January 2005 - gutvol-d - lists.pglaf.org

in case you're interested . . . .OT but not totally irrelevant
by Gutenberg9443＠aol.com 09 Jan '05

09 Jan '05

I'm starting an e-publishing company. The only thing it will use any time soon from PG is one book which I put on PG myself, stating that it was copyrighted but that I was giving PG a permanent non-exclusive loan of the copyright, provided that nobody used it for profit. That last clause didn't work till the water got hot--I found it a few weeks later on somebody's for-profit site, with my copyright notice still on it. I spent about six months on that book and have yet to receive a penny for it, which in that case is okay because I wasn't doing it for profit. Well, I take that "not a penny" back sort of, because the guy who had it on his for-profit site agreed to give me a different book he had there in return for the use of my copyrighted book. He couldn't have asked the author of the other book if that was okay due to the fact that the author of the other book is dead, though not long enough for his book to be public domain unless the first copyright wasn't renewed. If I ever chance to use anything else from PG, I will reedit it and probably rewrite it somewhat; and it will be at least a hundred years old and therefore not subject to even the most insane copyright laws. I have taken that Amazon thing out of the Webpage about six times but it comes right back without permission. That ticks me off considerably because the only things I sell through Amazon are used treebooks (that I wrote, and they aren't really used at all but I have to sell them as such), and I don't have any even posted there at the moment. At least when I'm selling my own books through my own publishing company I can set the price myself, which is somewhat less than the company that originally published them set. If the author had any say-so on the price of the book, nobody would ever have expected anybody to pay $30 for something that came out of my head. They would have sold a lot better if the price had been a lot more reasonable, but authors have no say-so whatever on jacket design, price, release date, sneaky and usually artless rewriting behind the author's back, and so on and so forth. Also, authors very rarely get much over 10% of the selling price (not the marked price). Besides my own books, I have six-and-a-half good fantasy novels from a dead friend (signed on that with her literary executor last week, and have to finish writing the last book), two collections of literary short stories coming in when they're finished, a grammar reference book to be written by the best grammarian I have ever met, and so forth--I've asked my husband to write a book about how value is created but he doesn't have time right now and I don't want one by anyone who is not in the Ludwig von Mises camp of economy--last time I checked I'm committed to 50 books, about a third of which I have to complete, or write, or rewrite myself besides editing. So that'll run to at least two years, maybe three, combined with time used for other for-pay work I'm doing and need not discuss. And by the way, I DO discuss jacket design, price, and release date with my authors, and I don't rewrite without permission from the author or his/her estate unless the book is over a hundred years old. I will NEVER treat any of my writers the way my publishers treated me. If you wish to comment, send to the address given in the Website. It's at _Live Oak House_ (http://hometown.aol.co.uk/utahliveoak/myhomepage/business.html) , also known as _http://hometown.aol.co.uk/utahliveoak/myhomepage/business.html_ (http://hometown.aol.co.uk/utahliveoak/myhomepage/business.html) . I'd have a better Website if I could afford it, but I can't, and this is the best I can get. I have quit reading _gutvol-d(a)lists.pglaf.org_ (mailto:gutvol-d@lists.pglaf.org) except for Michael's newsletters. If you wish to tell me how terribly unreasonable I am for expecting to be paid for my work (exclusive of volunteer and pro bono work, which I prefer NOT to be paid for), please go where it doesn't snow and leave me the h*** alone. I have yet to meet a landlord who quit charging his tenants rent as soon as he had paid for the construction costs of his rental property, or who then cut the rent back to only enough to cover maintenance and taxes. Oil well owners get a "depletion allowance" in their taxes because eventually the wells will run out of oil. The possibility of authors running out of brain-power is not considered. My grammarian is in the early stages of Alzheimer's and she's going to be writing her book as fast as she can while she can still think. In the highly unlikely event that any of you have something you want published for profit and lack the contacts to do it yourself, submit it to me in the usual fashion, and tell me you're part of PGLAF and I'll have a look at it. I just don't want to be barraged by manuscripts that should have been used for kitty litter, which happened some years ago when we were trying to do an e-publishing company. Anne Husband, seeing flock of birds seated side by side on electric wire: "Look, even the birds have gone online."

