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Post by Matteo ((Taed)) on May 25, 2015 11:39:18 GMT -5
If you're interested, Scalzi has been very active on his blog--and as the president of the SFWA--answering questions about the industry, so there's actually a decent amount of material out there with him talking first hand about how much he makes, where he makes it from, etc. It's mostly a few years out of date, though, so I don't know if this deal represents a major increase for him now. whatever.scalzi.com/2007/02/23/the-money-entry-2007-science-fiction-income/ |
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Post by J.O.N ((Dragonwing)) on May 25, 2015 12:11:54 GMT -5
Reddit told me I need to read Redcoat and Old Man's War.
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Post by James on May 25, 2015 14:19:21 GMT -5
Honestly, it's not so much the individual figure involved. Those are incredibly rare figures. It's more that Tor feels comfortable enough to even sign such a contract. It's a little affirmation there's some life in the industry still. ...well, sure, but also: Take that away and take about $2,000,000 away as well. I think this is mostly a sign of how much of a trend it's become to enjoy a movie or TV series and then go read the book it was based on. Not that that isn't also a generally good thing for the literary industry, just that book sales are currently being "propped up" by a more popular media. I don't know if it would be that much of a difference. It certainly makes the books somewhat more attractive, but I doubt by that much. I mean, if I recall correctly Nick Harkaway's first book ended up getting a $200,000-something advance and no one has even made a move on film or television rights for that. If you break the $3 million down for each book, Scalzi's looking at similar numbers. They're still very rare numbers, but when a publisher likes someone, those are the numbers that get thrown about. The issue I find more interesting is the certainty of ten years and thirteen books. |
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Post by James on May 25, 2015 14:22:19 GMT -5
If you're interested, Scalzi has been very active on his blog--and as the president of the SFWA--answering questions about the industry, so there's actually a decent amount of material out there with him talking first hand about how much he makes, where he makes it from, etc. It's mostly a few years out of date, though, so I don't know if this deal represents a major increase for him now. whatever.scalzi.com/2007/02/23/the-money-entry-2007-science-fiction-income/Man, I know he's an outlier and it'd be incredibly unlikely to match his numbers, but that makes the industry seem much nicer than "the average yearly earnings of writers is $1,500." The problem is the people who make $0-500 a year (or loses money, which people apparently do), or make +$5 million a year and throw that average out. |
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Post by James on May 26, 2015 15:33:14 GMT -5
URGENT Did the bold letters catch your attention? Then it worked. I have a bit of a problem and I'd love it if anyone could take the time to try and help me out. If you're busy, though, ignore this. I stumbled across an anthology that was seeking comedy stories on the theme of "memory". Amazingly, I already had a story for that! awritersrecluse.proboards.com/thread/4712/3-bravo-james-bloodeyeFor some strange reason, the editors didn't want a full submission even if your story was finished. They just wanted a premise and a 500 word excerpt. I sent both in with an average level of expectation. I thought the premise was cool, and I love several of the jokes, but on the whole it's not my strongest story. Also, I found it incredibly hard to pick out a 500 word excerpt. So I just send in the first 480-odd words of the piece. They got back to me today saying they -were- going to reject me because the excerpt didn't make them go "wow". However, they liked the premise and the excerpt was actually well-written, it just didn't have any "drama or gusto". So they'd like me to send in another excerpt instead. But, I only have three days till the deadline closes! Which leads to my request: From the above story, what part do you think can work as a 500 words excerpt? Here's my thinking and dilemma. The story is actually quite layered. There's a double line of payoff. You get the payoff of the absurd comedy, but then you get a second payoff when the absurd comedy is then given a completely logical explanation. I think if I take 500 words of absurd comedy, the story isn't given the depth that it has. If I take the 500 words of explanation, then it's not given any "drama or gusto". So... Can you see a 500 word passage in that story which has the "wow factor". Alternatively, do you think it's worth writing 500 words extra for the story to submit? I wouldn't be doing it just for the sake of the excerpt; I think the whole supernatural thing in his garden is brushed over too quickly anyway, so I was going to come back to it. Do you think that could be a good 500 words bit to send if I can write it in the next three days? |
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Post by James on May 26, 2015 16:57:00 GMT -5
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Post by J.O.N ((Dragonwing)) on May 26, 2015 17:00:54 GMT -5
I'm not a fan of copyright, at best it's a necessary evil. I honestly think the + 20 is stupid. Life should be the absolute maximum. |
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Post by James on May 26, 2015 17:07:14 GMT -5
I'm not a fan of copyright, at best it's a necessary evil. I honestly think the + 20 is stupid. Life should be the absolute maximum. It's tempting to say that, but think about it. Let's say J.K had died after writing the Goblet of Fire. Her child wouldn't be that old, definitely under 18 and probably still in primary school or just starting high school. Under your system, that kid gets fuck all. A life + something at least provides for young children or widows for a period of time until they are either an adult or can find their feet. There's no need for copyright beyond that, though. |
