A question I recently received:
Hi Allison,
I was wondering if you can offer me some advice about freelance writing. I want to put a portfolio on my website so that potential clients can see things I’ve written in the past. I am not sure what I’m legally allowed to use. When I sell something, can I still use it for a portfolio? I’m not making any money off of it.
Thanks!
Gooooooood question (and thanks for letting me repost it here – you know who you are). The answer isn’t simple, but I’ll do my best to help you.
First and foremost, copyright laws …read more

As one of the most omnipresent entities on the Internet, Google has faced a slew of allegations from industry experts and competitors alike about its purported monopoly of the search engine business. While it has not yet been found in violation of monopoly laws, Google has yet another battle to fight, this time regarding Google’s plans to make an online database of books. 
 
Google’s $125 million settlement with several book publishers concerning copyright issues has raised several eyebrows. Antitrust supporters worry that Google’s plans to make an online database of out-of-print books would make Google the only supplier of these books, …read more

Quick rant – and anyone who does freelance photography, please listen up.
When you make a picture available for public use on a website, you’re giving blanket rights for anyone who meets certain criteria to use the picture. It doesn’t matter if it’s being used for a children’s newsletter or hanging in an
adult-only store. It just isn’t fair for you to go back to certain people and send them nasty emails about using their pictures, as long as they are doing so with proper attribution and according to the site guidelines. It’s so damn frustrating.
I get pictures from Flickr from time …read more

I finally got around to checking out one of the advertisers here, CreateSpace. At first glance it appears CreateSpace was perhaps set up to compete directly with Lulu.com – unless you want premium services, there are no fees to upload your book, etc.
What I didn’t realize until I got to the bottom of a page is that the company is owned by Amazon, the giant online bookstore.
Because I’ve been following Angela Hoy’s Booklocker lawsuit against Amazon for insisting self-publishers use Amazon-owned BookSurge if they want to be treated well at the online bookstore, I sent her a quick email …read more

(www.thegoldenpencil.com)
On July 31, 2008, BookLocker filed their response to Amazon’s expected motion to dismiss BookLocker’s suit against the online retailer for its insistence self-publishers use Amazon owned BookSurge to receive preferential treatment on the virtual bookstore. The announcement was made to the blogosphere on Angela Hoy’s Amazon BookSurge Antitrust Lawsuit Clearinghouse blog.
This is the blog to read if you want to really understand the issues. There are links to of BooklLocker’s original complaint, Amazon’s motion to dismiss and to BookLocker’s response, all in one place. It will take some reading, but it’s worth it.
For example, footnote 4 on BookLocker’s response …read more

Most of you will remember I sent a letter to Jeff Bezos as part of my response to SPAN’s decision to back Angela Hoy’s BookLocker suit against the giant etailer.
Yesterday or the day before, an email wandered in in response. Here it is in part:
Hello from Amazon.com.
My name is Peg Anderson of Amazon.com’s Executive Customer Relations. Jeff Bezos received your e-mail and has asked me to reply on his behalf.
Given your interest in Amazon Print On Demand, I want to make sure that you had an opportunity to read a letter we published about what we’re changing and why. …read more

Okay, I’ve sent an email, signed a petition and helped spread the word about Booklocker’s suit against Amazon. All those will help, and if I’m willing to back them up by shopping with someone else, I’d really be on track. I’d put off that decision, knowing how easy it is to shop at Amazon. Plus, for me, there’s the whole business of affiliate income. I don’t make a ton, but enough to buy a tank of gas now and again.
Today push began to come to shove. I was working on my own book (!) and wanted to buy and review …read more

SPAN, the Small Publishers Association of North America, has publicallty taken a position in favor of Angela Hoy’s BookLocker suit against Amazon for its insistence that small and self-publishers use Amazon-owned BookSurge for printing if they are to receive favorable listing on the online retailers sites. The announcement, titled
Amazon/BookSurge Antitrust Lawsuit Campaign describes how and why their Board of Directors voted to support the class action antitrust lawsuit, BookLocker.com, Inc. vs. Amazon.com, Inc.
But they went much further than offering support; they also started a campaign to “generate public pressure to compel Amazon to reverse its policy.” Included in that …read more

Angela Hoy’s Amazon BookSurge Antitrust Lawsuit Clearinghouse points to an article at Investor’s Business Daily by Doug Tsuruoka called Amazon Deals Have Short Shelf Life.
The gist is many of the retailers who have partnered with the online bookseller are unhappy and are leaving Amazon to start their own etailing websites. The only publisher mentioned is Borders, and there’s no indication in the article that this trend has anything directly to do with the callous way Amazon is is forcing POD publishers to use Amazon-owned BookSurge. And there may not be a connection.
But it’s tempting to at least wonder if …read more

A press release wandered in yesterday titled: Australian Book Printer Challenges Amazon.com’s Booksurge for Market Dominance
Although I don’t see anything in the press release that leads me to believe Booktasia is really different than Amazon’s BookSurge, it’s interesting that they at least allude to some of the problems some self-publishers have had with BookSurge, most specifically, allegations of poor quality with pages falling out. In fact, it seems almost as if they are acknowledging the premier position BookSurge is now in because they were purchased by Amazon.
What they seem not to be addressing is Amazon’s power as a seller of …read more