Monday News: France investigates Kindle Unlimited, poetry in prison, Keurig’s DRM tanks, and Anne Rice is at it again
Publishing Newsagency model / Amazon / Anne Rice / DRM / France / Keurig / Kindle Unlimited / poetry / prisoners / reviews / subscription service15 Comments
French Publisher Trade Group Charges that Kindle Unlimited is Illegal, American – With Kindle Unlimited recently premiering in France for 10 Euros a month (inclusive of 700K+ titles, 20K of which are in French), independent authors and publishers are unhappy with the program, in France, the US, and the other 4 European countries in which it’s available. French critics believe it to be illegal because Amazon is setting the price autonomously, and France is among the countries that allows publishers to set book prices. The French government is currently investigating the issue.
The Syndicat National de l’Edition (SNE) released a statement today which reads (translated by Google):
After careful consideration and legal analysis, the Office of SNE is concluded last December that the subscription offers whose prices are not set by the publishers are not legal, and except as specified by the 2011 Law on the price of digital books, namely the collective use offers proposed for vocational purposes, higher education or research. In these sectors, in fact, multi-subscription offers publishers have long been at the initiative of the publishers themselves, and correspond to the specific characteristics of their business models. In contrast, the market for “mainstream”, the law does not allow multi-vendor subscription offers only subscription offers consist of one editor, who control the price. –The Digital Reader
Reforming Prisoners Through Poetry – This is a really interesting story about Richard Shelton, a poet who works with prisoners in Arizona, and who believes that writing can often help incarcerated individuals resist the “psychic death” that he believes being cut off from the “natural world” can bring on. Shelton insists that this work has made him more accepting and understanding of other people, and clearly the work has had a profound effect on some of the individuals with whom he has worked.
RATH: You write about how your own life has been enriched in a way by the people that you’ve worked with in the prisons who have resisted this psychic death. Can you explain that?
SHELTON: Well, it has made me much more willing to accept other people. The first one I worked with was a murderer. He’d assisted in killing three people – three girls. I decided that my policy would be – what I saw written out in front of a church on a billboard said you have no past here, only a present or a future. And I thought as long as he treated me decently and I knew he was not involved in any ongoing crimes, I would treat him the same way. He turned out to be a very talented writer. –NPR
Keurig’s attempt to ‘DRM’ its coffee cups totally backfired – So here’s a surprise: Keurig’s attempt to DRM their new machines has backfired on a massive scale. Because apparently no one at Keurig paid attention to the wrath with which USians, at least, HATE DRM’d anything, and will, in fact, go to great lengths to subvert, aka hack, a DRM’d coffee maker. Because it’s a freaking COFFEE MAKER. I just laugh and laugh and laugh when I see the 2.0 machines offered on discount sites for ridiculously low prices. Because no way am I paying for a coffee maker that will digitally lock out pods made by its own freaking company (that’s right – it even locks out old Keurig-made K-cups).
On an earnings call Wednesday the company announced that brewer sales fell 12 percent last quarter, the first full quarter for which the 2.0 was on sale. “Quite simply our 2.0 launch got off to a slower start than we planned,” said CEO Brian Kelley. He said the company had been too slow to get 2.0-compatible cups onto retail shelves and “confusion among consumers as to whether the 2.0 would still brew all of their favorite brands.” . . .
Many of these companies have declared their intention to make 2.0-compatible cups. Others have sued. Yet another third-party cup manufacturer is giving away a free clip that it says tricks Keurig’s scanner. And YouTube is full of videos showing how to hack the system. –The Verge
Ane Rice on “notorious gangster bullies” – I know I should be angry and disgusted by this, but honestly, I just think it’s kind of bewildering and sad. Let’s think about this for a second:
1. Anne Rice is going to write a “booklet” on Amazon reviewers, and it is going to be “substantial”
2. Except that it’s not going to contain any actual proof or evidence or examples, just “the results of [her] years of research” — except without the actual results.
