Well they just dropped the mandatory sentence for a a dealer caught with 50 grams or less of crack from ten years to five, so they have to find someone to do those other five years.
The text message is arguably a violation of 47 USC 227 but I would never have been involved with this case. It's one of those where the plaintiff may be found to be technically right but should be awarded damages of a $1.00.
I vote for receiving confirmation notices. It makes it clear the request went through.
As for the requested amount: "(B) an action to recover for actual monetary loss from such a violation, or to receive $500 in damages for each such violation...." And the $500 is tripled for willful and knowing violation.
In the mid 70's on a land line phone it was thought that there was monitoring going on for certain words. One particular friend I would talk to would -without warning in the middle of a conversation about something apolitical- yell conspiracy, conspiracy, conspiracy. Ma Bell was still alive and assumed to be in the pocket of the government and the whole point was to keep the phone company busy chasing harmless conversations.
One of the largest independent erotic romance publishers-- Ellora's Cave, who puts out both digital and paperback editions-- recently announced that they were going to reduce their prices-- Here's a quote from Jane Litte's Dear Author blog:
Ellora’s Cave’s pricing at retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble has been outrageously high. This is because EC’s existing contracts pays royalties based on the cover and if EC lowers the retail list price then (according to how the contracts are structured) EC would lose money on the sales at third party retailers. The stated goal is to lower prices but “adjust royalties so that EC makes no less than it does now and the author makes more that currently due to increased sales.” The internal email goes on to state that ten authors have been recruited to test a lower price point with a reduced royalty rate of 30% cover price. At the lower price, EC will need to have “at least two-and-a-half times more sales from the vendor sites to compensate for the lower per-sale income.”
The whole post is here: http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2011/03/09/wednesday-midday-links-upcoming-rt-convention-avon-impuls e-ec-lowers-prices/
Erotic romance is a big seller in digital. However, as Jane noted, EC's prices were considered outrageously high at between $2.49 for a short short story (Called *ahem* Naughty Nooners) to $15.95 for novels over 100k words.
The fact that they are even willing to test this with a few authors is significant of the need for lower prices in order to move downloads. An author chimes in on the posts stating that her book with EC at $11.98 on Amazon had sold dismally compared to her other "more reasonably" priced work.
I think, not all, but a significant number of ebook buyers are very cost conscious, especially when they are buying genre for leisure reading.
I bought five independent Kindle books this year. Two were some of the best writing I read this year, two were entertaining and fluffy, one was extremely painful. Very, very, very painful. Hint: if the sample sucks don't be optimistic and think it will get better.
J. A. Konrath blogs here: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/ He give excruciating detail about his experiences as an author including numbers both from his trad publishers and his current situation.
There's also a guy named John Locke who was a niche insurance salesmen and now has 7 books on the Amazon Kindle top hundred bestselling books. There's a guest blog post by him that is fascinating.
I admire librarians. They are the first to stand up for the free distribution of information and the protection of the privacy of their patrons. If you had Googled you would have known who Matthew Goins was and that he has a history of work with libraries and librarians.
I'll never forget checking up on a new medication that I had been placed on and discovering (on the internet)that the company was paying doctors $100 per patient up to a certain number of patients to put people on the drug. That was in the late 90's. I immediately asked for something with a generic equivalent-- especially since the new drug had a very weird side effect involving dropping my body temperature.
EU authorities this week raided a bunch of publishers-- the ones who have admitted it were in France-- looking for evidence of price fixing with digital books. There's a separate investigation going on in the UK.
There isn't color eink yet-- at least its not on the market at a reasonable price, but tablets show pictures nicely. I have a 10.5 android tablet I use for viewing graphic intense books. In fact I prefer it because I enlarge detail. There is also a dedicated Nook color although I think that ereader may be heading toward tablet status. I've seen it but it's smaller than my android although it is priced quite attractively.
Re: They may sell a lot but the product is still amateur
I keep hearing that about editors. If you would read Ms Hocking's web site, she has in fact employed an editor-- in fact she wasn't happy with the job the first one did so she brought another one in to clean up.
A lot of employees from publishers are unemployed and some clever ones are offering their services to indie authors. This also includes graphic artists doing some very good covers (although Hocking did her own at first) and agents who are brought on board to negotiate derivative rights.
The author now gets placed in the position of employer as opposed to being treated like an employee by the publisher.
Considering that NASCAR actually entered into a relationship with Harlequin Romance to produce romance novels with NASCAR theme but "Nascar has put some limits on these branded Harlequin books in order to maintain its family image: no booze, no drugs, no sex." I'm not sure who the average NASCAR fan is now.
Sensible thing would be an in camera hearing where the Judge alone looks at what was posted-- without handing over any personal information-- and determines if it goes over the line.
If it was only that one line then defense is grasping at straws.
