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Pondering transformative copyright, I found myself thinking about this: http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/009050.html#191539

It's Abi Sutherland's translation of my poem, The Day The Saucers Came, into LOLcat. I like it better than the original, but I'm not sure that it would work if it wasn't informed by the existence of the not-LOLcat one (if you see what I mean). (Here's me on YouTube reading the original at Yale: http://www.you tube.com/watch?v=JUkEPaN_BFY).

And two from the mailbag:

I am a lawyer. I co-authored an article on fair use that was published last summer in the Journal of the Copyright Society of the United States. A large section of it was a wordier version (punctuated by many many legal citations) of what you wrote in your journal today. In practice, the most important single factor in determining whether a fair use has occurred is not money, it is how transformative a work is. You have a good grasp of copyright.

Moreover, you have a good grasp of the trickiness of copyrighting derivative works. The legal answer regarding that King James concordance is that the person who owns the copyright owns a "weak" copyright. (The more original creativity in a work, the "stronger" the copyright. If this concordance is completely uncreative - if it is really just a list of words that a computer could generate - there is no copyright whatsoever. If, however, the author has organized the concordance in a way to show some creativity, there is a "weak" copyright.)

Unfortunately, in practice, a "weak" copyright is pretty strong when owned by a powerful company. For example, the woodcut illustrations in the original edition of Alice in Wonderland are in the public domain and have no copyright protection. Disney's depiction of Alice - clearly a cartoon version of the public domain woodcut Alice - is, however, copyrighted. Technically, this derivative work should be a "weak" copyright. However, when the video game Alice by American McGee came out, American McGee's Alice was a brunette who looked nothing like the Alice most people think of. American McGee should have been able to copy the public domain Alice, just like Disney did, but I assume that American McGee didn't want to risk taking on Disney. (That was probably not the only consideration that went into it - they probably also didn't want little kids buying the game by accident, either - but Disney's copyright in the derivative work must have been something they considered.)

I really appreciate the fact that, despite being a writer, you do not seem to have a rabid approach to copyright. I think many readers, who feel defensive on behalf of their favorite authors, don't understand the benefits of having copyrights that are not absolute and that expire. The creative sphere as a whole gains something from a public domain and fair use. (Author's heirs are often anything but open to creative reimaginings, or even creative criticisms, of a work - the highly litigious Margaret Mitchell estate comes to mind.) If our modern attitudes towards copyright had always existed, you would not have been able to freely quote Shakespeare (who never had copyright protection) in Sandman, and the story would have lost some of its richness. Similarly, it would be ridiculous if you had to have Rudyard Kipling's heirs sign off on The Graveyard Book. Copyrights should not be powerful to the point where they suppress new ideas or criticisms.

I very much look forward to The Graveyard Book.

- Anne

and also

Your latest blog entry about legal court cases inspired me to put up a bit of information on my personal blog that goes into aspects of the joint authorship elements of your case, and the transformative works issues that will be important in J.K. Rowlings'. If you are interested you can read it at: http://wise-old-sage.blog-city.com/gaiman_joint_authorship_and_transformative_works.htm

I did link to your posting so my readers could reference it. I hope you don't mind.

Christopher Schiller

http://www.christopherschiller.com

while Scrivener's Error pointed me at

http://scrivenerserror.blogspot.com/2007/11/accio-lawsuit.html
and the hypothesis that this is primarily a trademark, not a copyright case.

Neil,

Considering your latest encounter with a large metal pole, I got to thinking about health insurance. As an author and one who is more or less self-employed (right?), how do you go about getting decent health insurance not only for yourself but for your family? Wouldn't it be much easier to move to Canada or back to the UK where they are reasonable enough to have universal health care?

Thanks,

Jon


How? I write movies.

True answer, even though it sounds silly. As long as I have a certain amount of income coming in from Hollywood, I'm covered by the Writer's Guild which had very good Health Insurance when I became a member, and has significantly less good health insurance these days, but it's still an awful lot better than having no insurance for me or my family.

(Occasionally friends ask why I'll write movies -- they're a huge drain on time and emotion, most of the scripts one writes simply do not get made, and when they do get made it's all-too-often nothing like the thing that you thought you were writing, and unlike novels you've given up control from the outset, you can find yourself being lied to or fired or cheated, and while I make a lot of money writing scripts I make a lot more money writing books, which I own and control for ever, and from which I get foreign income, and so on. And I say "Health Insurance," and if they're from America they normally get it, while people from countries that regard healthcare as a human right, like education, think I'm mad.)

