, Gratkorn, Austria
Shabby Elegance,  Australia
Mazen Hasan, Toronto, Ontario - Canada

Mafaza Mahroof, Auburn New South Wales, Australia
Mazin Jillood, Edmonton, Alberta-Canada
William Yost, Syracuse, NY

Debora McNichol, North Carolina (IWA member)

 Eva Huang, La Mirada, CA 

RUSH Magazine, Montreal, Quebec - Canada
Fatima Dasti, Germantown, MD 

Syed Ashraf, San Jose, CA 

Qamar Haider, Mira Loma, CA 

Sumayyah Meehan

Zaheer Awan, Houston, Texas

Optimize It. Designs Owner-Sis Iman (IWA member)

Aamer Saadi
Mr. A S Mahmoud

 

Grateful thanks and appreciation to the 4 sisters-members of the IWA

(www.IslamicWritersAllaince.net ) who are spending time this summer creating the content for the 5 teacher study guides:

 

Sister Brooke Benoit

Sister Amel Abdullah

Sister Sabah Negash 

Sister Farzana Hussain

Focus On Muslim Kids - Not Me!

Salaams Everyone

May 8th the HalfDate organization generously began a fund raising campaign to try and get donations for my publishing business to design 5 teacher study guides: 4 for Islamic fiction books and 1for a non fiction book I have published.  Pretty cool..right?

The intentions were the very best but somewhere along the way… our Muslim children (who were the focus–the teacher study guides being created for their benefit—seemed to get lost in the promotional activities being done by many generous Muslims trying to help pursuade Muslims to donate money.

Some how the focus has come to be aimed at me and my disabilities and it seems to me that the work I have been doing publishing books for Muslims and trying to help Islamic schools get quality literature for our Muslim kids …. well all the attention pointing to me as  doing something other than my duty and responsibility is causing the true focus to get lost.

Truly.. I have been doing what as a Muslim I am supposed to be doing… nothing more than that… using my time and resources in excess of my essential needs to work and spend in His service for others.

I have been pointed to as a Muslimah of strength and a role model..  and that is so far from reality. Fooie! I say to that!  Before I got so disabled that I must keep to my house mostly… I use to go to the local masjid and gripe and complain about this and that..such as lack of community services dollars assigned in the masjid budget, inadequate funding for library books and equipment, lack of services for identifying the elderly, sick and sisters among our community needing help or some kind of assistance.  Believe me I was and am not one to speak with flowery and soft pursuasion… I was impatient (a constant character flaw of mine) and I lack diplomacy. In fact unintentionally I overheard a brother refer to me as “the big mouth”!

I set high goals and long term objectives for myself and incorrrectly try to shove my idealism and expectations at others to the point where I become pushie and alienate people. Hey…. it is probably a good thing I am homebound so I can do my work and not raise lots of discord in my local community! <grin>  So when you read all that well intentioned stuff about me…. remember what I just wrote.

I know that those individuals writing about me are well intentioned… but really… my disabilities pale in comparison to the trials and harships that millions of Muslims suffer daily. 

So… I want to ask everyone to do is refocus their thoughts, efforts, and work on our Muslim children/youth/teens who are the future of our Islam!

What Muslims need to Focus on:

1. In the USA and other westernized countries reading fiction books is a requirement of Language Arts courses. Children must also learn to write creatively.   Islamic schools must teach this and provide fiction books in the classrooms in order to meet State and National educational requirements .. or be accredited. ..same as public schools.

2. Many Muslim parents don’t realize this..that fiction reading beyond the little kid’s picture book reading level must be done by their children and teens.

3. Most Muslim publishers don’t produce the Islamic fiction books needed by our Islamic schools and Muslim students because they are ignorant about the need for such books and this might stem from reading fiction and writing creatively NOT being a requirement in majority Musim populated countries.

4. Muslim retailers (and many Muslim publishers serve as ther own retailers) don’t buy/list/make available the Islamic fiction books written by Muslims (English language) because they believe they will lose money because the books won’t sell to Muslims. Their may be some basis in fact here, too!

5. Many Muslims do not understand what fiction is… let alone Islamic fiction and many mistakenly think that it is lies or a useless waste of time. See the website www.IslamicFictionBooks.com to learn more..become informed.

–Seems lots of Muslims need some information and education…right?

