The Action in the Amazon Continues

[rolanni]

Those following along at home will recall that, last week, it was discovered by an Alert Reader that Amazon had taken The Crystal Variation, an omnibus of novels Crystal Soldier, Crystal Dragon, and Balance of Trade, by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, published by Baen Books off sale.  We alerted Baen.  Baen's Speaker To Amazon found that Amazon had identified 144 "spelling errors."  Until those "spelling errors" were corrected the book could not be sold.

Baen forwarded the list to us, and we identified -- wait for it -- THREE incidences of Actual Misspelled Words (the rest were made-up scifi words, and most of them were "cermacrete"), four instances of missing commas (which Amazon had not pinpointed as errors), and one instance of two words that were smushed together.

Yeah, that's it.  Amazon pulled our omnibus, without notice, for containing three spelling errors across a 1200-page book.

The Crystal Variation is now back on sale at Amazon, thanks to speedy work on Baen's part, for getting those errors fixed, and the book re-up-loaded in record time.

So, that.

Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, Amazon had likewise taken Courier Run, Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number 18,  by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, published by Pinbeam Books (aka Sharon Lee and Steve Miller) off-sale, without warning, for four spelling errors and two bad line breaks. These errors were represented as having been reported by a reader who found them "distracting."

Yesterday, I fixed the two misspellings, recompiled the book and re-uploaded it to Amazon.

This morning, I have in my mailbox a communication from Amazon, stating that copyright is important to them, and that I must, in five days, provide proof that I have the right to publish Courier Run, Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number 18.  The acceptable proofs are:

Acceptable documentation includes:

- A contract or statement from the author or publisher verifying you
 retain publishing rights
- An e-mail from the address listed on the official author or
 agent’s website
- For authors using a pseudonym, copyright registration or statement
 of pseudonym use

If you publish books for which you do not hold the publishing rights,
your account may be terminated.

So, a letter has been written to Amazon, explaining the situation to them for at least the second, and possibly the third, time since we've been doing business -- in the five years during which we've been doing business -- together.  Though "together" may not exactly be the word I want, here.

As of this writing, I believe that Amazon will sell you a copy of Courier Run, Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number 18.  There is a Quality Issues Reported Hazard Triangle just below the title.  The drop-down for that reads:

Customers reported Quality Issues with this eBook.  This eBook has
TYPOS
The publisher has been notified to correct these issues.

. . .so I'm guessing it's not the amended file they're selling.

# # #

In less-fraught news, Steve and I took yesterday off to travel into Waterville to attend the Very First Screening of "Kubo and the Two Strings."  This is a very beautiful movie (we saw the 2-D version); the animation was amazing. The story itself is short on plot, though the writers/directors have an Absolute Mastery of Emotional Manipulation.  I recommend it for the animation alone, and for the overall sweetness of tone.  I came away from the movie feeling (briefly) peaceful and content.  So -- C+.

# # #

For those who have been following the New Box Project.  I offer the following short photo essay:

Trooper still prefers the red basket:

Sprite is thinking about the new box:

. . .which has already received the Belle Seal of Approval:

Observant readers will note that the floofy towel has been removed from the New Box. The floofy towel was Not a Proper Use.  So I was told.

# # #

Today, I work.  And probably do the laundry, because the life of a writer is unremittingly glamorous.

Everybody have a good weekend!

Comments

[autopope.livejournal.com]

While I sympathise with the pain your experiencing for jumping through Amazon's hoops, I'd like to note that there's a point behind the requirement to prove copyright. Some of my works are available under a restrictive Creative Commons license -- basically you're allowed to download or copy the work, but not to resell it or make derivative works (e.g. translations) without permission.

I don't mind people putting those books on Scribd or similar, or otherwise making them available as a free download, but guess what? Random jerks keep popping up and trying to sell them on Amazon, and as you can imagine, I don't get a bent cent back from them.

Hopefully this copyright verification step will kill that odious practice dead.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

I would have a lot more sympathy, if the proving of copyright step happened when I published a new book, rather than being retroactively applied to books that have been on-sale at Amazon for five years.

This method would also catch thieves and reivers, but before they publish stolen goods, which is surely better for everyone -- including Amazon.

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the five years on thing is a pain.

(I'm guessing it's something new they're rolling out because they weren't doing it at all earlier and someone threatened to sue them over the publishing stolen goods issue. So of course they're applying it retroactively ...)

[muirecan.livejournal.com]

/facepalm .... Oh Amazon why oh why can't you get it right?

amazon

[nanette furman (from livejournal.com)]

Amazon- too big to have a brain- and probably won't grow one.

RE: amazon

[6-penny.livejournal.com]

Probably using the brain at the base of the spine to think with and the one in the skull to control the tail.

[bandicoot.livejournal.com]

I just went to Amazon and bought and read Courier Run, and that version, at least, still had several out of place line breaks and at least one pair of run-together words. (I was reading and enjoying it, rather than trying to proof-read it, so other things might have escaped my attention.) Perhaps the repaired version hasn't trickled through yet.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

Amazon is going to open a bricks and mortar store over in Beaverton, so it will be interesting how they do that sort of activity.

[gerald heaton (from livejournal.com)]

So it says "copyright by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller" (or words to that effect) on the Copyright page.
The letter is from Sharon Lee. the "fixed" words are from Sharon Lee, and the Maroons want PROOF that you are Sharon Lee?

And here I thought dealing with the IRS was bad.

What kind of a maroon would fix "spelling errors" and send the book back so "Sharon Lee and Steve Miller" would get the royalties?

Never mind, They're out there somewhere.

[thewol.livejournal.com]

Yep. Floofy towels are a no go. The fat(cat)boy likes to sleep on the bed with me. He does not sleep at the head where the pillow would go if there was one there, because there is a floofy towel there for him to sleep on. He sleeps on the bedspread, where there is no floofy towel.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

This bunch is usually in favor of floofy towels, but apparently Not in This Box.

Trooper and Belle like to sleep tucked up under my chin, which leads to so...interesting cat chess during the night. Trooper's usual move is to try to get between Belle and me, which works more often than it should. Belle just flops on top of Trooper if he's there first, and readjusts herself more comfortably able he extricates himself and goes elsewhere.

[kk1raven.livejournal.com]

These errors were represented as having been reported by a reader who found them "distracting."

That seems incredibly petty. I wonder what they'd do if I reported a few of the books I've bought for having bad grammar and stilted writing which I find distracting. In fact, I sometimes find it so distracting that I can't read make it all the way through the book. Would they ask the author to rewrite the whole book?