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Webscabs Unite, or Untie

  • Apr. 14th, 2007 at 2:08 PM
Zoe
A post of a message from Howard Hendrix, current VP of SFWA quote: I'm also opposed to the increasing presence in our organization of webscabs, who post their creations on the net for free.

There's a response here by John Scalzi: Scabs and Peasants.

My webscabish contributions: The complete revised text of The Element of Fire, original version published in 1993 by Tor, my short stories, Thorns and Bad Medicine, from Realms of Fantasy several years ago, plus Wolf Night from Lone Star Stories, plus my excerpts page has sample chapters from all my books.

Really, I'm just glad to be doing my part to keep "rotting our organization from within."


Oh, in actual happy news, I got my copies of Black Gate #10 yesterday and it looks gorgeous. I'm really happy with the art for my story.




Comments

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[info]amireal wrote:
Apr. 14th, 2007 07:27 pm (UTC)
I can't help but thinking there's a good portion of old fashioned ignorance/technophobia going on in a lot of debates centered around how the online world is Bad for Community.
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[info]amireal wrote:
Apr. 14th, 2007 07:30 pm (UTC)
Scuse me. Bad for a specific community.
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[info]eldritchhobbit wrote:
Apr. 14th, 2007 07:32 pm (UTC)
I can't get over the irony that a supposed leader in the SF community is such a technophobic, unimaginative, ill-informed troglodyte. Hats off to you and other "Pixel-stained Technopeasant Wretches" who are living in the 21st century -- um, you know, where the readers are. :)
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[info]glinda_w wrote:
Apr. 14th, 2007 07:37 pm (UTC)
not to mention the irony of putting that particular screed in an online post, y'know?

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[info]eldritchhobbit wrote:
Apr. 14th, 2007 07:57 pm (UTC)
Ha! Good point.
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[info]glinda_w wrote:
Apr. 14th, 2007 08:02 pm (UTC)
:)

I don't really think of myself as a writer, but I've been following the SFWA election stuff by way of Scalzi's blog, and it just amazes me (in a not-good way).

As far as Hendrix's comments go, my first reaction was "foot, meet mouth; mouth, meet foot."
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[info]marycrawford wrote:
Apr. 14th, 2007 07:45 pm (UTC)
Wow. At least Mr. Thoreau Wannabe is self-aware enough to realize he wouldn't make a good SFWA president.

I got my subscriber's copy of Black Gate on Wednesday, and it does look gorgeous - and the art to your story was clearly drawn specifically for it, not something they had lying around in a portfolio, and I like it a lot, even if Gil and Ilias look a bit different in my mind. (But then, don't they always?)
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[info]snapes_angel wrote:
Apr. 14th, 2007 08:25 pm (UTC)
(I love your icon!)

Howard Hendrix has taken the wrong stance. It is not rotting the organization from within, it's building an audience. Sometimes, IMHO, writers need to take risks, in order to present themselves, and their works, to readers.

It's also setting an example for those who tend to over-rely on NetSpeak. ;-)
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[info]marycrawford wrote:
Apr. 14th, 2007 08:43 pm (UTC)
Aw. ZUKO.

And I agree that Hendrix really hasn't thought this through. Books are not an interchangeable product, and neither are writers. If Martha posts a wonderful fantasy book on the internet, that does not take anything away from Howard Hendrix' readership; if his readers like his books, they're not suddenly going to switch to someone else's work just because their books cost less, or nothing.

Suddenly it's all beginning to sound rather Zen to me. If Joshua Bell plays on the subway, does he make a sound? (And is he undercutting his fellow concert violinists? Nah.)
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[info]snapes_angel wrote:
Apr. 15th, 2007 01:01 am (UTC)
Heh. They predicted that ebooks would usurp print, but both achieve a peaceful coexistence. I think that /internet posting of a novel and paperback selling of a novel are not opposed. Someone should point him to Gutenberg--L. Frank Baum's Oz novels are available as text file downloads, and that has not stopped people from buying the books. The bottom line isn't the availability, I think, sicne if people do not like the way a writer writes, they won't seek out books by that author, e-posted or no. Still, it's new enough that a lot of people seem to get confused about it.