6. Islamic school principals and teachers are well aware of the need for quality fiction books that have to be read by students through their high school years.  They complain with some justification that there aren’t sufficient quality and quanity of Islamic fiction books authored/published/avalable for them to use in their classrooms. (the chapter books and non picture reading level books)

7. So they have become used to sponsoring once or twice annually book fairs which promte to students, family and the community fiction books authored and published by non Muslims.  Many times these books have content that is inconsistent with Islamic teachings/beliefs/practices.. but they (teachers) tell me that these secular books come with teacher study guides which make it easier for them to use these fiction books in the classroom and which enhance the stusents learning experience.

REFOCUS—NOW!

1. MWP, my publishing business, has been busy locating, publishing, and trying to make available to Muslims and Islamic schools quality islamic fiction books.

2. The teacher study guides are being created to ensure the books can be used… that teachers will want to use… the Muslim authored, published and halal fiction books in their classrooms.

3. Muslim students will have the opportunity to see by reading IF books that Muslims are talented and creative writers cabable of creating quality fun and interesting stories with book characters and challenges which they can relate to as minority Muslims living in a larger secular society!

4. Four Muslimahs have donated their time and talent and are creating the content for the 5 teacher study guides.  I need $1,250 or $250 per TSG to have them designed and made ready in  pdf booklets. The TSGs will be given to teachers/schools at no cost to the schools.

5. If you make the decision to donate and help me with this… you are NOT doing so for me..but for, Allah willing, hundreds of Muslim students.. and their education IS your responsibiluty just as it is mine.

6. I ask each of you to visit an Islamic school in your area or write to an Islamic school and find out what these schools need for our children. Do what you can with your time and money to help them.

I always think… when this road I am traveling on gets bumpier than usual …. of the first word the Angel Gabriel said to our dear Prophet (pbuh). It was READ!   I think this pretty much sums up where I take my direction from…… to provide books so our children can READ.

You can be part of the solution to the problems I have outlined or you can not. With or without your help I will get the TSGs ready for our Musim kids. I don’t give up and I don’t give in. I trust in Allah. Pray on this matter brothers and sisters in Islam.

Widad (AKA) Linda Delgado, Publisher, Muslim Writers Publishing

www.MuslimWritersPublishing.com

 

BookLocker Files Class Action Lawsuit Against Amazon.com

Special Edition of WritersWeekly.com

>May 19, 2008

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>

>BookLocker Files Class Action Lawsuit Against Amazon.com

>

>This article may be quoted and/or reprinted in its entirety.

>If you’d like to comment on this situation, please visit

>http://antitrust.booklocker.com.

>

>BookLocker has filed a class action lawsuit against

>Amazon.com in response to Amazon’s recent attempts to force all publishers using Print on Demand (POD) technology to pay Amazon to print their books.

>

>You can read the complaint here:

>http://antitrust.booklocker.com/complaint.pdf

>

>Amazon began their clandestine effort earlier this year by

>phone (nobody there seemed to want to put anything in

>writing), approaching POD publishers, and telling them they must pay Amazon to print their books or their active “buy” buttons would be turned off at the Amazon.com website. What this means is Amazon customers won’t be able to purchase those books directly from Amazon.com (and would not qualify for free shipping), but only through third-party resellers on the site.

>

>Under the Amazon/BookSurge contract, Amazon:

>

>* Controls the printing price of the POD books - The prices

>can change at anytime, at Amazon’s discretion, with 30 days notice.

>

>* Controls the retail price of the POD books across the board - Publishers would not be able to sell their books for a lower price through “any other channel” (including other

>bookstores), and would not even be able to sell their books

>for less to their own customers under any circumstances.

>

>* Controls the wholesale price of the POD books - Amazon’s new contract demands a 48%-52% discount (different contracts have been sent to different publishers). Many small, independent publishers can’t afford to offer this discount to bookstores and would be forced to raise their book prices, which will ultimately hurt book buyers.

>

>* Controls the digital setup and scanning fees for each POD

>title - After the initial dump of current books, publishers

>would be charged approximately $50 per title (again,

>different publishers are receiving different contracts) in

>setup fees and/or varying scanning fees payable to

>Amazon/BookSurge. These fees can change at anytime, at

>Amazon’s discretion, with 30 days notice.

>

>* Controls the formatting specifications - Many publishers

>can’t absorb the massive number of man-hours required to

>reformat every single book interior and cover file in their

>inventory to match Amazon’s specifications.