There's a lot of sanctions between slap on the wrist and permanent disbarment. I would not be surprised if the judge in this case didn't refer him to the ethics committee without waiting for someone else to file a complaint. I could see him at least being required to have a supervising (competent) attorney if he wants to continue practicing law.
Freelance editors already are available. Many small digital presses have been using contract editors for years now. Writers can also designate what kind of editing they want-- line editing or just copy editing.
Should cut down on authors complaining that their book was essentially rewritten by the publisher's editor.
It's that security theatre you all are always talking about. Same reason that the guard in a local government office waves his magic security wand at me when the public is around but ignores me when there is no one else to see. Everyone has to be seen to be treated the same.
You don't practice law do you? Electronic filing and notification by email from the Court is the only way that the Federal Court system wants to communicate now. Between parties service is still by regular mail.
Many states are heading (if not already there) the same way.
And most of the time it's not bad. But when it goes bad it goes very very bad.
The picture of my house was taken about three years ago and it looks terrible. We've done a lot of work on the house and landscaping since then and hired and hired a much better lawn care person. I want to show it off on Google.
On the post: Senators Want To Put People In Jail For Embedding YouTube Videos
On the post: Chinese Prisoners Forced To Farm Gold?
On the post: Lawsuits Filed Against Twitter, Facebook & MySpace For Confirming That A User No Longer Wanted Text Messages
Check the US code cites
I vote for receiving confirmation notices. It makes it clear the request went through.
As for the requested amount: "(B) an action to recover for actual monetary loss from such a violation, or to receive $500 in damages for each such violation...." And the $500 is tripled for willful and knowing violation.
On the post: China Will Cut Off Your Phone Call If You Say The Word 'Protest' [Updated]
On the post: Bon Jovi Thinks Steve Jobs Killed Music; More Old Rockers Shooing Those Darn Kids Off Their Lawn
Re: Re: Is he serious?
I've spent the afternoon listening to Pandora and looking up singers I particularly enjoyed on Amazon.
On the post: Cheap eBook Authors Realize Even Cheaper Is Even Better
Re: from the editor's desk
On the post: Cheap eBook Authors Realize Even Cheaper Is Even Better
Re: Re: Re: Re:
There's also a guy named John Locke who was a niche insurance salesmen and now has 7 books on the Amazon Kindle top hundred bestselling books. There's a guest blog post by him that is fascinating.
On the post: Librarians And Readers Against DRM [Updated]
This site: http://librarianbyday.net/2011/02/25/publishing-industry-forces-overdrive-and-other-library-ebook-ve ndors-to-take-a-giant-step-back/ might help you understand that this is a big issue for librarians and library users.
On the post: Drug Firms Freaking Out Over Expiring Patents
On the post: Music Companies In Korea Guilty Of Price Fixing, Collusion For Boycotting DRM-Free Music Retailers
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/media/8357983/EU-raid s-publishers-in-ebook-price-fixing-probe.html
On the post: More Authors Realizing They Can Make A Damn Good Living Self-Releasing Super Cheap eBooks
Re: Photos
On the post: More Authors Realizing They Can Make A Damn Good Living Self-Releasing Super Cheap eBooks
Re: They may sell a lot but the product is still amateur
A lot of employees from publishers are unemployed and some clever ones are offering their services to indie authors. This also includes graphic artists doing some very good covers (although Hocking did her own at first) and agents who are brought on board to negotiate derivative rights.
The author now gets placed in the position of employer as opposed to being treated like an employee by the publisher.
On the post: Can Someone Explain How Sponsoring NASCAR Is A Good Use Of Taxpayer Funds, If Funding Sesame Street Is Not?
Considering that NASCAR actually entered into a relationship with Harlequin Romance to produce romance novels with NASCAR theme but "Nascar has put some limits on these branded Harlequin books in order to maintain its family image: no booze, no drugs, no sex." I'm not sure who the average NASCAR fan is now.
On the post: UK Gov't Admits That Protecting Big Record Labels More Important Than Getting Poor Online
Re:
On the post: Can A Judge Force A Juror To Reveal Facebook Account Info?
If it was only that one line then defense is grasping at straws.
On the post: Mass Copyright Lawsuit Lawyer Petulantly Drops Lawsuit After Called Out For Apparent Ethics Violations
On the post: Have We Reached A Tipping Point Where Self-Publishing Is Better Than Getting A Book Deal?
Re: Indpendent Editors
Should cut down on authors complaining that their book was essentially rewritten by the publisher's editor.
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On the post: The 'Spam Filter Ate My Notice' Reasoning Convinces Court To Extend Deadline
Re: Re: The Real WTF
Many states are heading (if not already there) the same way.
And most of the time it's not bad. But when it goes bad it goes very very bad.
On the post: Google Begins Blurring German Houses In Street View On Request
I Want the Street Scene Car to Come Back Thru!
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