3. Even though, according to her, the “system” is “99.99% good” and she has “not been significantly harmed by bullies.”
So to sum up, this is about .01% of the system, which warrants a “substantial pamphlet or booklet” full of god knows what accusations and slurs, and without actual examples and proof. Okay, then.
And in case that’s not enough, there are the comments to the post. Holy mother of god THE COMMENTS.
Some time in 2015, I hope to complete a substantial pamphlet or booklet about my experience with the notorious gangster bullies who abuse customers and authors online. My focus will be primarily abuse on Amazon — of young writers, indie writers, and self published writers who are most vulnerable to concerted bully attacks. I will not be naming names, using screenshots, and the like — but describing in clear terms the results of my years of research in the Amazon Discussion Forums with these people, and what it is I believe that they do, and why, and what authors and readers need to know about their abuses. –Facebook
I know I shouldn’t have read the comments, but there was one where someone suggested that maybe it wasn’t quite the worst problem ever and she replied that the commenter should “take this long emotional screed down off this page” and that’s when irony died.
Oh, Anne Rice. This is one of those times where I miss the pre-internet age of not knowing anything about my favorite authors.
Re: poetry and prisoners. I commend Richard Shelton. That is difficult work. I worked as a social worker for a year and a half in forensic/psychiatric jail, and it stands as my worst professional experience to date. I tried very hard, but I was never able to fully separate the men from their — often extremely horrific — crimes.
Must be time for a new book release.
I just don’t get Anne Rice anymore. What in the world is she even thinking?
She swans into the Amazon forums once in a while and if you don’t agree with what she says you are automatically a bully.
I really want to see the evidence she has that a bunch of “bullies” are destroying author careers. There are several hundred books being uploaded onto Amazon every single day. I use a variety of criteria prior to buying books. One of those is has this author ever decided to take it upon themselves to go out and harass reviewers of their books? If so, it’s an automatic do not buy.
I don’t see how that hurts an author since it’s not like I am personally emailing them saying I am not buying your books.
Anne Rice keeps claiming the following:
1) Authors are not welcome on other forums except MOA (Not true. She has been told countless times and still doesn’t get it. You can’t self promote on other threads unless it is on MOA. If she doesn’t like it take it up with Amazon.
2) Downvoting posters comments is bullying (Do I have to say how patently absurd this is?)
3) Authors should have the right to respond to reviews. (As she has been told authors can respond to reviews. Forum participants just said it’s really not a good idea. Since no matter what the authors says it’s going to be taken badly and if you believe the review violates Amazon’s TOS just report it. That’s what the report button is for).
4) If you choose to not buy a book by an author who is considered a BBA you are a bully. (Yes you read that right.)
I can go on but I won’t. I agree with what Pete Morin said. She has another book coming out and she’s looking for more publicity. She got some with her Amazon petition that died on the vine so now she’s going to put out a pamphlet about bullies.
@Pete Morin: Hello, fellow cynic! (probably)
DRM is a way for companies to make your device obsolete sooner. I’m already having a problem that my Mac OS can’t be upgraded, leaving me without the ability to buy new software. The cure is apparently to fork over a few thousand for a new machine to Apple, the architects of my current problem. Needless to say, I’m not enthused.
Oh, the Keurig 2.0. Isn’t that the one where when you start to make a cup of something, a bunch of people suddenly appear in your house demanding all sorts of beverages? I’m glad they warned me about that feature in their commercials.
Negative reviews are not bullying. Vociferous negative reviews are not bullying. Vituperative negative reviews are not bullying. Anonymous negative reviews are not bullying. All of of them are protected speech. Just because it hurts someone feelings, and yes, even their pocketbook, does not mean it’s bullying.
Dorothy Parker said that Katherine Hepburn “…ran the gamut of emotions, from A to B.” I’m pretty sure Hepburn managed to have a good career after that!
You’d think Anne would have a better knowledge of the history of criticism.
@SAO:
” I’m already having a problem that my Mac OS can’t be upgraded, leaving me without the ability to buy new software.”