Why not move? I like my house, and my youngest daughter loves her school and friends (my older daughter has already moved back to the UK) and I'm happy to write an occasional movie and get healthcare as a side-effect. (Also, I quite like writing film-scripts. It's everything that goes with them I put up with.)

(Incidentally, the pole was a heavy PVC pipe,and not metal, I'm glad to say. Otherwise my face would have been far more banged up than it was. Right now the black eye's mostly gone, the nose has mostly healed, and there's a cut on the lip that would heal better if I didn't keep talking...)

MINI-VIEWS:
Pint-sized interviews that leave you smiling.

ALEXIS O'NEILL spends a good portion of the year visiting students in schools all around the country. She is the author of LOUD EMILY (Simon & Schuster), THE RECESS QUEEN (Scholastic), THE WORST BEST FRIEND (Scholastic), ESTELA'S SWAP (Lee & Low) and fiction and nonfiction for Cricket, Spider, Cobblestone, Calliope, Faces, and Odyssey. A writing teacher for UCLA Extension's Writers' Program, she is also a Regional Advisor for SCBWI in California. A popular presenter, she writes a column for the SCBWI Bulletin called, "The Truth About School Visits."

MINI-VIEWS:
Pint-sized interviews that leave you smiling.

KRISTIN DALY discovered her love of children’s book in high school, when she worked at her local public library. In May 1999, she began working at Golden Books as an Editorial Assistant, working on picture books, series fiction and easy readers. In January 2002, she began working at HarperCollins Children’s Books, where she now works as an editor. Her early work focused on mostly picture books and easy readers, but now she edits all levels of children’s books. Currently, she is especially excited to be working with best-selling author Gary Blackwood on his first I Can Read Book, The Just-So Woman and newcomer Sudipta Bardhan on her first HarperCollins picture books, Snoring Beauty and Hampire! I was delighted to have met Kristin at a recent SCBWI retreat.

You have a lot of experience editing picture books, easy readers and rhyming stories. What advice would you give to a writer who is contemplating writing a story in rhyme?
I actually have two pieces of advice! The first is to Make Every Line Count. In writing rhyme, it’s so tempting to make yourself and your story slaves to the rhyme and meter. There are two immediate signs that you’ve fallen into this trap: The first is if you find that you’ve been adding unnecessary adverbs, adjectives, and articles in an effort to meet the syllable count of your meter. The second is inverting the object and verb of a line to read something like, “His carrots he never ate in haste,” just because the line before ended with "taste." Writers of rhyme should always watch out for empty calories, or all of that “filler” material that may sound good, but doesn’t move a story along at all. If you find yourself writing lines and adding words simply to meet your meter or rhyme scheme, you are filling your story with empty calories.

My second piece of advice is to read your work aloud, because although the rhyme and meter may look fine on the page, when you read your verse aloud any forced rhyme or uneven meter will jump right out at you. I do this as an editor, too--whenever I'm editing a rhyming picture book text, I close my office door and read the text aloud to myself several times to make sure everything sounds perfect. It's the surest way to know whether or not a rhyme is really working.

It seems that a current trend amongst many easy reader publishers is toward featuring licensed characters. Do you have any advice for someone who wants to write ”non-licensed character” easy readers for the trade market?
While it's true that more and more licensed characters are popping up in easy-to-read books these days, this isn't necessarily a new trend. Licensed characters have been appearing in easy-to-read books for years; it just seems new because there are so many of licensed books right now. That said, not every easy-to-read line publishes books featuring licensed characters, and even those that do--such as Random House and Harper--generally do not exclusively do so. It's the same with nonfiction--some easy-to-read lines publish a ton of nonfiction, some publish a little, and others none at all.

And so my best advice to a writer of easy-to-reads is the same as it is for writers in any genre: Know your market. Go to bookstores and libraries and actually look at the different easy-to-read books out there. Look at titles individually, and look at the easy-to-read lines as a whole. Take the time to become familiar with the different lines, because each has its own distinct personality. And within each easy-to-read line, read some books at different levels. Which houses are publishing more original (as opposed to licensed) beginning readers? Which ones seem to publish more books at the same "level" as your own manuscripts? (For example, while Harper's I Can Read! line technically publishes up through Level 4, we tend to do more titles at the younger levels, from My First up through Level 2.) What types of stories are the different lines publishing--who seems to focus on Frog-and-Toad type friendship stories? Who does easy-to-read poetry or nonfiction? And so on. The more knowledge you have about the market, the more effectively you'll be able to target your submissions, and the greater the chance that your manuscript will find the best home.