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Re: [gutvol-d] Is this a Project Gutenberg violation?
by JBuck814366460＠aol.com 09 Jan '05

09 Jan '05

I got a PG DVD myself here at home :) sometimes it just takes a little while, Aaron Cannon is a little busy sometimes. If you haven't gotten the DVD yet, email him and let him know the situation, he'll get you a copy :) You also might want to appraise Mike Hart of the situation, he can probably get ahold of Aaron and see to it that you get your DVD. Jared

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Re: [gutvol-d] Is this a Project Gutenberg violation?
by JBuck814366460＠aol.com 09 Jan '05

09 Jan '05

Acrobat's ver. 7.0 should be out in a few months, will have new features (I'm not entirely up to spec on what's new, but I read it will have enhanced Linux support). New ver. of Reader will come with that too. Jared

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Re: [gutvol-d] Is this a Project Gutenberg violation?
by JBuck814366460＠aol.com 09 Jan '05

09 Jan '05

You bet it is - these ebooks cannot be redistirbuted unless the FULL header is included somewhere in the etext, either at the beginning of it or at the end. At least, that is what I gather from having read through the header many times. PG offers CDs AND DVDs of its etext collections for FREE without you needing to pay a cent. This company, IMHO, is just trying to rip people off by making them pay for something you can get free of charge from PG just by asking. Jared

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Re: [gutvol-d] Is this a Project Gutenberg violation?
by JBuck814366460＠aol.com 09 Jan '05

09 Jan '05

I should also mention that you can convert etexts to .lit format yourself with software on the net or from microsoft, and with pretty much either free or minimal cost to yourself. Not all PG etexts are in .lit format, but if you want to submit a copy of the etext in .lit format to be uploaded to the PG servers, anyone is welcome to do that, etexts in just about ANY computer-readable format are welcome :) Jared

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Is this a Project Gutenberg violation?
by David A. Desrosiers 08 Jan '05

08 Jan '05

This site[1] appears to have converted a large portion of the Gutenberg etexts to Microsoft Reader (.lit) format, and are selling a CD of these for $14.95/cd. They clearly state[2] that they're reusing Gutenberg content directly, reformatted and converted to this other proprietary format. Closer inspection of the actual .lit files themselves still shows several references to Project Gutenberg in various places, but they aren't complying with the Gutenberg License[2], at least sections 1 and 2 that I can see: 1. Commercial use: The "small print" license includes a royalty schedule for commercial use of the Project Gutenberg trademark, including any sort of resale. 2. Modification: Only unmodified copies of these eBooks may be redistributed without limitation. If you make changes to eBooks (other than alteration for different display devices), you are prohibited from including the header or otherwise associating your derivative work with Project Gutenberg. Note especially that if you choose to make changes, then you must remove the header, and you may NOT use the Project Gutenberg trademark. Is this a violation? I only ask, because _another_ company is giving away the .lit books from the first site, on their own site[2] free of charge. I'd hate to have one bad company suck another one in through association. [1] http://freeeliterature.com/index.htm [2] http://freeeliterature.com/CD1%20Contents.htm [3] http://www.gutenberg.org/license [4] http://www.diesel-ebooks.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=free_download David A. Desrosiers desrod(a)gnu-designs.com http://gnu-designs.com

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Re: [gutvol-d] PG-50/70?
by Gutenberg9443＠aol.com 07 Jan '05