This isn’t DRM. It’s planned obsolescence, if anything. You presumably have a pre-Intel chip machine, and you can’t upgrade past OS 10.8 because the later OS don’t support PowerPC models. Apple could continue to do as they did from the point of the change up to 10.8, and use Rosetta to ‘interpret’ older software for the Intel chips, or they could say, fuck it, the last PowerPC machine came out in 2006, and we’ve given users plenty of time to upgrade their hardware, so we won’t waste time on developing Rosetta any more.
Since Apple *are* primarily a hardware manufacturer, the latter stance is not totally unreasonable, though I feel your pain since there were several bits of software I used to use and can no longer. On the other hand, since moving to 10.9 and above, I haven’t actually missed those programs.
Apple want to sell more Macs. People like you don’t help their bottom line unfortunately. They want you to buy a shiny new Mac and use the shiny new operating systems, and while I know how much it hurts to give up beloved machines and programs, I have to tell you – it’s not all that bad on the other side :)
[Been a Mac user since 1988. On the whole, every new OS has been a vast improvement over the previous versions, and I love Yosemite to bits.]
As for Robin’s post – ugh, Anne Rice. What a vile creature she is to promote this notion, and to repeatedly send her readers over to the home site for bullies while claiming they are anti-bully. She’s not helping anyone but herself.
Heh. I think I pissed off an author “friend” yesterday with my response to her FB post where she complained about a bad review. Trying to be helpful, I put on my reviewer/reader hat and pointed out the following: books that I’ve hated/disliked strongly, ones that have earned a verbal flaying at GRs, have in a way succeeded where the majority of other books have failed.
I remember the books that sucked. Sometimes, I remember them more vividly than books I loved. Meanwhile, all the rest, the ones that were basically okay, but didn’t move me, are quickly forgotten.
It’s only the books that I either loved or hated that stick with me.
I don’t think author friend liked my response. Hee. Oh, well.
Ann Rice…oy. When one of her recent books popped up at $2.99, I’m glad I resisted the impulse to hit “buy.”
well, that’s one author I’ve added to my no buy list
BTW, Crappy books are crappy and that’s why your book gets 1*, (from me and most people, there are exceptions).
P.S what is a substantial pamphlet? Is that a thing now?
adding
BTW, Crappy books are crappy and that’s why your book gets 1*, (from me and most people, there are exceptions).
Rather than being a bully, cause I’m not, I’ll give a book 1* because it’s bad.
@reader: “Rather than being a bully, cause I’m not, I’ll give a book 1* because it’s bad.”
Even if you give 1-star to a book that’s good, you’re not a bully. If you give a 1-star to a book because you don’t like the cover, or because you just feel like it, you’re still not a bully. You can hike up your skirt and take a dump on a book and you’re still not a bully. You can take a picture of the mess, post it on Goodreads … and nope, still not a bully.
And now that I’ve offered that lovely image, good night and happy reading.
@Meljean: You do have a way with words! ;)
Someone gave me their old Tassimo brewer (which appears to have very much lost the brewing wars, likely because they had DRM from the start) and while it was a nice luxury while stores were still stocking their products, now it’s basically a glorified electric kettle with a barcode taped to a cat food can cover to fool it. I don’t even know why I keep it, save for the fact that I can’t find takers when I try to give it away! Even the office shunned it for the dozen or so Keurigs various teams have bought in on.
I like quite a few of the Keurig things available, especially as there’s a place nearby that sells loose pods to mix and match, so they’re not exactly hurting for my money even when I brew my own tea in them. However, I really don’t want to buy one of my own because I’m worried that they’ll figure out a way to actually lock out reusables, and I’ll be back in the same boat as with the Tassimo, where they want me to pay $20 for the exact same brand of tea I pay $2 for.
Basically, DRM, thhbbbbtt. Our company officially stopped using it last year, and there was much rejoicing because we all knew it was useless anyhow (and it’s WAY more fun to make fake cracked versions and see peoples’ heads explode when they’re 30 minutes into the game and suddenly all the doors won’t open, muahaha).