What's your favorite children's joke?
Q: Why do elephants paint their toenails red?

A: So they can hide in a strawberry patch.

(Corny, I know, but it still makes me laugh!)

Thanks so much, Kristin!

MINI-VIEWS:

You enjoy funny, quirky picture books. I've often wondered what constitutes funny/quirky versus over-the-top ridiculousness (pushing the silly envelope too far). Could you define this more specifically and give some examples?
It’s a tough question! I feel like it’s easier to explain what I think does work than what I think doesn’t. Maybe it’s because it’s rare to find a book that pushes silly too far—I mean, I grew up on Dr. Seuss! How much sillier can you get?

Of course, there are different brands of funny. I tend to love word play/pun books, like Walker’s Gimme Cracked Corn and I Will Share by Kevin O’Malley, which is just about the epitome of a groan-worthy pun book, but somehow amidst the chicken and egg puns, it just works! (It also just debuted on the NYT Bestseller list! Hurray!) I’ve also recently bought a picture book manuscript called Animal House by Candace Ryan, which combines really clever wordplay like living in a “kangaroom,” keeping food in a “refrigergator,” and putting dirty clothes in a “hamster.” These sorts of funny wordplay books make great read-alouds.

Then there are the silly character picture books. I loved Amelia Bedelia when I was growing up (you know, the very literal housekeeper, who actually dusted the drapes by putting dust on them?) and maybe that’s why I’m such a fan of silly characters now. Walker’s recurring character picture books by Matthew McElligott about Backbeard the Pirate (Backbeard and the Birthday Suit, Backbeard: Pirate for Hire) are just plain hilarious. I think kids really love “comedy of errors” type picture books.

Some picture books rely on the artwork for the real humor. Another character that we publish at Walker is Millie the Cow, in Millie Waits for the Mail and Millie in the Snow by Alexander Steffensmeier. Readers will love to pore through the artwork and find all the different little details that the artist has added in, like a pair of rowdy chickens who are sprinkled throughout the spreads with hilarious antics.

And then there’s Adam Rex’s Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich, which may be my most favorite funny picture book out there today. It combines everything!

If you’re worried that your picture book manuscript might be pushing the silly envelope too far, see if it makes kids laugh or not. They’re a tougher audience than you might imagine. If they’re groaning or thinking that it’s stupid, odds are an editor will think so too.

We all know about the dreaded “slush pile.” What is the most common mistake you see in manuscripts that come from it?
Not enclosing a self-addressed stamped envelope! It seems obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people don’t include it. And we can’t respond unless we can do it via the USPS. There’s just not enough time or energy in the day to phone or email everyone.

A more helpful piece of advice for those of you who know better than to skip the SASE is that we get a ton of submissions for genres that we just don’t publish. Easy-to-reads, early chapter books, fantasy, even adult books. You will really never find these types of books on the Walker BFYR list, so asking us to consider them is really a waste of our time. It really makes it seem like the submitter didn’t do their research before sending it to us, too.

What's your favorite children's joke?
Q: What do you call cheese that isn’t yours?

A: Nacho cheese!

(Terrible, I know. Maybe it says something about my sense of humor after all…)

Thanks, Stacy!

MINI-VIEWS:
Pint-sized interviews that leave you smiling.

I first met Bruce Hale a few years ago, when he had trekked from his beachside community of Santa Barbara all the way to the high desert (where I live) to do school visits. He is a delightful and informative speaker to both adults and children. Bruce has written and illustrated nearly 20 books for kids. His Chet Gecko Mysteries series includes: The Chameleon Wore Chartreuse, The Big Nap, Farewell, My Lunchbag, The Malted Falcon and others.

You could say Bruce has a thing for lizards. He also has created five Hawaii children's books, including Legend of the Laughing Gecko, Moki and the Magic Surfboard, and Moki the Gecko's Best Christmas Ever -- all starring Moki the Gecko. He’s taught writing workshops at colleges and universities, and spoken at national conferences of writing, publishing, and literacy organizations. On top of that, Bruce has visited elementary schools across the country, from Hawaii, to Kansas, to Pennsylvania.

