Help! Help! I'm being published!

[captainsblog]

It's ever so gratifying to read entries like this one, which just go to show how many lovely publishers are out there looking to steal your stuff:

Some of you may have heard about First One Digital Publishing's writing contest -- perhaps from eviscerations of it by Laura Anne Gilman or John Scalzi or Janet Reid.

But in case you haven't, here's the short version: DO NOT ENTER THIS CONTEST.

For starters, they specifically say they're only open to nonprofessional writers -- not "aspiring" writers or "unpublished" writers, but specifically "nonprofessional" writers. This is a huge red flag, because it means they don't want anyone who's ever read a contract....

The fee to enter is $149, which is pretty steep. The grand-prize winner will get published and also get $5000. Twenty second-prize winners will get published, but no indication that there'll be remuneration for it, though the fact that the prize includes ten of their books valued at $120 suggests not....



Now First One is a digital publisher -- in fact, they claim in their "about us" section to be "the first major publisher to put the ebook first," which is a heady claim given that there are plenty of other publishers that "put the ebook first," not to mention the audaciousness of calling themselves "major" (their current releases page only lists four books out "this month" -- just one imprint of a "major" publisher would have ten times that or more in any given month) -- so basically what they're offering most of the entrants is to be published digitally and that's it. There's a contract that has to be signed, but they avoid stating the terms of it.

It gets better. Judges include two professional editors (though an extra comma in the relevant sentence of clause 9 makes this difficult to parse at first), plus "a slate of celebrity/author judges for the finals." So the final judgments will be made by people whose primary qualification is that they're famous. Joy.

And then we get to the final clause, the infamous clause 13. I barely know where to start, but conveniently, we have the very first sentence: "All submissions become sole property of Sponsor and will not be acknowledged or returned." So just by entering, you give First One the permanent right to your work.

Just in case that wasn't clear, they clarify their grabbiness further: "By submitting an entry, all entrants grant Sponsor the absolute and unconditional right and authority to copy, edit, publish, promote, broadcast, or otherwise use, in whole or in part, their entries, in perpetuity, in any manner without further permission, notice or compensation. Entries that contain copyrighted material must include a release from the copyright holder." Okay, first off? All entries "contain copyrighted material" by virtue of, y'know, existing. Secondly, the way actual publishing works is that the publisher pays for the right to publish the book. The only occasions when the copyright isn't in the hands of the author is when the intellectual property isn't the author's -- like, say, one of my Star Trek novels, or a shared-world novel created by a different author or by a book packager, or something like that. But they say very clearly in clause 9 that one of the criteria under which the book will be judged is originality, so they definitely want it to be your own, original work -- which they will own outright the minute you hit "send."

And then the final paragraph: "By entering, entrants release judges and Sponsor(s), and its parent company, subsidiaries, production, and promotion agencies from any and all liability for any loss, harm, damages, costs, or expenses, including without limitation properly damages, personal injury, and/or death arising out of participation in this contest, the acceptance, possession, use or misuse of any prize, claims based on publicity rights, defamation or invasion of privacy, merchandise delivery, or the violation of any intellectual property rights, including but not limited to copyright infringement and/or trademark infringement." So the minute you hit "send" you not only give up all rights to your intellectual property but you also give up the right to take legal action if you get screwed.

So, to sum up: you enter this contest and you a) lose all rights to your intellectual property in perpetuity whether or not you win one of the 21 publishing contracts, b) can't take any legal action against them for any reason, and c) you have to pay $149 for the privilege.

Yeah. Run away!!!!!!!!

From the bad old days of vanity publishers, to the likes of the Woodside Literary Agency, there's always some leech out there trying to suck onto the good efforts and intentions of the writing community. It's sad that the Internet has not only not squashed these bugs, but it's made them easier to breed.

Comments

[bill_sheehan.livejournal.com]

If there is anything that people want - sex, purpose, esteem, publication - there is always someone who is more than willing to promise it. Sell people jam today, and they'll just sit and spread it on toast. Jam tomorrow, now, that's where the money is. They'll pay again and again for jam tomorrow.

Once upon a time when I wrote a few things for a technical trade journal, I got a call from a person I knew from an associated user group. She and hubby were putting together the ultimate industry magazine, and did I have any articles to submit. "Sure," I said. "How much?" Not more than 1500 words, I was told. "No, how much does it pay?" Oh, we don't pay, but think of the professional exposure.

I told her I'd exposed myself for free quite enough already, thanked her for thinking of me.

[firynze.livejournal.com]

All I have to say is: Flowchart.

[hooton.livejournal.com]

Yeah - I commented on this when it popped up on AW and got labelled a liar for my trouble. Meh. Given the bad internet publicity, I'd be surprised if they go ahead and launch in February as planned - at the very least I'd expect to see major changes to the rules and conditions of entry.

I don't know whether they were setting out to scam authors, but the $149 fee and comparison of the competition to self-publishing left an unpleasant taste. Sadly this is not the first and nor will it be the last asshat competition I've seen promoted.

[firynze.livejournal.com]

Oh, they're clearly setting out to scam authors. That subsection of the contract gives them the right to publish any entry without offering remuneration. There's no reason at all to include a clause like that if you're not planning to bilk somebody.

[firynze.livejournal.com]

Things like this make me FROTH. Not just because they're such bastards, taking advantage of writers like this, but also because they make it so difficult to be taken seriously as a professional, royalty-paying, tiny, digital-only publisher.