Famous Writers Who Self-Published: Busting a Self-Publishing Myth – Peter Winkler takes on the false claims by “book promotion guru John Kremer” who compiled an inaccurate list of famous authors who once self published. Why Kremer does this when there are legitimate famous and successful authors who did self publish, I’m not sure but Winkler and lawyer C.E. Petit suggest that its because Kremer is like a snake oil salesman. Peter Winkler
Nearly Half of Parents Plan on Buying E-Reading Devices for Kids This Holiday Season – I had the iPad / Kindle Fire discussion with my hairdresser. She wondered what I thought of the Fire because she said “I can buy two of them for the price of one iPad and then the kids aren’t fighting over it.” Yup. Plus there are the parental controls, automatic time limits, children’s subscription for unlimited apps and books (select few). Add in Amazon Prime and it’s easy to see why many parents are thinking Kindle Fire for their kids. Digital Book World
Striking Back Against Censorship – Bloggers might have even one more reason to host with WordPress. On behalf of two different bloggers, WordPress’s parent company Automattic, is filing suit against those who are issuing spurious DMCA takedown orders. DMCA stands for Digital Millennium Copyright Act and allows companies to issue an order asking for content to be removed because it violates the intellectual property of another individual or corporation. The DMCA requires a website host to remove the content as “expeditiously” as possible.
It will come as no surprise to long time followers of DA that DMCA notices are routinely sent out with no basis at all. For many bloggers the threat of a lawsuit delivered via official letterhead is enough to get the content removed. Most bloggers aren’t lawyers nor do they have the funds to defend themselves. But as Automattic notes, there is a provision that allows the DMCA to be used as a sword by content providers by suing those who file fraudulent DMCAs. There are even some law firms and lawyers who’ve had ethical charges brought against them for sending out takedown notices without undertaking proper investigation of the charges. WordPress.com
And here are some unfortunate editing errors at supermarkets but who cares because lemons are perfect for orange juice.
