[ASC-list] ASC-list Digest, Vol 75, Issue 14

Fri Feb 4 05:35:13 UTC 2011

Thanks Rob,

Also regards to book contracts, there is an excellent book 'Australian Book
Contracts' written by the Australian Society of Authors and covers topics
such as copyright - where they state you don't have to sign over your
copyright to your publisher. They go through all aspects very clearly
including communicating with your publisher, self-publishing, etc the ELR
and PLR and also offer a contract advisory service.

With regard to setting up as a freelance writer, there was a recent edition
of Victoria Writers Centre magazine focusing on this topic.

cheers

Marina

On 4 February 2011 16:04, <asc-list-request at lists.asc.asn.au> wrote:

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> than "Re: Contents of ASC-list digest..."
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> Today's Topics:
>
>   1. Re: Freelance rates continued (Ian Woolf)
>   2. Re: Freelance rates continued (Rob Morrison)
>   3. First Australian Seeds to Arctic  Vault (Cathy Reade)
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Ian Woolf <iwoolf at gmail.com>
> To: asc-list at lists.asc.asn.au
> Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2011 13:11:47 +1100
> Subject: Re: [ASC-list] Freelance rates continued
>
> I've heard that there are many publishers pushing new contracts onto
> freelance writers that ask for:
>
> 1) promises that you never write for a list of competing
> publications/publishers
> 2) that you indemnify the publisher if they get sued for the content of
> your story
> 3) that you are selling them all copyright in every medium forever for
> the same rate as they paid for first publication rights
>
> Can anyone tell me if this has happened to them as a science freelancer?
> How have you got around it to still make a living? Which publications
> allow you to keep your own copyright to re-sell in other markets or
> collect into your own books?
>
> cheers,
>                   Ian
> http://www.ianwoolf.com
> http://www.diffusionradio.com
>
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Rob Morrison <rob.morrison at flinders.edu.au>
> To: Ian Woolf <iwoolf at gmail.com>, "asc-list at lists.asc.asn.au" <
> asc-list at lists.asc.asn.au>
> Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2011 20:26:13 -0800
> Subject: Re: [ASC-list] Freelance rates continued
> When I started writing science and natural history books and science books
> for schools (30 years ago or so), the usual deal was 10% of retail. For a
> $20 book the author got $2. That was fine unless the publisher decided to
> remainder them, and then you got zilch. This happened to me when that fine
> Australiana publisher of Field Guides, Rigby, was bought out by Hardie's,
> which regarded books as akin to asbestos and cement pipes, therby destroying
> a good publisher overnight.
>
> Publishers then moved to something like 17% of publisher's receipts, which
> we were told would be the same or better. It wasn't, and some unscrupulous
> publishers set up their own distribition arm as a separate entity. That
> meant they could "sell" the books to the distributor, with the "publisher"
> receiving hardly anything, from which we then got our miserable 17% of
> sod-all, while the "distributor" sold the books for full price, all of which
> they kept to swell the coffers of the parent business.
>
> More recently science books for reading programs have seen publishers offer
> a flat fee, specified wordage/age level/topic etc, take it or leave it, and
> they get the copyright. We are able to be identified as the books' authors,
> but the books show copyright is with the publisher. Because I have published
> nearly 30 books with one publisher, I have asked to keep my copyright and
> they have agreed, but I have lost copyright on other books with other
> publishers.
>
> This all has some pluses and minuses.
>
> On the plus side, and especially for new authors, the flat fee has
> something to commend it. Depending on the publisher it can be a reasonable
> amount if you take it as $ per word, and you don't have the uncertainties of
> remaindering, no sales etc.  It is also sometimes true that you will get an
> offer to do several of these books on a theme (energy, rocks etc) for
> different levels. You may miss out if the book then goes to America (Aust
> publishers have such a small audience here that they often need to work with
> USA publishers to get the audience there in order to make the print run
