Fascinating insights on PI and territorial copyright

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Nov 04, 2009

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Fascinating insights on PI and territorial copyright

I love intellectual battles. I'm not ashamed of starting them either! Discussion and debates are awesome fun!

This one I've been following has been most revealing. Head of Scribe Publications (Australia), Henry Rosenbloom has been having an email discussion with Dick Smith (Australian entrepreneur) about parallel importation of books, competition, the globalness of the internet and copyright.

In this pdf, Dick Smith promotes competition in the industry and that importation restrictions benefits large, foreign owned publishers who "hold Australians to intellectual and financial ransom."

In the joint post, Henry Rosenbloom goes on his own experience as a small publisher (that has won Australian small publisher of the year twice!) that in fact, what Dick Smith is claiming would be devastating to the industry.

In the next post, both men debate how the competition and world markets. As Henry points out, the US and UK both hold to their territorial copyright very strongly, and they are both thriving markets.

In the latest post, they discuss the effect of the internet on the global marketplace.

Clearly, I have my own point of view which does side with Henry, but reading another intelligent person's own point of view is quite interesting. Discussion is the true food for the soul :)

Posted by: Nyssa

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Love debates
written by redheadwriterchick , November 04, 2009

This is quite interesting from my perspective. Having friends who are the editors acquiring books and agents as well here in the US, they're EAGER to acquire world talent, not just for "us" territorial gain but for world gain. Sure, competition is healthy, but to spread good literature is even better. I don't think that limiting access to literature, regardless of the market it comes from, is a good idea. Great discussions, thanks for pointing me their way.

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written by Nyssa , November 04, 2009

It's not exactly limiting access to literature. Basically what we have here is that a publisher has 30 days to release an Australian copy of a book and if not, publishers can send the books directly here. So, say, Twilight was first published in the US, but an Australian company here is also publishing it here. The US publisher cannot send Twilight here to be sold in bookstores. That's the restriction. What's suggested by some (mostly really big expensive booksellers which sell books at higher than recommended retail prices) is that these restrictions are broken down, meaning they can import Twilight instead of buying it here, which sends the money back to the US, not to Australian publishers. Essentially what is feared is that there wouldn't be much a need for publishers here if this were to happen and so Australian writers would have to go overseas to get published. The uniqueness of Australian voices would be lost. Not just our colloquialisms, but huge amounts of talent in our community.

Sorry if I got a bit ranty there. I fear the "end" of publishing in Australia because I want to be a publisher when I finish university!

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Good points
written by redheadwriterchick , November 04, 2009

Ah, understandable fear. I would be worried too if this were the case in the US. I wonder why this is the case with the Aussie pubs. Why the severe limit of days? To me, being on the author side of things, this limitation doesn't bode well. I don't think, despite this, that the huge amount of talent that Australia has demonstrated and will continue to demonstrate will ever be lost. Of course there is a need for Australian publishers, just as there is a need for publishers in every country around the world, in my opinion. If those publishers weren't around then yes, the voices would be lost. But I think the publishing world in general is hurting and the threat of it being lost anywhere is always there but will never go away. Talent is talent and the indigenous voices of one place to another always spark interest as human beings are always curious and through reading the literature of other cultures and places around the world, we learn and live through eachother and communicate the lives we lead. Which is the most valuable source of tourism, culture history and more that we all have. Literature, therefore, must live on.

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written by Nyssa , November 04, 2009

I like you ^_^

I wish our government would see arts as a source of tourism! Particularly with World Fantasy Con in Melbourne next year.

There are some cases in which Australian authors get published overseas, sometimes even with Australian settings, but generally they seem to have to prove themselves here first before the rights for other countries is bought. One author I know (Fleur McDonald) writes Australian fiction, set in rural Australia. She was picked up by Allen and Unwin, but a mere few months down the track, and her work was wanted in Germany of all places!

The majority of our fiction here is US or UK based (mostly US), and some people fear that overseas publishers might not want vampire love stories based in Adelaide, or crime novels in the streets of Melbourne. As it is, we get very little of that anyway. Even with Australian authors, they have stories based in London or New York or Paris. It's as though we haven't really established an identity yet, or we have but it doesn't appeal to others who liked Crocodile Dundee.

One big example against parallel importation is New Zealand, one of the only places to remove the restrictions. Their publishing industry barely exists anymore. There is little market growth or investment and very few opportunities. There are still some New Zealand authors of course, but the only ones I know of (a whole two, now that I think of it!) are actually published here in Australia.

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Understatement of the year!
written by redheadwriterchick , November 04, 2009

Yes, I wish it were a part of tourism also. If there are local art museums, tourists want to go to them, so why wouldn't they look to the literature of another country to learn about the culture? Makes sense to me!

As far as what I've heard from acquiring editors and agents is that they find the settings of the "outback" VERY cool and different and think that there is a HUGE market for it in the US. Hence their excitement for coming to you guys this june, but that's besides the point. They said the one thing that's important to remember is to write what you know. I wouldn't dare set a story in the outback seeing as I've never been there. Otherwise it would end up sounding like Croc. Dundee! And I don't consider that a "good" thing. The authentic voice is what's important. Heck, I live in Colorado, wouldn't try to even really set up a story in NY or say LA because I've only visited there a small amount of times. I'm more likely to set up my story in a fantasy world where I have control over the setting or in my personal world here in Colorado.

But proving yourself only has to lie in the writing quality. Sure, having other pubs is a kudo and feather in the cap, but great writing always wins out. Right?

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written by ausross , November 06, 2009

Interesting discussion - I find it particularly interesting to see the comment about a 'HUGE' market for the outback in the States. However ex-pat South African and long-time Australian writer, Bryce Courtenay, cannot sell his books to the States apart from The Power of One, because the publisher says being set outside the States or Europe, they will not sell there.

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written by redheadwriterchick , November 06, 2009

That's interesting to hear about Bryce. The editors and agents I've spoken with have said that having an "unfamiliar" setting in a story such as one that is from the Outback or Africa etc is very appealing and by no means limiting. Who is his publisher? The ones I've spoken to, and of course it varies due to individual taste, are editors from Harper Collins and Penguin and Random House. And just because one person says it is or isn't true...well, ya know. You move on to someone else who thinks it is true. I had over 48 editors from pub houses here in the US reject my book when my agent sent it out because they said jazz wouldn't sell. All it takes is one. The editor from Random House was the last one standing and it sold to her. When an individual publishing house can have as many as several thousand editors working in it, it's always, ALWAYS a matter of finding the right editor for the project. That's what a good agent does...he finds the right editor for you and doesn't give up on a project he believes in. I've heard of agents shopping around books even after a year or two and finally finding the right editors for it. Faith and tenacity and the willingness to work on your work as hard as you possibly can to get it into the very best shape possible are the keys.

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written by ausross , November 14, 2009

I wonder if anyone else picked on the fact that while Dick Smith has spent years railing against the 'evils' of multinationals, all of a sudden he he is taking the direct opposite view. From memory, the Casio situation was not nearly as simple as he has made out, and he has a well-deserved reputation for ensuring any copyrights of his are vigorously protected.

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written by Nyssa , November 16, 2009

I never knew that! Maybe now he's so rich, he doesn't care anymore?

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