tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12461652.post2218182197191254126..comments2024-01-10T17:38:08.333-05:00Comments on Elizabeth Burns: Who Died and Left You In Charge?Liz Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16671844475303001610noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12461652.post-52625258025246085302008-08-02T09:12:00.000-04:002008-08-02T09:12:00.000-04:00I'm with the American version of that publisher --...I'm with the American version of that publisher -- or, rather with one of their myriad imprints, but the contracts say the name of the larger company on the letterhead. I'm here to tell ya: no morality contracts. No whiff of any such.<BR/><BR/>I think this isn't as much about control as it is about theater -- you know the phrase "<A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_theater" REL="nofollow">security theater</A>," right? Sound and fury signifying no greater safety for people? To me, this is the same deal -- the illusion that The Children(TM) are now protected and that Family Values (TM) are being required. <BR/><BR/>And maybe, just maybe, this is about the UK... a lot of things here don't quite make sense to me yet, but there are Certain Types of people who are Right. Those class lines of Upstairs/Downstairs still exist, and Certain People are not Our Type. It's subtle, but it's there.<BR/><BR/>Huh.tanita✿davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01671822274852087499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12461652.post-41788878475638514642008-08-01T21:49:00.000-04:002008-08-01T21:49:00.000-04:00How bizarre--and very fishy. First, the language i...How bizarre--and very fishy. First, the language is so vague as to be meaningless, and even if it weren't, the spirit doesn't make a whole lot of sense from a contracting point of view for anyone aside from celebrity authors who receive ridiculous advances, in which case I have no sympathy for either party. As a practical matter, for a real author with a decent agent, I can't imagine this language surviving. It doesn't make any sense because all the penalties are front loaded. It doesn't even protect the publisher. You'd have to be famous already to have an opportunity to behave badly in way anyone would notice. If you actually got famous for your writing and then started hanging out with John Waters or whatever, none of these penalties would come into effect (the advance is paid, book's out, and "terminate this contract" would inevitably mean the publisher would have to stop selling the existing books and revert rights).<BR/><BR/>I'm calling BS on this--or at least it's not boilerplate language for the publisher. <BR/><BR/>(I have a weird memory of there being some interesting morality language in Thomas Nelson boilerplate.)Andrew Karrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04489549432775603390noreply@blogger.com