Miracle Jones - Slashdot User

Submission + - What if Copyright Was Uses, Not Duration? (fictioncircus.com)

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Miracle Jones

on Saturday March 13, 2010 @12:10PM

Miracle Jones writes: "What if instead of being based on duration, copyright was based on the number of uses, encouraging creators to be wiser about the way they choose to exploit their creative properties? Like a coffee punchcard. Additionally, if somebody never wants to publish or make money off what they have created, then they would retain their copyright basically forever. There are problems with this, obviously, but such a system would protect rights while also limiting Disney-style abuses."

Submission + - Live-Action Comic Book Puts Real Art on the Screen (fictioncircus.com)

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Miracle Jones

on Tuesday February 09, 2010 @11:17PM

Miracle Jones writes: ""The Intergalactic Nemesis" is the first of its kind: a live-action graphic novel that is being performed serially at the Alamo Drafthouse movie theater in Austin, Texas. Before the trailers at movies like "Daybreakers" and "The Lightning Thief," the pulp comic book is being staged by professional voice actors who read the dialog while the individual comic panels are projected on the screen behind them. This creates a communal comic book experience, where fans can enjoy the actual comic book art and pacing instead of a bad movie adaptation that tries to recreate comics panel by panel anyway, like "The Watchmen" or "300." Imagine old "Tales From the Crypt" comics put on this way...or "The Invisibles"....or R. Crumb's "Book of Genesis"..."

Submission + - This Title Has a 21.4% Chance of Being Slashdotted (fictioncircus.com)

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Miracle Jones

on Monday February 08, 2010 @04:40PM

Miracle Jones writes: "The Lulu Titlescorer will tell you exactly (to the decimal) how likely it is that your novel title will give you a bestseller. All you do is plug in your title, answer a few grammar questions, and then get ready to cash in. From Lulu: "We commissioned a research team to analyse the title of every novel to have topped the hardback fiction section of the New York Times Bestseller List during the half-century from 1955 to 2004 and then compare them with the titles of a control group of less successful novels by the same authors. The team, lead by British statistician Dr. Atai Winkler, then used the data gathered from a total of some 700 titles to create this "Lulu Titlescorer" a program able to predict the chances that any given title would produce a New York Times No. 1 bestseller." The real question is, can anybody write a better title than "Atlas Shrugged"?"

Submission + - This Title Has a 43% Chance of Being Slashdotted

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Miracle Jones

on Monday February 08, 2010 @04:26PM

Miracle Jones writes: "The Lulu Titlescorer will tell you (to the decimal) exactly how likely it is that any given novel will become a bestseller. You plug in the title, answer a few grammar questions, and then voila! "The Lulu Titlescorer is a useful tool, which, in Lulu's 50-year study of some 700 novels, proved 40% better than random guess-work in guessing whether a particular title had produced a bestseller or not. "It guessed right in nearly 70% of cases," says Dr Atai Winkler. "Given the nature of the data and the way tastes change, this is very good – better than we might have expected." But can anybody get a better score than "Atlas Shrugged?""

Submission + - DOJ Says No to Amended Google Book Settlement (fictioncircus.com)

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Miracle Jones

on Friday February 05, 2010 @12:37AM

Miracle Jones writes: "The Department of Justice issued a filing today saying that the recent amendments to the Google Book Settlement are not good enough, delivering a serious blow to the chances that the Settlement will be approved in New York on February 18th. From the DOJ: "...the amended settlement agreement suffers from the same core problem as the original agreement: it is an attempt to use the class action mechanism to implement forward-looking business arrangements that go far beyond the dispute before the court in this litigation." While the DOJ says it is committed to helping Google and the Author's Guild fix this problem, there is not nearly enough time for this to happen, unless Google has a secret emergency settlement hidden away somewhere."

Submission + - Ursula Le Guin's Petition Against Google Books

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Miracle Jones

on Saturday January 23, 2010 @12:49PM

Miracle Jones writes: "Science fiction writer Ursula Le Guin (five Hugo awards, six Nebulas) has created a petition against the Google Book Settlement and is urging professional writers who are opposed to the terms of the settlement to sign it before the January 28th deadline. From her online petition: "The free and open dissemination of information and of literature, as it exists in our Public Libraries, can and should exist in the electronic media. All authors hope for that. But we cannot have free and open dissemination of information and literature unless the use of written material continues to be controlled by those who write it or own legitimate right in it. We urge our government and our courts to allow no corporation to circumvent copyright law or dictate the terms of that control.""

Submission + - Le Guin Quits Authors Guild Over Google Settlement

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Miracle Jones

on Thursday December 24, 2009 @07:04AM

Miracle Jones writes: "Ursula Le Guin — one of the most well-respected writers of fiction on planet Earth (five Hugo awards, six Nebula awards, and one National Book Award) — has resigned from the Authors Guild as a result of the Google Book Settlement: "You decided to deal with the devil, as it were, and have presented your arguments for doing so. I wish I could accept them. I can't. There are principles involved, above all the whole concept of copyright; and these you have seen fit to abandon to a corporation, on their terms, without a struggle. So, after being a loyal if invisible member for so long, I am resigning from the Guild. I am, however, retaining membership in the National Writers Union and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, both of which opposed the "Google settlement." They don't have your clout, but their judgment, I think, is sounder, and their courage greater.""