>

>* Controls the quality of the books - Refer to THIS ARTICLE:

>

>http://www.writersweekly.com/the_latest_from_angelahoycom/004610_04022008.html

>

>for details and links. It’s no secret that BookSurge has a

>poor reputation for quality, including complaints about pages falling out of books, upside-down pages, and more. If a publisher pays Amazon to print their books, their reputation could suffer due to any possible BookSurge quality problems with that publisher’s books.

>

>* Attempts to control the public’s knowledge of who has

>signed the Amazon/BookSurge contract, along with the details of that contract, through a confidentiality clause, so that publishers signing it may feel they can’t talk about it at

>all.

>

>* And, Amazon controls the golden nugget - that coveted “buy” button that book buyers want (so their order can qualify for free shipping).

>

>In a public statement:

>

>http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-printondemand

>

>Amazon offered only one alternative to publishers, which is their “Advantage Program.” However, they did not divulge in the public statement that the terms of the Advantage Program are even worse than their printing contract. The Advantage Program requires POD publishers to give Amazon 55% of the list price, pay them $29.95/year, and pay the shipping costs for books going to Amazon.

>

>STRONG DISSENT FROM INDUSTRY REPRESENTATIVES

>

>The Author’s Guild, the American Society of Journalists and

>Authors (ASJA), The Small Publishers Association of North

>America (SPAN), YouWriteOn.com (the U.K.’s leading writer’s website) and the National Writer’s Union have all issued strong statements denouncing Amazon’s attempted power grab of the industry.

>

>OUR STORY

>

>After hearing rumors of Amazon’s alleged activities, we spoke to an Amazon/Booksurge representative by phone on March 26th. You can read what transpired that day here:

>

>http://www.writersweekly.com/the_latest_from_angelahoycom/004597_03272008.html

>

>After reviewing all the materials presented to us, and after

>talking on- and off-the-record with publishers, authors and industry representatives at all levels of this controversy,

>it is our opinion that Amazon may be positioning itself to

>directly print and control every book it sells. By forcing

>publishers to sign their extraordinarily oppressive contract, Amazon gains the power to charge publishers whatever printing and distribution costs it desires, as well as controlling the retail, discount and wholesale prices of the books it prints, and, through this contract, automatically positions itself to control the market.

>

>We cannot say for certain if what Amazon is doing is legal or not at this point; that is for the Federal courts to decide.

>However, in our opinion, the seemingly covert manner in which Amazon has conducted itself in this matter seems to make their actions highly suspicious.

>

>WHAT’S NEXT?

>

>Amazon has already taken control of publishers’ ebook sales on the Amazon.com website by requiring ebooks to be available for their ebook reader, the Kindle. Now, Amazon is attempting to take control of the printing of all POD books. We wonder if traditionally published books are next. Some are speculating that Amazon won’t stop until they are being paid to print every book they sell.

>

>ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

>

>You can read more information about this situation here:

>

>http://www.writersweekly.com/amazon.php

>

>including a time-line of the events that have transpired.

>

>You can comment on this situation here:

>

>http://antitrust.booklocker.com.

>

>ARE YOU AFFECTED?

>

>According to Amazon’s public statement, ALL POD books will be affected. If you are a POD publisher (this includes

self-published authors who publish their own POD books

through a printer), or a traditional publisher using POD

technology for some or all your books, and would like more information, please contact:

>Angela Hoy, Publisher

>BookLocker.com

>angela@booklocker.com

>

>INTERVIEW REQUESTS can also be directed to Angela Hoy at the email address above.

 

TSG and Books for Islamic Schools Appeal

As Salaam’Alaykum

 

My name is Linda Delgado—“Widad.” I am the owner-publisher of Muslim Writers Publishing – a traditional Muslim publisher. I am also the author of 6 published books. Four are the award winning Islamic Rose Books series which has also been translated into the Arabic and Indonesian languages.

 

This letter is about a wonderful opportunity being offered by the HalfDate.com organization. Please read on…

 

Half Date’s motto is “Approaching Jannah half a date at a time.” 

 

A representative of the HalfDate.com organization contacted me and kindly offered to help raise needed funding for the creation of 5 teacher study guides to be designed and created in pdf and print ready file formats. The TSGs are planned to be ready for the Fall 2008-2009 school year.

 

MWP has been helping Islamic schools for the past 6 years by donating free books and sponsoring creative writing contests for Muslim students. Please visit my website to see the list of schools receiving MWP donations to date.