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Post by J.O.N ((Dragonwing)) on May 26, 2015 17:14:10 GMT -5
I'm not a fan of copyright, at best it's a necessary evil. I honestly think the + 20 is stupid. Life should be the absolute maximum. It's tempting to say that, but think about it. Let's say J.K had died after writing the Goblet of Fire. Her child wouldn't be that old, definitely under 18 and probably still in primary school or just starting high school. Under your system, that kid gets fuck all. A life + something at least provides for young children or widows for a period of time until they are either an adult or can find their feet. There's no need for copyright beyond that, though. I can see that, but the way that +x years gets abused, I'd rather the child be provided for in some other way. Copyright and Patents both fall under "shit I know why we have, but I hate" category. Maybe this could be talked about in Inklings? Although I feel law (copyright law especially) would fall under the "Geography Ruling". |
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Post by James on May 26, 2015 17:18:29 GMT -5
It's tempting to say that, but think about it. Let's say J.K had died after writing the Goblet of Fire. Her child wouldn't be that old, definitely under 18 and probably still in primary school or just starting high school. Under your system, that kid gets fuck all. A life + something at least provides for young children or widows for a period of time until they are either an adult or can find their feet. There's no need for copyright beyond that, though. I can see that, but the way that +x years gets abused, I'd rather the child be provided for in some other way. Copyright and Patents both fall under "shit I know why we have, but I hate" category. Maybe this could be talked about in Inklings? Although I feel law (copyright law especially) would fall under the "Geography Ruling". But reducing it to +20, there's not a whole lot that can be abused. Especially if it was a global standard (which is unlikely, I admit). Most abuse comes from the fact that some places have +50, others +70 and the US, well, they have lots of things. I'd bore people if we talked about this, though. If I practice law domestically, I'm going into IP Law. It has good growth potential and also has a pretty nice work-life balance. Some lawyers can even leave work by 7pm. (I still just want to go into International Trade if I have to work in law). |
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Post by J.O.N ((Dragonwing)) on May 26, 2015 17:30:34 GMT -5
The +20 years is still an arbitrary number. Taking your reasoning that it will help the children of the artist, you'll end up with copyright being different amounts simply because different places consider adulthood happening at different ages. +20 might not be considered suitable in the US where the 21 is the adulthood baseline for many things. I feel that would still leave it susceptible to creep, especially when you have Disney constantly breathing down governments necks to push the after death copyright period (Because it would kill Disney if they lost the copyright on Mickey Mouse  ). You're the law graduate, so I feel you probably know more than me on this, but I just feel cutting out the +x would will at least stonewall the year creep. |
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Post by James on May 26, 2015 17:42:34 GMT -5
Well, I mean any law doesn't work if you allow yourself to have too much creep. Murder being illegal doesn't work if you add a million different defences and sub-clauses (I didn't commit murder because it was a Sunday where there was a full moon).
If you say, life + 20 and that's it, then you have a decent system. The Court would back that up. You would just need politicians not to meddle.
If we're designing a law which must not be susceptible to creep, even "life" doesn't meet that requirement. Watch people play hard and fast with that.
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Post by J.O.N ((Dragonwing)) on May 26, 2015 17:51:46 GMT -5
Well, I mean any law doesn't work if you allow yourself to have too much creep. Murder being illegal doesn't work if you add a million different defences and sub-clauses (I didn't commit murder because it was a Sunday where there was a full moon). If you say, life + 20 and that's it, then you have a decent system. The Court would back that up. You would just need politicians not to meddle. If we're designing a law which must not be susceptible to creep, even "life" doesn't meet that requirement. Watch people play hard and fast with that.  I guess you're right with that. I don't know how they'd be able to mess with a life only copyright, but I wouldn't be surprised if they found a way. |
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Post by J.O.N ((Dragonwing)) on May 26, 2015 17:55:05 GMT -5
Off the topic of copyright. Anyone doing magic/crime thriller, this might be interesting to you. Locard's Exchange Principle: Any action of an individual, and obviously, the violent action constituting a crime, cannot occur without leaving a trace. Tying that into a magic system would be neat.
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Post by James on May 26, 2015 18:00:31 GMT -5
Off the topic of copyright. Anyone doing magic/crime thriller, this might be interesting to you. Locard's Exchange Principle: Any action of an individual, and obviously, the violent action constituting a crime, cannot occur without leaving a trace. Tying that into a magic system would be neat. Oh, the magic thing I'm thinking about at the moment is a literal democratic city. Like, the shape the city takes depends entirely on the memories of the people who live in it. The most remembered form is what the city looks like. So the government employed "Conservators" who basically sit around all day remembering every inch of the city to ensure at no point does a street randomly move because there's a group of people who remember/want the street in a different place. I can't tell if the idea is incredibly awesome or incredibly stupid. |
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