Advance copy of Stewart's book on ebay

[visions]

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/STEWART-COPELAND ... 7C294%3A50

out of price range but thought some one might be interested

[TheEqualizer]

Tempting. I'll have to check back 4 days or so from now to see where the bids are.

[Maud138]

Really tempting!

[giovanni]

Ahaha, I can't believe it...the copy I had in my hands last week had some handwritten notes from Stewart, corrections, etc... THAT would be the rarest one...

[visions]

Thanks Gio now I weep I can not afford it

I can only hope one our peeps gets it!!!!!

Can't wait until it comes out already ordered and waiting!!

That's our boy always keeping us in suspense

Can't wait Stewart!!!!!!!

[luddite lady]

I fear I'm about to create another shit storm. But heck, I'm getting really good at it, so here goes...
Perhaps this sort of thing happens all the time and is condoned, and I'm just naive. However, I'm unhappy about this selling of a draft copy. How did this person get a hold of it? I doubt it was by legitimate means. And the sole purpose of procuring it was to sell for profit. But they didn't write the thing nor did they edit and publish it. Thus, they should not profit from it. Reselling a used, coveted book is a whole different thing from selling one that has not even been released. Frankly, it's stealing and it stinks. Stewart may not need the cash at the moment, but the publishing industry worldwide is really hurting these days and even a large outfit like Harper Studios is feeling the pain. I ain't buying DVD's from the trunk of any body's car and I ain't interested in this e-bay offer either.

As I said from the outset, I'm pretty clueless. For all I know,this stuff may be perfectly acceptable to the industry. It could be that Harper Studios created this leak on purpose to generate greater buzz. If that's true, could one of you with an insider's view of the publishing industry, (Mo*cough*DM*cough*) please set me straight. Then I'll gladly write a big, fat "NEVER MIND!" and Luanne this rant.

[samburusunset]

I don't think your "rant" is too far off the mark, LL. I'm also skeptical at moralness (is that a word?) of this auction item. I asked the seller where this book was procured and the response I got was that he/she is a book reviewer. I don't know beans about the book industry, but do they really send people "uncorrected proofs" to review? Wouldn't that kind of be like reviewing a film before it's been edited? The final product may end up a bit different. Anywho, I believe we have a Nutterette (don't recall her moniker) in the book biz. Maybe she can clear up some of our skepticism.

While I'm dying to see what's in there, I'm not inclined to pop down some bucks for this. I feel like it's cheating somehow. I don't want to help line this guy's pockets at Stewart's expense. Just MHO.

[DirtyMartini]

[ETA: Sorry, I was holding forth while Amy was posting, so I've ETAed in some spots.]

Llady, I'm far from an insider; I'm just well versed. Here's the deal:

A galley proof is essentially an unfinished version of the book. The text of the book has been poured onto pages and given its basic layout, but the clean-up has yet to be done. The text has not been proofread (at all or in a final form, depending on the company); the finalized art hasn't been placed yet. It gives the writer, the proofreader, the editor, and the art department a working copy to work with so they can see what needs to be fixed in a practical format.

A lot of publishers, however, also use these unfinished galleys as advanced reader copies, copies of the book sent out to media outlets, libraries, etc. to look at before the official release. They're not final copies, and the text could change substantially if the writer or editor sees fit (much to the nightmare of the art department), but barring major revisions, the galley gives reviewers and buyers a good idea of what the finished product will be. (And hopefully, therefore, help sell it with positive reviews, etc.)

So yep, like Amy said, the final product may end up being different; those differences, however, help make the galley copies more valuable. You get to see what may have been added or removed or changed from the official release.

Copies may or may not be distributed with a nondisclosure agreement ("I swear on my children's lives that I won't post online the part of the book where Stewart confesses to have blahblahblah"), but let's face it: once it's out there, it's out there. If this eBay seller is smart, he's not the original possessor of that galley copy; he's the friend of the original person who signed the NDA. But it's not like we're talking about a breach of contract really worth pursuing. It is what it is.

Personally, I agree that it's unfortunate, but primarily because the book isn't out yet. The galley is more valuable pre-release, so the seller is smart to sell now (I'm actually surprised that it took as long as it did for one to show up), but it also means that Stewart's confession of blahblahblah (which I'm making up, by the way) could get blown before it's meant to -- and that can take sales and money away from him.

The thing with HarperStudio -- and this is publicly available general info, not specific to SC's personal deal -- is that they work with a different business plan than a lot of publishers. Instead of advancing a writer X amount of money and (sometimes) a small % of the later sales, HarperStudio runs on a system that is more akin to profit-sharing: HS gives little or no advance to the writer, and instead HS and the writer share the profits 50-50 (or whatever amount is arranged, but from what I remember, the basic deal is 50-50).

With the usual advance system, the writer gets his or her X amount, regardless of how many books are sold. If none sell, the publisher eats it (and the writer has trouble getting a new deal); if gazillions sell, the publisher makes a mint (and the writer sees only a small amount of that success or, again depending on the deal, none at all). Think record industry.

With HarperStudio's profit-sharing, however, the writer gets paid only by what he sells. So the more books that sell, the better both he and the publisher make out. I don't think SAC is exactly hurting for that income (please don't smite me, Stewart), but most publishers certainly are, and even more important (since money might not matter much in this situation) is the number of units sold.