Zuko, Iroh-- <3 Have you seen Rufftoon's work on DeviantArt? She's doing an alternate history what-if right now. It's up to 15 pages, when she can tear herself away from donig storyboards. ;-) That doesn't stop me from watching Avatar, either, just like reading Harry Potter fanfic—some of which is actually decent, and not...well, I won't get into that, lol—won't stop folks from buying Ms. Bowling's Harry Potter novels.
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[info]dsgood wrote:
Apr. 14th, 2007 08:38 pm (UTC)
I await Hendrix's call for outlawing libraries.
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[info]imkalena wrote:
Apr. 24th, 2007 02:51 am (UTC)
With bated breath!
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[info]lonesomenumber1 wrote:
Apr. 14th, 2007 08:41 pm (UTC)
I'd like to see a no-holds-barred steel cage match between Dr. Hendrix and one of the morons who accused you of getting rich on used copies of The Element of Fire when it was out-of-print. I'm guessing it would not be a battle of wits.
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[info]muccamukk wrote:
Apr. 14th, 2007 08:53 pm (UTC)
Well, that's certainly the most offensive thing I've read in a really long time.

I can't wait for my Black Gate. I thought the gentleman who did your art did all of the best art in the last issue.
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[info]bg_editor wrote:
Apr. 15th, 2007 12:09 am (UTC)
We have some of my favorite art yet in this issue. You can see a preview of it here:

http://www.blackgate.com/bg/issue10.htm

Art for issue 11 is already in, and equally nice. We just need to spend a few weeks putting the non-fiction together. It will soon follow issue 10 to the printer.
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[info]jess_ka wrote:
Apr. 14th, 2007 09:37 pm (UTC)
You evil scab, you. :)
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[info]dracschick wrote:
Apr. 15th, 2007 12:41 am (UTC)
Glad to hear the art looks good for your story..........
Congrats on the publication!
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[info]rachelcaine wrote:
Apr. 15th, 2007 03:37 pm (UTC)
AMEN, Martha. Preach it, girl!

You and I both know very well that people who read on the 'net not only buy books but tell their friends.

What an annoying, idiotic rant. And then he RAN AWAY! "I don't use those evil intarwebs." Oh lord.

NOT what I want to see in SFWA. Where's my ballot?!

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[info]rensreality101 wrote:
Apr. 15th, 2007 09:17 pm (UTC)
"A problem with the whole wikicliki, sick-o-fancy, jerque-du-cercle of a networking and connection-based order is that, if you "go along to get along" for too long, there's a danger you'll no longer remember how to go it alone when the ethics of the situation demand it."

Oh, please...

At the risk of being rude, this is a man that enjoys hearing himself talk...or in this case, watching himself write. He also doesn't seem to mind accusing writers (and others) using the internet of questionable ethics. At the same time, bashing the internet allows him to make his claims and avoid ever having to defend them. Nice guy.

There are so many authors (you included) I never would have found if they hadn't posted material on the internet. The bookstores only have so much space and sci-fi/fantasy gets a very small portion of it. If I want a bigger selection I need to go online. I have picked up quite a few books based solely on a short story or essay I read in a blog or website.

I just wish he was mature enough to admit that being uncomfortable with the technology boom is his problem, not ours.

- edited 'cause bashing really does need an 'h' - ;)
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[info]rutemple wrote:
Apr. 16th, 2007 02:46 am (UTC)
Another pixel-stained reader notes...
Martha,

Thank you for posting the Element of Fire here on your LJ. For whatever it's worth statistically, I enjoyed it thoroughly and went out and read the rest of your novels shortly thereafter: one from a library, one in paperback, and I bought three as etexts.

Thank you for pointing out your short stories today. Love 'em.

Does the fact that my personal library in recycled elecrons is larger than my (reasonably sizeable) print collection (at Hallowe'en, one little girl said, "look, Mama! It's a library!") make me an early adopter of etext reading? I haven't thought of myself as being on or near the crest of this wave.

I'm not a published author (I do academic editing for a living) but I hope that SFWA can be brought forward into the 21st century and deal with the changes that technology is making in this, like so many other, livelihoods.

best,
Ruth Temple
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