 

http://www.muslimwriterspublishing.com/schools.html

  

I am very excited about this Promotional and funding opportunity and Allah willing you will catch my excitement and join with MWP and HalfDate in the TSG project!

 

Salaams,

Linda Delgado (Widad)

MWP Publisher

 

Publisher- www.MuslimWritersPublishing.com

Author - www.widad-lld.com

Islamic Fiction Books at www.IslamicFictionBooks.com

Islamic Writers Alliance at www.Islamicwritersalliance.net

 

ALERT: A Strike at the Heart of the Copyright Clause of the Constitution

“An  attempt is being made to push through Congress an Orphan Works Act………………….. These companies want to use and sell these works without gaining the permission of the rightsholders, typically writers and their heirs………. I ask all writers to join our artist colleagues and write their protests to Senator Leahy, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, which is starting to mark up the bill today. Senator Leahy’s email address is senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov . The email address of the Committee’s ranking Republican, Sen. Arlen Specter, is senator_specter@specter.senate.gov. …”

 President Gerard Colby, NWU/UAW Local 1981.

 

To read the entire text from President Colby go to:

http://www.nwu.org/nwu/index.php?cmd=showPage&page_id=1.10

 

To learn more about this issue and what President Colby wrote to our Seanators and Congressmen and women write or call him at:

 

President Gerard Colby
(212) 254-0279, Ext. 14
gcolby@nwu.org

Publishing Trends - Short Topics & Resources

Are you a Journalist? Publisher?

If you’re not already using www.helpareporter.com, check it out. It’s a service much like ProfNet, but free. It used to be on Facebook, but grew too large for it. Once you subscribe, you receive about three (sometimes two, no more than four, ever) emails a day with reporter, editor, and freelance writer queries, written so you can quickly and easily scan the topics for relevance.

 

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Postal Rate Increases - USPS in the USA

Domestic:

 

flat-rate envelope, now $4.60, going to $4.80, a 4.3 percent increase

flat-rate box, now $8.95, going to $9.80, a 9.5 percent increase

 

But there is some mention of an average 3.5 percent savings for doing labels online.

 

International:

 

flat-rate envelope to Canada and Mexico, now $9, going to $9.95, a 10.6 percent increase flat-rate envelope to other countries, now $11, going to $11.95, an 8.6 percent increase

 

flat-rate box Canada and Mexico, now $23, going to $23.95, a 4.1 percent increase

flat-rate box other countries, now $37, going to $38.95, a 5.3 percent increase

 

Want to check on postal rates?  You need to know the weight of your package and its size:

 

http://ircalc.usps.gov/

 

*******

Need copies of your CD for your book insert?

 www.digx.com is a company that can make copies of your CD.  If you’re selling to bookstores, the CD pockets must be “tamper resistant” - in other words, you should be able to easily see if the pocket was ever opened.

*******

Copyright Question:

Is there a difference between printed books and movies as far as the law and enforcement of it?

There certainly is in the U.S. There’s a law called the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) which criminalized anything that removes or circumvents copy-protection software from protected media. This was passed at the behest of the powerful software and entertainment industry lobbies. The penalty is up to five years in prison.

 

*******

 

Looking for a  website that will give you currency exchange rates? Go to : http://www.xe.com/ucc/

 

*******

Legal Shorts-

 

1. My publisher went out of business putting my book out of print. Does this mean the rights to my book revert to me?

 

“………..Without proper legal provisions, there is no law that requires the rights in a book to revert even if it is out of print………..” IVAN HOFFMAN, B.A., J.D., Attorney at Law  http://www.ivanhoffman.com

 

Read more about this important topic,  ”Out of Print Provisions in Book Contracts” by clicking on ”Articles for Writers and Publishers.” at  http://www.ivanhoffman.com

 

 

New York State Taxing Internet Sales

Salaams

 

In a new move to get more tax money New York State government is now Taxing Internet Sales. Read a report in an article posted online at the NY Post. (4-15-08) 

 

Why is knowing this and keeping track of what happens in so far as future legal action important?

 

This impacts all publishers who also retail sell books (most Muslim publishers) online, self publishing authors who sell their books online, and authors who sell author copies they purchase from a publisher to sell to the public via the Internet. 

 

The article reports that major retailers like Amazon.com may be the primary target for collecting the tax, but anyone who sells books to anyone via Internet in New York would be subject to this new NW State tax law.