07 Jan '05

In a message dated 1/5/2005 4:45:20 PM Mountain Standard Time, jeroen.mailinglist(a)bohol.ph writes: Once the public has paid the author what was necessary to enable him to create the work This is not a flame. It's a careful exchange of views with whoever I'm quoting. Do I understand correctly that the fellow who works in the steel mill should be paid only what is necessary for the steel to be produced? And the waitress in a restaurant should be paid only enough for the orders to be taken and the food put on the table. Well, let's see, how much is the wear and tear on her shoe leather and her apron and the clothing she wars at the restaurant? For cryin' out loud, YOU CANNOT HAVE LABOR OF ANY KIND, WHITE COLLAR OR BLUE COLLAR, WITHOUT PAYING THE LABORER. Karl Marx and Jesus Christ agree on this, though they disagree as to how it should be done. It is 5:40 PM on a snowy day and we just called the plumber. Why should we have to pay him $35 just for coming here, before he even looks at the problem? Does it cost that much in gasoline? Surely it isn't the cost of the truck, because it's old enough that it's already paid for. I have been working for SIX YEARS on one book. At the moment it's about 200,000 words long. I have thrown away closer to two MILLION words that I wound up tossing and rewriting. Let's see, what is the cost of the paper . . . and the ink . . . and the computer . . . and the printer . . . Does that sum up the cost of writing the book? And I shouldn't get any more than that? WHY? I would make this 100-point type except that it would wind up perfectly ordinary type on other people's machines. Why should the publisher be paid . . . and the bookseller be paid . . . and the ink supplier be paid . . . and the paper supplier be paid . . . and the shipping companies be paid . . . and so on and so forth, for as long as people want to read a book, but the person who wrote the book should fall out of the loop and stop getting paid? Life plus 100, or life plus 70, or life plus 60, is absurd. Life plus 25 is not absurd. That's all I'm asking for. But too many people think I should get royalties for 10 years or 15 years and then no more, even when everybody else is still making money from the book.

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Request for French Spell Checker
by Andrew Sly 07 Jan '05

07 Jan '05

I have a text "Le retour de l'exile" by Louis Frechette, that I have prepared for PG from another online source. It looks as if it is in good shape, but I have found an occasional scanning error in it. Would anyone have a French-language spell check they could run it through? I have tried to download one, but have had trouble installing it. An html version can be found here: http://www.victoria.tc.ca/~sly/RETOUR2.HTM.zip Alternatively, I could provide a plain text version. Thanks, Andrew

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Re: [gutvol-d] PG-50/70?
by Wallace J.McLean 07 Jan '05

07 Jan '05

> Note: Not trying to be a smart@ss. > > Why do we need the bulwark specifically in an English-speaking country? > > Josh A) Because without one, the entire Commonwealth is going to fall to the life+70 empire. B) Because the sooner we get started on a Canadian life+50 project, the more harm we can demonstrate to policy-makers and potential allies in the broader community, when the full-court press for life+70 is brought down. > 2.Because Canada has NOT made it's copyright laws more restrictive > over and over and over. The wimps who make our copyright policy are under EXTREME pressure to extend the term, and, contrary to what you write, MH, have made some incredibly stupid and restrictive policy decisions in respect of other CR matters, other than term, in the past little while. > 4. Even more specifically to host Gone With The Wind, after the > lawyers' onslaught about it recently. And also, if we can hold off till January 1 2007, the A.A. Milne corpus. > 5. Project Gutenberg of Canada also should encourage more French eBooks, > as well as just in English. Absolument! There's already a surprisingly robust PD movement in Quebec, and many of the projects I've created on PGDP have been in French, with more to come. The source scans from other sites (canadiana.org, BNQ, etc.) also provide ample French-language content to work from. > 6. The more Project Gutenbergs the better. . . . So when do we -- whoever WE is -- get PG-Canada, under life+50 rules, up and running?

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Outdated information
by Andrew Sly 07 Jan '05

07 Jan '05

Hmmm.... It's interesting to note that as a result of still having the old promo.net webpage active, and turning up high on the list in search engines, I can find a reference to Project Gutenberg like the following: * Project Gutenberg -- Index One of the oldest and largest of electronic text archives, Project Gutenberg contained 6,267 eBooks as of November 2002 (the latest published figure as of December 2004). I think I'll look for a contact email, and send them a message... Andrew

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