Mystery plots involve so many factors--the main plot, subplots, clues, misdirections, red herrings, etc.--how do you organize all of these elements for a particular story (do you plot everything out in advance or determine things as you go along)?
One time, I tried to write a mystery the Steven King way -- just put two characters in a room and let them talk. 100 pages of rambling story later, I realized that Uncle Stevie's way was not for me. I work best from at least a rough plot outline. Here's how I do it:

First, I figure out the crime, then whodunit, then how Chet Gecko will discover/blunder across that. Then, I come up with the clues, red herrings, and obstacles. Once I have the ending planned and the rest of it loosely organized -- I usually leave the last quarter of the book unplanned, to leave room for happy discoveries -- then I write a fast and sloppy first draft. And after that, it's revise, revise, revise -- until all plot holes are plugged and the story is finished.

Other than reading a lot of mysteries (because we all know that reading the genre you want to write is key), what advice would you give to someone who wants to write a mystery novel for children?
Cultivate a curious state of mind. When you're out in the world, observe human behavior and construct their back-stories and motivation. Is that kindly old gentleman at the Starbucks secretly smuggling people into the country? Is the kindergarten teacher plotting a take-over of the school? Muse and wonder and daydream. From that comes mystery.

What's your favorite children's joke?

Q: Why are a gorilla's nostrils so big?

A: Because his fingers are so big.

Thanks, Bruce (I know some 4th grade boys who will love that one!)

MINI-VIEWS:
Pint-sized interviews that leave you smiling.

Erin Murphy got her start in publishing at Northland Publishing/Rising Moon Books for Young Readers, where she was Editor-in-Chief; she still lives and works in Flagstaff, Arizona, where she founded her agency, Erin Murphy Literary Agency, in 1999. She loves knitting with a cat in her lap, walking through the woods with her dogs, traveling in the off season when the destination is quiet, watching DVDs (especially whole TV series in marathon sessions), kayaking, eating dark chocolate, and of course, reading. Her favorite genre to read in her downtime is fantasy. She works with more than sixty authors and author-illustrators. See a list of her most recent sales and her clients' new releases by clicking here.

We often hear of agents turning down manuscripts because they just didn’t “fall in love” with it. Out of the manuscripts that you do reject, what percentage of these do you feel are actually good, marketable manuscripts that just didn’t fit your taste or needs?
I'd say about 95% for me--but this is because I don't read unsolicited submissions. *All* of the manuscripts I get are from people who have been referred my way, or who I met at a conference, and I generally ask to see a writing sample before I ask for a full manuscript--so by the time I sit down to read a manuscript, I'm already fairly sure of the writer's experience, professionalism, subject matter, grasp on the market, and so on.

At this point, for me, I only sign someone new if it makes my stomach hurt to think of them working with someone else. Their work has to be so wonderful and so unlike anything else I've ever read that I just can't pass it up. This means I turn away a lot of people I really believe will get published--just, with the help of someone else, or on their own. When possible, I try to refer them to another agent who might be a better match for their style.

I know that's a terribly hard reality. I definitely don't share it in order to be discouraging. I just encourage people to push themselves beyond their comfort zones and to write the best material they can possibly write. Publishing is a business of love. Those who write fearlessly, who really put themselves out there in their work (with a strong foundation of craft and knowledge) are most likely to connect with an agent or editor.

What’s your favorite children’s joke?
Q: How much did the pirate's earrings cost?

A: A buccaneer! (Buck an ear.)

Thanks so much, Erin!

MINI-VIEWS:
Pint-sized interviews that leave you smiling.

Donna German is the editor of Sylvan Dell Publishing, a small press that specializes in animals, nature, science and the environment. She’s the author of two children’s books (Carolina’s Story and Octavia) plus 16 cookbooks, four of which were New York Times best-sellers including The Bread Machine Cookbook Series, which have sold more than 3 million copies. She’s worn many hats in her life, including homeschooling her three children while her family took a sabbatical and lived on a sailboat in the Bahamas, and then traveled cross-country visiting our National Parks. It was the NPS’s Junior Ranger Program that ultimately led to the “For Creative Minds” educational section in the back of each Sylvan Dell book. Though she admits that she doesn’t have time to write anymore, she feels that her author background gives her an interesting insight into the editorial process. “I hate writing rejections because I vividly remember receiving all 27 rejections prior to my first cookbook being accepted.”

I'm so pleased that Donna agreed to answer my questions and give us some insight into the small press side of our business.

