![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Brought to my attention to by one of my Lipizzan-group buddies:
Some enterprising soul is selling an Advance Reading Copy of one of my forthcoming books on ebay. Listed as "unread," no less.
My agent is contacting Roc's sales department to request that Mr. Entrepreneur be summarily and permanently removed from Roc's list of ARC recipients.
For those not familiar with how publishing works, ARC's or bound galleys are sent out several months in advance by publishers to reviewers and booksellers and other parties who may be helpful in promoting and selling the book. These ARC's are limited in distribution and are not to be sold, though they often are as collector's items--however, the ethics of the practice dictate that the seller be so kind as to wait until the book has officially been published.
Posting it on ebay for $49.95 (cover price is listed as $16.00), which is 100% clear profit and of which the author sees not one cent, is not the point of the exercise, people. I particularly like the way the photo of the ARC shows prominently and clearly the label, NOT FOR SALE.
Don't you just love the honest, ethical, and considerate nature of our modern society?
Some enterprising soul is selling an Advance Reading Copy of one of my forthcoming books on ebay. Listed as "unread," no less.
My agent is contacting Roc's sales department to request that Mr. Entrepreneur be summarily and permanently removed from Roc's list of ARC recipients.
For those not familiar with how publishing works, ARC's or bound galleys are sent out several months in advance by publishers to reviewers and booksellers and other parties who may be helpful in promoting and selling the book. These ARC's are limited in distribution and are not to be sold, though they often are as collector's items--however, the ethics of the practice dictate that the seller be so kind as to wait until the book has officially been published.
Posting it on ebay for $49.95 (cover price is listed as $16.00), which is 100% clear profit and of which the author sees not one cent, is not the point of the exercise, people. I particularly like the way the photo of the ARC shows prominently and clearly the label, NOT FOR SALE.
Don't you just love the honest, ethical, and considerate nature of our modern society?
no subject
Date: 2004-07-31 02:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2004-07-31 03:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2004-07-31 03:17 pm (UTC)As someone who reviews books on the side, I am utterly flabbergasted. I can't even imagine doing something like that. To me, getting the chance to read an ARC is a gift, and taking advantage of that gift is just SO WRONG!
I'm ashamed, and on behalf of the many honest reviewers out there I just have to say 'we're not all like that!'
By the way, I'm new. :) Love your work, I'm reading 'Horse Goddess' at the moment, and I adore Lippizans and love reading about your horses. I envy you being able to live with them (even though I know they're a lot of work). Hope you don't mind me reading you.
--Kara
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2004-07-31 03:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-31 04:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2004-07-31 04:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-31 04:52 pm (UTC)It's not a copyright violation, no, but by selling promo materials in advance of publication, he may be in violation of ebay policy. Ebay has an intellectual-property-rights stipulation, with a section for promotional materials. It's aimed at advance copies of music and films, but I cited it in my query, saying that the ARC is an advance promo for a published book and the seller is not authorized by me as copyright holder or by the publisher as distributor to sell it, and this fact is prominently displayed on the cover, which is photographed in the item listing with NOT FOR SALE clear to read.
I don't know what good this will do, but it was worth a try.
He also has a number of other ARCs for sale, all for October books, and they're all from different publishers. So he's getting hold of ARCs with a clear intent to turn around and sell them at a considerable profit. Six at $49.95--do the math. If he's doing it monthly, he's making a nice little bit of grocery money. Ebay may not be bothered to stop him, but the publishers may want to shut him off, since he's not reading or reviewing any of them.
Btw,
no subject
Date: 2004-07-31 06:34 pm (UTC)I'm guessing that for fifty bucks, it's collectors, but it's just a thought.
no subject
Date: 2004-07-31 09:08 pm (UTC)Of course, the reviewer's problem with ARCs is that if you don't dispose of them, they accumulate over time until they take over large amounts of bookshelf space. (Two full-size bookcases, double-shelved, plus a couple of further stacks, plus several stacks & a bunch of banker-boxes full of old-fashioned unbound proofs or bound xoxed pages. And growing, now that I'm actively reviewing again.)
You will never see an ARC sent to me for sale on eBay ahead of publication date, though I admit to eyeing some of the more venerable volumes on those shelves from time to time and wondering whether they've appreciated. (FWIW, I am not convinced that eBay's the best place to sell used/collectible books, from a seller's perspective.)
OTOH, I have been known to donate ARCs, very occasionally including prepublication material, to my local SF convention's charity auction. What with my dormant reviewing status over the last couple of years, it's been a good while since prepub's been an issue in that line -- though now that I'm back in the AMAZING stable, that may change again. FWIW, as far as I've ever been able to tell, the bidders at those auctions are in the collector segment -- to the extent that I've known people who buy both the ARC and the first edition of the book. The theory as I've heard it is that one preserves the ARC for collectible value and reads the finished book -- and, thereby, also ensures that the author gets his or her percentage.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2004-07-31 09:14 pm (UTC)While I completely agree with the moral outrage, strictly speaking the seller is not in fact clearing 100% profit on the final selling price -- there's eBay's listing fee to cover, and depending on payment methods accepted, whatever processing fee Paypal or its equivalent is charging these days.
Which is one reason it's been ages since I've sold anything on eBay; the pricing models I see people using, and the kinds of things I'd want to sell (definitely NOT including prepub ARCs), are such that I am not confident I'd make enough to make the time-investment worthwhile.
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2004-07-31 10:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:ugh
Date: 2004-07-31 10:44 pm (UTC)Re: ugh
From:no subject
Date: 2004-08-01 04:21 am (UTC)Just think how quickly J. K. Rowling would be talking lawsuit if an ARC of the next Harry Potter novel were offered on EBay ahead of the publication date!
If not Rowling, then Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Dan Brown, Tom Clancy, Danielle Steele.... You get the idea. These people have publishers and agents who can be reached by your publisher, agent, etc.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2004-08-01 03:27 pm (UTC)If there is a silver lining, just consider this: at least he didn't scan the book and put it up on his Web site. :}
no subject
Date: 2004-08-01 04:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-03 08:01 pm (UTC)Old ARCs
Date: 2004-08-09 03:44 pm (UTC)Personally, I return mine to the author (if I can without running up my own expenses) or ask them if there's another reviewer I can pass the copy along to (if I like the work and want to promote it). But then I'm not reviewing a large volume.
Best regards,
Alan