Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Can Web Publishing Get Nastier?
Apparently so. Check out this post on the wonderful At Last! Writer Beware Blogs. You know how we all (or at least I) skim the standard fine print when registering with a new site? That's because most of that stuff is the usual don't hold responsible if you poke your eye out with a straw while reading, don't swear or post offensive stuff on the site, the owners can boot you off at their discretion without explanation, etc. Well, apparently on WEbook, the fine print is a whole 'nother ball game. Don't even chance it. Give this site a pass or risk having every right WEbook can think of grabbed forever in exchange for pennies (which they don't have to pay until they accumulate up to $50, which C.S. has painful experience in finding out how corporations can find ways to pull the plug just before you reach that magical $50 mark if they want to, which they probably do.)
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3 comments:
You know, I really could have used that money too. Guess they needed it more.
Me? Bitter? Naw...
Hi, I'm WEbook's Content Manager -- and I also wrote two chapters for Pandora, WEbook's first published book. Thanks for the feedback on WEbook's terms of use. We're still a young enterprise -- we launched to the public just over 2 weeks ago -- and when we wrote the Terms of Use, we knew it would be easier to adjust royalties up rather than down.
Now that our community is picking up steam, we're updating the Terms of Use, making it easier for writers everywhere to pen the book inside them without fretting too long about intellectual property rights, copyright, and options.
WEbook users will soon see a TOU revision that is decidedly WEbooker-friendly, allowing anyone and everyone to write on the site without making any advance commitment to publish with WEbook. Moreover, you will see some very author-friendly terms that we hope will make WEbook the publisher of choice for writers everywhere. Not only will writers get a great platform, a vibrant and engaged community, but WEbook is planning to implement a 50/50 profit share with published authors and contributors.
So, if you write at WEbook, if the community picks your project for publication, you will get a chance to say Yea! or Nay!, and you and WEbook will partner for the success of the project and the reinvention of publishing as we know it.
We're inking the changes now, and they'll be live on the site by the end of the week. We think WEbookers will be thrilled -- if you have any further thinking about what makes the most sense, please visit this forum thread on our site and post your thoughts: http://www.webook.com/forums/messageIndex.aspx?topic=c1d77be5d2354157b825d4b8a876c373&fview=true
Oops, that URL didn't go through. You can find me on the site here: http://www.webook.com/member/Melissa and drop me a note if you have questions or comments.
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