This is just one galley copy, and you figure that someone who wants it would (hopefully) buy a copy of the official release; but it's not that one copy that's the problem so much as the number of copies that might not sell as a result of whatever information might get leaked (whether by pre-judgment of the material or by the simple idea of, "Well, I've already read the juiciest part online, so why do I need to buy it?") Same goes when official reviews go out really, but this is three months ahead, which is pretty significant. (As in a lot of situations, there is that battle between whether advanced knowledge of particular information will push people to go out and buy faster or if that knowledge will stop them from doing so. Depends on who you ask. Craps game.)

Very long story made short: that the galley copy is out in the world is not stealing: the copies are out there legitimately. Some might say that the selling of them, however, is dishonest or asshatty because those copies are provided in confidence, are not meant to be sold, and the sale of them is nothing but profit to eBay guy (who got his copy for free) and not to the writer and publisher who own the rights and did the work. (Not that reviewers making cash off advanced copies is new.)

My opinion: selling the galley after the official release, meh, go nuts; they are indeed collectible, and at that point, you're not messing with the publication or sales. I won't lie: I'd love a galley copy. I'm interested in different editions or copies of a book not for collectibility but for comparing how a particular text evolved, so I fully admit that being able to compare a galley proof to the official release would be super cool cuz that's the kind of geek I am.

But selling before the release, I think doing so is bad form. That's where you make better money, but I still think it's bad form. That's just me.


Only semi-related: STEWART, three words: quality proofreader please. I'm begging you. Otherwise, Susan, luddite lady, Schmaffy, and I are going to explode. Thank you.

[luddite lady]

Thanks for the enlightenment, DM. Now that I have some knowlege of the process, I stand by my post pretty much. Let's just hope that the most salacious leak weaned from this unproofed galley is that Stewart has trouble spelling friend and Dietmar. But we already knew that. I can see the Reuters headline now: "Rock star never taught the i before e rule!"
However, all joking aside, I'm worried about this situation given what happened a couple of years ago on this private little site. Any quote taken out of context could cause a whole lotta problems. Fasten your seat belts, folks. We may be in for quite a ride.

[Susan]

Yes to everything Luddite Lady, SamburuSunset and Dirty Martini said.
I don't approve of selling these galleys before the book is released. It does seem like cheating. It makes me question the character of the person selling it--something is given in confidence and then it's on ebay? Can no one keep ANYTHING to themselves anymore?

I can't wait to read it myself but of course I WILL wait. I hope a fan with a big wallet, but a small mouth, can get a hold of it to take it out of circulation.

Another use of galleys is to sell subsidiary rights. That is when you see an excerpt of a book in a magazine (or online), or Book of the Month Club, etc. Audio books are sometimes produced by outside companies and they pay the original publishers a fee for the right to do so. There are also companies that produce book summaries (think "Reader's Digest Condensed Books" but for business books). So the people who buy these rights are often given galleys so they can make decisions--with a really hot title you can almost get a bidding war over who gets "exlusive" rights to excerpt a key chapter--but not enough material to cause most potential buyers to not buy the book.

One such example is when Eric Clapton's autobiography came out and "Vanity Fair" magazine had a few pages of it.
Yes, I used to work in this side of the publishing business.

[giovanni]

The copy you see there should be exactly like the one Stewart showed me, that means with a kinda poor graphic, not definitive of course, with pics not well printed, in terms of quality, being just a copy to be read for corrections.
Stewart was thinking about moving some pics from one page to the other, maybe he will cut in a different way some of them, changing the back of the cover adding one pic, or taking one from the ones already in one of the chapters...things like that.

I was talking with Stewart about the work I did with the book of The Police I wrote years ago, the one with his foreword; I remember I gave the final version of what I wrote to the publisher, then they read it and changed a few lines, then I re-read it and discovered THEY did some mistakes, and changed it again; they kept it again, changed what I told them to change and I had it back to re-read it again to give the final ok....Stewart told me he's doing exactly the same...ahaha!

[smudge]

I don't like the situation too much either. Hardly a huge issue, but a bit irritating. How about if we, collectively, buy it, and get it mailed to someone/somewhere where it won't leak out, if possible get it scribbled on in marker pen by the author, and then flog it on ebay in october with all proceeds going to the Coolbreeze fund at MIF? That way it will, ultimately, end up with someone who wants it as an artifact rather than a scoop, and it does something useful en route. Just a thought...

[Susan]

A new question--Gio, how do we get to see YOUR book about the Police? Even if it was in Italian only, that would possibly inspire me to re-learn what I forgot since college.

[luddite lady]

[quote="smudge"]I don't like the situation too much either. Hardly a huge issue, but a bit irritating. How about if we, collectively, buy it, and get it mailed to someone/somewhere where it won't leak out, if possible get it scribbled on in marker pen by the author, and then flog it on ebay in october with all proceeds going to the Coolbreeze fund at MIF? That way it will, ultimately, end up with someone who wants it as an artifact rather than a scoop, and it does something useful en route. Just a thought...[/quote]

I think this is a brilliant idea! I'd gladly contribute something financially to procure this document for that purpose. It would turn a kind of slimy act into a very good one. Excellent, smudge.

ETA: Sorry about that Susan. I knew there was another Nutter out there with ties to publishing, but I couldn't remember who it was. Thanks for your insights.
And Gio, I'd like to know how to get a copy of your book, too.

[Susan]

LL, no apology necessary! No reason to expect that you'd remember that 10 years ago I worked in publishing. Sometimes even *I* forget!