What advantages does a small press have to offer for an author (as opposed to large publishing house)?
This is such an interesting question and I’m going to refer to something from my “former life” as a cookbook author. I was at an annual conference for cookbook authors and a table mate at one of the meals was talking about his Christmas Cookbook that had been released the year before by a LARGE printing house. Unfortunately, the books themselves were misplaced somewhere in the warehouse and orders were being “back-ordered.” The books finally showed up in February and orders filled (?) but, of course, they were all returned because it was after Christmas. Since many large publishing houses have a “six month” survival rule, his books were remaindered because they didn’t sell. His agent explained that because this book had flopped, no other publishing house would touch him…

My observation is that small houses keep books active longer than larger houses. We continue to market all books, not just the new releases. We must rely on EVERY book being a success because we can’t afford to publish books that won’t sell.

How does a small press compete in such a highly competitive business; how much do they rely on their authors’ involvement in book promotion?
I would say that small publishing houses must rely on every angle for marketing. We truly need our authors and illustrators to participate in marketing their books – through signings, library readings, and school visits. We can honestly see a difference in the bottom line of the titles that have that support versus those that don’t. I don’t know about other companies but at Sylvan Dell, every single title is selected to fit our precise niche and marketing plan. Unfortunately, we have had to turn down some really cute stories because we didn’t think we could market them.

We use technology to our advantage. Not just on the editorial end (accepting e-submissions), but in marketing too. We have just introduced a “referral rewards” program for people who are excited about our books and share the information with others. Once someone is signed onto our website, they get a special link to forward to friends. If the friends order books through our website, the original person gets credit towards their purchase or a cash reward. Independent bookstores and bloggers can sign up for an affiliate program so that they get credit – similar to Amazon.

What's your favorite children's joke?
Why do elephants paint their toenails red?

To hide in strawberry patches!
(hee-hee!)

Note: Sylvan Dell is not affiliated in any way with either Sylvan Learning Centers or any “Dell” company. The name itself is Latin, meaning “wooded valley.” Donna German had the business name picked out years ago — long before the business itself was determined. Her father grew up in Delaware in an old farmhouse that is actually older than the United States! When her grandfather died, Donna moved from Massachusetts into the house so they could keep it in the family. While cleaning out an old shed, Donna found a wooden, hand-carved sign that simply said “Sylvan Dell.” When she questioned her father about it, he remembered the sign nailed to a tree at the end of the driveway when he was a young boy. Donna’s grandfather apparently referred to the property as “Sylvan Dell.” Donna determined that if she ever owned her own business that she wanted to name it after the family property (which is, in fact, a wooded valley). Yes, the home is still in Donna’s family — her sister lives in it. Continuing with the wooded valley theme, the logo uses leaves falling into an open book (valley theme) to signify “fall into reading.”

Click here for the Sylvan Dell's submission guidelines.

MINI-VIEW:
Pint-sized interviews that leave you smiling.

Anastasia Suen learned to read with Dick and Jane in 1962. Five years later, she wrote her first book. She was eleven years old. She’s have been writing ever since. She wrote hundreds of manuscripts and collected rejection letters for years. And then it happened. On her fortieth birthday, the phone rang. After writing for twenty-nine years, she sold her first book! Today she’s sold 105 manuscripts board books, picture books, easy readers, and chapter books (including a book for adults about how to write children's books). She’s also written articles for textbooks and magazines.

I first got to know Anastasia by taking her Easy Reader Workshop online. I learned so much that I later took her Poetry Workshop as well. She manages three blogs , teaches, consults and writes full-time. I was so pleased when she agreed to do a Mini-View for me.

What advice would you give to someone who is just learning the craft of writing?
Read, read, read! You have to read if you're going to write! I always do - and I find answers to MY manuscript problems as I read. Reading while I'm writing gives me the answers I need - AND - it helps me keep up with the competition. Win-win!
(That's why I make all of my students read FIVE books a lesson - yes, even chapter books! It's the only way I know how write - first you read and then you write and then you read and then you write...)

What do you feel is the best way for a busy writer to keep abreast of what's happening in the world of children's literature?
I *LOVE* blogs! I read writer's blogs (including this one!) and children's lit blogs so I know what the new books are and I read agent, editor, and industry blogs so I know what's happening in the business. (I have a list of blogs at Blog Central).

What's your favorite children's joke?
Why did the chicken cross the road?

To get to the other side!
(If you want to get something done, just do it!)

Thanks so much, Anastasia!

MINI-VIEWS:
Pint-sized interviews that leave you smiling.

MINI-VIEWS:
Pint-sized interviews that leave you smiling.