 

For now the thinking by many in the book industry is that the NY State law won’t hold up in court since the regulation of the internet is a Federal right and not a State right.

 

 

Amazon: Smart Business or Greed?

Big news in the Secular Publinging-Book Industry

In the past week subsidy publishing businesses (charge fees for services) that use print on demand (POD) printing, self publishing authors, and small traditional publishng houses like my own (MWP) that will be impacted  by Amazon’s new business policy……learned that Amazon is now requiring these businesses using POD printing to do their printing with Book Surge (owned by Amazon) or the books listed on Amazon currently will have their Buy button removed…. and future titles will not be listed unless the titles are printed by Amazon’s POD printer-Book Surge.

Subsidy publishers LuLu and AuthorHouse/iUniverse have already caved in to this Amazon demand and signed agreements with Amazon.  Will others cave in and do the same? I sincerely hope not!

What will Amazon do in the future once it has a lock on these businesses?  Demand higher discounts so it can sell books more cheaply?   Thus making it difficult for other retailers to compete?   Amazon won’t be paying for these deep discounts.. the publishers will and this directly impacts the publishers’ ability to provide fair royalty to authors.   With Amazon taking a bigger piece of the list price of a book for its discount, plus cntrolling the printing cost… this leaves the publisher and author with little flexibility.

My publishing business uses POD printing and I chose to use the printing services of Lightning Source, Inc. I get excellent service, competitive pricing, and distribution that includes Amazon….but it also includes online giants like Barnes and Nobel where a buyer can get free shipping and discounts similiar to Amazon. 

Most of my retail sales are to Muslim retailers and Islamic schools, where I offer the industry standard of 40% discount.  MWP sales are primarily publisher direct and not through a distributor/wholesaler/or big secular online retailers like Amazon.  MWP also sells to individual buyers-readers.

Amazon is NOT the only business”in town” although its latest decision for demanding POD printing with its owned and operated BookSurge division seems to have Amazon believing it is.

My business cannot afford to give Amazon a 48% share of a list price of a book or pay the $29 a year for Amazon’s Advantage program to get a listing at Amazon while also giving 55% disocunt  if using this method to get listed on Amazon.

 MWP is against giving one retailer (Amazon) an unfair advantage over and above all other retailers MWP does business with.

I encourage all my readers and customers who buy books online to consider the following  online retailers for purchasing MWP titles:

www.IslamicBookstore.com  -books are always discounted and service is excellent.

Barnes and Nobel online retail stores. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/index.asp?r=1&popup=0

Publisher Direct by contacting publisher@MuslimwritersPublishing.com or woodad@mindspring.com

If you are an author with a book and can’t seem to find a traditional publisher… you can self publish your own book….you can use the services of free-lance work-for-hire pros to do your design work and you can use POD printing services like LSI to get your book into distriution through the Ingram wholesaler and listed with Barnes and Nobel online retailer and other online retailers as well as network with Muslim retailers for listings and sales.  You can offset print with LSI or other printing companies also.

There are still choices you can make that do not place your book/s business decisions under the control of Amazon.

Choosing a subsidy publishing business that is locked into Amazon’s new terms and conditions now and in the future may not be the best you can do for commercial sales of your book.  

What do I personally think of all the recent (last couple of years) business decisions of Amazon?

 Here are a couple:

–Creating the ebook reader Kindle and allowing only ebooks that use readers owned by Amazon to be listed on the Amazon website

–buying Book Surge a subsidy (fees for services) publishing business and POD printer

–Amazon Marketplace and Amazon Advantage programs requiring 55% discounts from publishers plus the publisher paying shipping costs and dealing with Amazon’s deep discounts that undercut retail sales of the publisher’s books with other retailers… the publisher paying for Amazon’s discount programs…

Amazon looks like, acts like, and now speaks like a typical subsidy business.

Just want you all to know that MWP will not be giving in to Amazon’s requirement to have MWP titles printed with Amazon’s Book Surge POD printing service too have active buy buttons for Amazon selling MWP titles.   This will mean that eventually Amazon will not have Buy links for any listings of MWP titles Amazon leaves on its website.

I personally would like for Amazon to remove any and all listings of MWP titles from its website.  It is one retailer/subsidy business I don’t want to associate with now or in the future unless its business practices are (in my opinion) more responsible and fair.   There are too many other online and brick and mortar retailers where MWP titles can be/are listed and customers able to buy copies of MWP titles.