Submission + - EMI Sells Apple-Shaped "Seed" of Beatles Songs 1

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Miracle Jones

on Tuesday December 08, 2009 @03:29PM

Miracle Jones writes: "The remaining Beatles and EMI are partnering to release an apple-shaped flash drive full of all their studio songs. "The exquisitely crafted, apple-shaped USB drive is loaded with the critically acclaimed re-mastered audio for The Beatles’ 14 stereo titles, as well as all of the re-mastered CDs’ visual elements, including 13 mini-documentary films about the studio albums, replicated original UK album art, rare photos and expanded liner notes." This is the first high profile "Seed" sculpture and answers the question about how you can build and sell artistic information as a creator in the twenty-first century without mucking about with sleazy online distribution systems."

Submission + - Short Stories Published as USB Penis (fictioncircus.com)

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Miracle Jones

on Monday November 23, 2009 @11:42AM

Miracle Jones writes: "The collection "Seed" is only available as a provocative digital sculpture. Each of the ten stories on "Seed" is available in every possible ebook format, along with both live and studio audio recordings. Also included on "Seed" is a .pdf bookblock formatted especially for the Espresso Book Machine. All of this information has been crammed into a 2 gig flash drive shaped like a dick, available in many colors. Here's a sample story from the collection and an essay about the concept without any dick pics. The experiment could model a way for other creators to make money on digital content while still getting it out there."

Submission + - How Do You Give an Ebook for Xmas? (fictioncircus.com)

Submitted by

Miracle Jones

on Monday October 05, 2009 @10:18AM

Miracle Jones writes: "One idea is selling books as digital sculptures; as flash drives loaded with expanding content: "When you buy "Seed," you are not just buying an ebook, you are buying every possible electronic and paper version of "Seed." We will include all thirty proprietary formats for ereaders, including simple text files, .epub, and .pdfs. Additionally, we will also include a specially-formatted .pdf that will allow you to print and bind "Seed" at an Espresso Book Machine or any other "on demand" printer as a real, honest-to-God paper book. You will even be able to choose your own cover.""

Comment Here's your solution right here, gang... (Score 1) 350

by Miracle Jones on Sunday October 04, 2009 @03:43PM (#29637455) Attached to: Will Books Be Napsterized?

I've been thinking about this problem for a dog's age, from the perspective of a fiction writer. "Seed" For Sale Get your wallets out! Christmas is coming!

Submission + - Google Books Settlement Goes Back to Beta (fictioncircus.com)

Submitted by

Miracle Jones

on Wednesday September 23, 2009 @03:04AM

Miracle Jones writes: "The Google books settlement has been removed from consideration by Google and the Author's Guild after the DOJ made it crystal clear that the settlement would not be ratified "as is" due to foreign rights, privacy, and antitrust reasons. The October 7th "fairness hearing" has been canceled, and the next step is a November 6th "status hearing" where the plaintiffs will reveal changes to the new settlement, such as how they plan to make the new settlement more fair, legal, and inclusive, and whether or not they will need to notify all the members of the class action lawsuit (7 million writers or so) YET AGAIN as a result of the changes. Some people are very happy about this."

Submission + - U.S. Copyright Office Tears Apart Google Books at (fictioncircus.com)

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Miracle Jones

on Friday September 11, 2009 @11:26AM

Miracle Jones writes: "After unsurprising testimony on both sides of the Google book settlement at yesterday's Congressional hearing entitled "Commerce and Competition in Digital Books," the U.S. Copyright Office delivered a three point total attack about why Congress should turn down the settlement, citing the fact that the issue is not a matter for the courts to decide and will assuredly provoke diplomatic hostility with rightsholders abroad. Who will Congress listen to more? If the big money on both sides of this issue cancel each other out, will the U.S.Copyright Office give the deciding analysis?"

Submission + - Congress Holds Google Book Settlement Hearing (fictioncircus.com)

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Miracle Jones

on Thursday September 10, 2009 @11:22AM

Miracle Jones writes: "Congress is holding a surprise hearing about the Google book settlement today, calling witnesses from Google, the Author's Guild, Amazon, the National Federation for the Blind, the U.S. Copyright Office, and Consumer Watchdog. No authors or publishers will give testimony before Congress about the settlement. Tuesday was the deadline to raise objections or opt-out of the settlement, and the courts are now deciding whether or not to ratify the settlement's provisions, pending the results of the Justice Department's antitrust investigation. With Congress interested, now all three branches of government are involved in this class action lawsuit."

Submission + - Attorney Files Massive Objection to Google Books (publishersweekly.com)

Submitted by

Miracle Jones

on Thursday August 20, 2009 @01:41AM

Miracle Jones writes: "Attorney Scott Gant has filed a massive, 50-page objection to the Google books settlement, laying down what Publisher's Weekly has called the "first heavyweight objection." Gant is not only a Harvard-educated class action lawyer: he is also a member of the class of authors that the "Author's Guild" claims to represent. He's the author of "We're All Journalists Now: The Transformation of the Press and Reshaping of the Law in The Internet Age." Gant echoes many of the objections that others have raised to the settlement in the past, but also highlights the fact that the settlement fails to protect the due process rights of absent members of the class, claiming that the settlement is a "predominantly commercial transaction," that "cannot be imposed through the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23." Note to Google: lawyers write books, too."

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