Comments on: How long until J.K. Rowling wises up—now that Danielle Steel will be available in E?

By: Rob Preece, Publisher

Rob Preece, Publisher — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:22:34 +0000

On the Tolkien front, remember the Ace version of LoTR that came out through a copyright glitch with no payment to Tolkien pere at all (as I understand it). Which was why he made some small changes to the Ballantine edition and made it the official version, along with a personal note on the cover.

As far as Danielle Steel is concerned, she’s living proof that different readers have different tastes. At least if they’re reading, there’s hope.

Rob Preece
Publisher, http://www.BooksForABuck.com

By: Blue Tyson

Blue Tyson — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 09:21:22 +0000

Yeah, but it doesn’t make sense to be bitter about the money, and leave some on the table – given that these will clearly sell.

Also rather petulant, given it was his dad with the talent and the decision to do it – a smart one, too from his point of view, as if he held on to it, he would not have had the cash, and been long dead (and poorer) before it happened.

By: Chris Meadows

Chris Meadows — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 06:44:43 +0000

Well, the Tolkiens do have some reason to be bitter about putting their work out in new formats and media. Thirty years ago, J.R.R. Tolkien sold the movie rights to Lord of the Rings for a pittance, convinced that he had put one over on the studios because he felt Lord of the Rings was entirely unfilmable. Thus, in the here and now, Tolkien’s estate (headed by the aging, rather conservative son of J.R.R., Christopher Tolkien) was entirely bypassed by the motion picture rights gravy train—a train which pulled right into the station of Saul Zaentz (who is also the man who arguably ripped off Peter S. Beagle in payment for the script he did to the animated Lord of the Rings movie, but that’s another story).

It’s hard to blame them for wanting to hold onto the Tolkien books as tightly as possible. They’re all they have left. And being of the older generation, Christopher Tolkien may not even clearly understand e-books.

I suspect that there may well be some thawing of the e-book possibilities after Christopher Tolkien dies and a younger generation takes over the estate. We’ll just have to wait and see.

By: Blue Tyson

Blue Tyson — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 04:08:58 +0000

Are the Tolkiens still idiots on this front, too?

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 14:02:36 +0000

Garson: Never knew of the Gresham connection. Thanks for filling in the gap! David

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 13:59:51 +0000

Hi, Chris. For legal reasons, I had to remove that pointer. Sorry! But meanwhile you’ve come up with a terrific illustration of the risks of NOT authorizing legal editions. J.K. should get Potter on the Net for free, or the piracy will continue!

Once she succumbs, this just might be as big a boost for e-books as Oprah was!

David

By: chris bates

chris bates — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 10:43:10 +0000

Just go to [DMCA-dangerous stuff], Rowling’s there for free!

By: Garson O'Toole

Garson O'Toole — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 09:30:39 +0000

John Gresham expounded the famous law of bestsellerdom “Bad novels drive out good.” He was the great-great-great grandnephew of Sir Thomas Gresham, with his famous economic dictum that “Bad money drives out good.”

No offense intended for the talented author John Grisham.