More information about Amazon’s lastes business actions go to: http://www.writersweekly.com/amazon.php

Another Twist for Muslim Publishing

Salaams

I am sorry not to have posted recently.  I have been very busy all of January and February getting 4 new books/authors published!  All thanks to Allah most of this has been smooth sailing …but that is is not what I am writing about today.

I received a phone call from a sister, unknown to me. She said she was visiting my website right at the same time as talking with me and she loved the book covers for the books I have published and will be publishing in the next 2-3 months.  She said she was looking for a Muslim illustrator with creativity and expert skills to work with her on a new children’s book she had written (her 4th book).   I provided her the names and email addys of my two FAV illustrators: Sis Shirley Gavin (Ireland) and Sis Corey Habbas (USA).

Having taken care of her pressing need we began to chat. I decided not to lose the opportunity to invite her to join the professional Muslim organization, Islamic Writers Alliance and explained how members helped each other with writing, promoting, pubishing, and marketing-networking for resources, too.

And then we moved on to my most favorite subject Islamic Fiction and the challenges posed for Musim writers of Islamic Fiction.   I was appalled when she told me that the publisher of her first three books demanded she give up the copyyright to her work.  She said the publisher would not publish the three books without owning the work exclusively.  And now they are profitting from the books while she is left out in the cold. Well this is what caused her to decide to do research and see if she could publish her own work.  Mind you she is not interested in making tons of money (very few published authors do!) but she said it just seemed so unfair that she was forced into such a position.. giving up ownership of her work to get published.

I mentioned that the only positive thing that could be said was beause her work is children’s illustrated Books at the  child grade/reading level…. at least a Muslim publisher wanted to publish her work.

We went on to talk about the problems Muslim writers have with finding a Muslim publisher willing to publish fiction books for youth/teen/adult reading levels.  She told me that several Muslim publishers told her that they generally never looked at IF manuscripts submitted to them with requests for publishing.

 She said she asked them why they just ignored these manuscripts and the responses were that Muslims were not interested in reading that kind of book so why waste money on publishing books no one would buy? They told her Muslims don’t usually like to read anything but Qur’an  and only some well educated Mulims will read scholarly texts.

 Muslims don’t like to read?  Strange when the first word the Angel Gabriel said to the Prophet (pbuh) was READ!  Doesn’t this give Muslims some clue about what they need to be doing with at least some of their time?  

Well I was amazed… not at the attitude…. but that she actually got not one but several Muslim publishers to respond to this question. I have been trying for years to get publishers and retailers to state why they won’t publish/list/sell/make available IF books!

She got another call so we agreed to talk again soon.

Afterwards I pondered our conversation and the “idea” that Muslim publishers and retailers are very much aware of IF books/work being written but have no interest in IF books because they are certain Muslims won’t buy the books because Muslims don’t read much.  

I wondered then and now… is it just English speaking Muslims that don’t read much?  Reverts?  Asian Muslims?  Muslims from the Middle East? Africa? World-wide?

I have previously heard that some Muslims think fiction reading is a waste of time  and also that some Muslims want their children to concentrate on Math and Science…. I think to myself… don’t they know that to be able to read well and comprehend what you read is critically important to studying science and math?

Don’t these Muslims know that reading fiction and being able to write creatively are taught in all westernized educational systems.. that students at all age/grade levels are tested in their schools, states and nationally for reading and writing skills?  That students can’t graduate from High Schol without being able to demonstarate their reading and writing schools with a passable grade?…..Hmmm.

This begs the question.. if reading and writing are not important to Muslim parents…. then how do they expect their children to succeed and be competitive in today’s work world/society?

 What do you think?  Do Muslim parents read.. setting this  example for their children? or do they not read while failing to understand reading’s importance? Is what those publishers told my new sister-friend true or just excuses to keep publishing as they always have and not bother to look at their world and see to the reading needs of Muslims?  Are they ignorant? stubborn? apathetic?  or maybe just a bit  too concerned with their own pocketbooks … and not concerned with our kids or practicing fairness in their business relations with authors?

Lots to consider… lots to ponder.. lots to research more fully.  It isn’t enough to just say this is so… one must support suppositions and such with some data. Getting data is not such an easy task when you are struggeling just to stay afloat in this wacky world of book publishing.

What do you think?