The hypocrisy of piracy

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Those who promote or facilitate the “sharing” of copyrighted content like to perpetuate an image of themselves as freedom-fighting renegades out “to stick it to the man” — the adage itself pirated from the sixties — “the man” representing those big bad corporations that make a profit off the backs of us artists and consumers alike. It’s an easy sell when you’re selling free, with the masses happy to swallow bullshit disguised as honey and overlook the obvious hypocrisy of the typical pirate site: corporate advertising. Go to any torrent Read More …

ProseQuest: read the contract then run — don’t walk — away

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A new company called ProseQuest is offering authors the option to sell ePubs directly via the BooksOnBoard website. It is not entirely clear what the relationship between ProseQuest and BooksOnBoard is — that is, whether ProseQuest is a sister company or subsidiary of BooksOnBoard or if this is an affiliate partnership — and this, as you will read, is only the first of many unanswered, and often troubling, questions the ProseQuest website raises. ProseQuest clients are invited to upload their Word manuscripts for free conversion; you can also upload an Read More …