Re: Why?

--- In [email protected], shippard@... wrote:
> ____________________________________________
> 
> EPIC is not nearly as important in this industry as they would like 
to think; 
> which is why, if I were you, Tony, I wouldn't lose a wink of sleep 
over whether 
> your titles were included in their proprietary storefront or not. 
> 
> After a senior member of Mundania's management advised me that my 
titles would 
> never, ever be considered for publication by *his* house, not 
because of their 
> quality but simply because I had expressed a public opinion to the 
EPIC list of 
> which *he* personally disapproved, I decided it was time to sever 
my connection 
> with that organization once and for all. (I still have that 
particular post, Ms 
> Lyons, in case you're wondering).

Freddie, it's pretty amazing that you skew facts like this.  Your 
main complaint with EPIC was, and still is, that it is romance heavy 
and you do science fiction, so you felt ignored.  Well, that may be 
true since EPIc was founded by romance writers, but there has been 
more diversity over the years.  You constantly attacked people on the 
EPIC list to start flame wars, and you were warned several times to 
stop the attacks by the list cops and even the President (all of 
which are not publishers).  I too have old posts and letters.

As far as your comment concerning us, that has nothing to do with 
EPIC.  Four years ago as we were working on a deal with another 
publisher to do print versions for their ebooks (at your original 
suggestion I might add), when you got mad at EPIC you took it upon 
yourself to start a campaign against us first by telling this other 
publisher not to deal with us because we were "going out of 
business."  I'd rather not go into more details in a public forum, 
but I cannot let your blanket inaccurate statements go unchallenged.  
A publisher is free to choose to work with an author or not.  Those 
that are antagonistic towards us probably won't work well with us so 
why should we try to work out any business relationship?  No one 
would be happy.  It's better to part ways prior to any formal 
relationship.  I'd suggest we let it all drop for the sake of 
professionalism before it turns into another list war.


> 
> Because I share Piers Anthony's abhorrence of blacklisting, I found 
this 
> statement from an electronic publisher who had just become a member 
of EPIC's 
> board very, very disturbing; and it was one of the main reasons why 
I questioned 
> EPIC's admittance of publishers such as Mundania to membership in 
the first 
> place, let alone its allowing them to run for office.

Freddie, it was explained to you at the time, many times, that I was 
an author, having been published first back in 1982.  That qualified 
me for EPIC membership as an author.  That also qualified me to run 
for office, as an author.  Officers are voluntary positions and are 
much more work than any benefit received from it.  It is done to help 
the organization grow (which has happened by more than doubling since 
you left).  I did make good contacts with authors and now have 
several as our authors and we're all happy.

To skew the facts does no good to anyone.  Get the facts, least they 
get you.


 
> When a publisher uses their clout to threaten an individual author 
with 
> blacklisting for an opinion they expressed to their own 
professional writers 
> organization's list that had nothing to do with the quality of 
their work, a 
> line has been crossed from which there can be no retreat. 
> 
> This is what happened to me at EPIC. The publisher in question also 
used his 
> capacity as an officer of that particular organization to attempt 
to enforce his 
> threat, and *that* is an offense that I will never forgive for as 
long as I 
> live.

Again you are incorrect.  No one blacklisted you, nothing was ever 
said about you.  This is the first time this has ever been discussed 
and you brought the whole thing up.  Don't try to skew facts to 
support your theories.  We discussed, in letters which I still have, 
why you attempted to sabotage our business deal and your reasoning 
was basically because you were mad at EPIC.  You made it personal.  
Therefore, no, I am not interested in publishing any of your books.  
I am not required to have business dealings with someone that 
actively works against us.  Since none of these problems were ever 
made public, until you just did it here, and nothing was ever 
mentioned to any other publisher, your claim of blacklisting is false 
and once again you skew the facts to suit your needs.  Because I 
don't want to publish your books does not mean you are blacklisted.  
I will ask you again to be professional and just drop the attacks on 
us.



> Fortunately for me, electronic publishers are not nearly as 
homogeneous as their 
> print counterparts or I might have suffered Piers  Anthony's fate. 
As Mr Anthony 
> says in his autobiography, Bio of an Ogre, he was deliberately 
blacklisted by 
> the rest of the print publishers for several years, thanks in large 
part to the 
> SFWA despicable failure to support him when he desperately needed 
their help. 
> His publication banishment finally ended when the late Lester Del 
Ray literally 
> stood up and said "to heck with you!", or words to that effect, and 
decided to 
> publish him anyway.

Interesting that you would attempt to label us as blacklisters yet 
call Mr. Anthony's name as a reference.  As you are no doubt aware, 
we are the second largest publisher for Piers Anthony after TOR.  He 
believes in us so that says quite a bit for the way we do business.  
With tens of thousands of small publishers now in existence, 
blacklisting has really gone out with the cold war back in the 70's.  
It's pretty much extinct as there is no way of herding all the 
publishers into any agreement against any author.  You'd have better 
chances of herding cats.  Yet yelling blacklist is like yelling fire 
in a theater, everyone sits up and takes notice because it scares 
them.  It is simply inciting a riot.


 
> Electronic publishing has been, for the most part, mercifully free 
from this 
> kind of bullying and, I for one, would like to see it continue that 
way. If EPIC 
> wants the president of Mundania to decide what should and should 
not be in their 
> online bookstore, that's their perogative, but they, and we, all 
need to keep in 
> mind that free speech is another matter entirely. 

As noted earlier, no one in EPIC decides what books to include or not 
include in the store.  You join EPIC, all of your publisher's books 
automatically appear in the EPIC store (as long as they are in 
Fictionwise, because the store is powered by Fictionwise).  And if 
you have multiple publishers, they are all included, which means all 
of their books are included.

Do you know what the funniest thing is about your whole post?  ALL of 
your ebooks are in the store already too.  Have been because all of 
Double-Dragon's books are there.  You aren't a member of EPIC and 
hate the organization, yet they are selling your books for you--and 
not "blacklisting" you.  How ironic is that?

Dan





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