More Authors Guild Shenanigans

First, ALLi (Alliance of  Independent Authors) embraced AI (Artificial Intelligence) and sold out its members. [Note: In the interest of transparency, I am a member of Alli.]

Now AG (Authors Guild) claims the only way to protect its members is by selling out their members to Big Tech by licensing the works of its members to these companies.

Big Tech is already scraping the internet, aka stealing artistic works. Instead of fighting them, why are organization,s that are supposed to by representing our interests, stabbing us in the back?

It all comes down to money. ALLi and AG are probably planning to skim the money supposedly pain to them on our behalf. Last week, Lilith Saintcrow had a rundown of her communications with AG over the matter.

The out-and-out lying of AG wasn't surprising. It has become the norm in our society, which is frightening in and of itself. When I was visiting my cousin in WV last week, the subject of Springfield, Ohio, came up more than once. *facepalm*

I have never wished to join AG after its anti-indie stance when I first started publishing in 2011. But how long will I remain a member of  ALLI? Long enough to use the free codes to update my paperbacks on Ingram, which I'm in the process of doing.

By update, I mean fixing the typos that escaped editors while my formatter is updating the back matter. (I've got 83 books out right now, under two names, and there will be two more published before the end of the year. I'm currently working on the Bloodlines series and the Bloodlines shorts. After that, I'll buckle down on the Justice series for its upcoming 10th anniversary.

I kind of wish that Writers Guild of America accepted writers of other calibers besides screenwriters because they are the only ones in the U.S. who seem to give a shit about writer's rights.

Reality Check on Covers

I'm seeing this among newbies. Again. The subject seems to come up every two years.

If you use a PUBLIC STOCK PHOTO SITE to purchase  files for your cover, you have no right to stop other cover artists or authors from using a particular photo.

Exclusive rights to a photo are expensive. If you want an exclusive photo to use for you cover, you're going to pay out the nose.

Unless you're the photographer. Even then, you'll need permission if the subject of the photo is a person.

So, that means if you purchased the standard license, a non-exclusive licensing right from most of these stock sites, like ShutterStock, DepositPhoto, Adobe Stock, etc., you cannot stop someone else from using that photo if they buy the same standard license.

That also means you cannot harass other cover designers and authors. You're not going to succeed in shutting down everyone. And frankly, it makes you look like an uneducated idiot.

If you don't understand the different licensing rights, you probably shouldn't be submitting to publishers or publishing yourselves. You really need to learn the various licensing rights, or you may find yourself in a lot of legal trouble.

And no writer has time for that shit.