> pay). On the other hand, most of these books for reading programs are simply
> one of dozens in the the program, and no single one is likely to be a
> runaway best-seller (often schools buy the program as a job lot).
>
> I say new authors because there is also merit in getting at least some of
> these boooks on your CV in order to try for a better deal with other
> puiblishers, especially if you are making a pitch on an idea of your own for
> a book. It gives you some extra presence as a published book author. This
> way you get some books on your CV and some guaranteed payment for them.
>
> On the minus side, the loss of copyright means that you can't then claim on
> ELR# or PLR# or  copying fees# if bits are photocopied, reprinted etc, and
> those fees can be surprisingly good.
>
> # For those who are writing and don't know about stuff marked # above,
> these VERY IMPORTANT things to ponder.
>
> ***1*** Register yourself with the Copyright Agency Ltd (CAL). I find them
> terrific. If your work (ie with your copyright)  is photocopied or copied in
> any way, they will pass on to you the details and collect your entitlement
> from schools, universities etc, taking a very modest percentage for doing
> so. All you have to do is register, check the statements when they come in,
> sign them, and then receive the cheque. NOTE that you have to split it with
> co-authors or perhaps your publisher if it is a book.
>
> Do this now evben if you have published in the past. I have received CAL
> requests for the whereabouts of authors of poems, puzzles, fact sheets etc
> who have appeared in the same books as my pieces. Cheques (sometimes for
> hundreds of dollars) await them, but nobody knows how to contact them.
>
> ***2*** Register any and all books for PLR and ELR (Public and Educational
> Lending Rights) - online;  downloadable forms etc. This is a Fed government
> scheme to compensate authors for lost sales when their books end up in
>  libraries (people who borrow them don't buy them). If the survey estimates
> you have at least 50 copies in libraries across Australia, you get a cheque
> each year for each of those books.
>
> ***3*** In any book contract, check carefully any clauses relating to
> reprinting/reproduction. Try to ensure that copying fees (technically
> reproduction) go at least partly to you, not all to your publisher. May be
> hard to do if you sign away your copyright.
>
> I have published 43 books and, although most are now out of print (no
> further income from sales), there is a very welcome annual PLR/ELR cheque
> because many of these books are in public and school libraries. This is one
> of the sources of income denied you if you give up your copyright.
>
> Registrations for CAL and PLR/ELR are free.
>
> Rob
>
> Dr Rob Morrison
> rob.morrison at flinders.edu.au
> Phone: (08) 8339 3790
> Fax: (08)8339 6272
> ________________________________________
> From: asc-list-bounces at lists.asc.asn.au [asc-list-bounces at lists.asc.asn.au]
> On Behalf Of Ian Woolf [iwoolf at gmail.com]
> Sent: Friday, 4 February 2011 12:41 PM
> To: asc-list at lists.asc.asn.au
> Subject: Re: [ASC-list] Freelance rates continued
>
> I've heard that there are many publishers pushing new contracts onto
> freelance writers that ask for:
>
> 1) promises that you never write for a list of competing
> publications/publishers
> 2) that you indemnify the publisher if they get sued for the content of
> your story
> 3) that you are selling them all copyright in every medium forever for
> the same rate as they paid for first publication rights
>
> Can anyone tell me if this has happened to them as a science freelancer?
> How have you got around it to still make a living? Which publications
> allow you to keep your own copyright to re-sell in other markets or
> collect into your own books?
>
> cheers,
>                   Ian
> http://www.ianwoolf.com
> http://www.diffusionradio.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> ASC-list mailing list
> list at asc.asn.au
>
> http://www.asc.asn.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=97&Itemid=115
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: "Cathy Reade" <creade at squirrel.com.au>
> To: <asc-list at lists.asc.asn.au>
> Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2011 14:50:04 +1000
> Subject: [ASC-list] First Australian Seeds to Arctic Vault
>
> *The Crawford Fund *
>
> * *
>
> *MEDIA RELEASE*
>
> *4 February 2011*
>
> Contact: Cathy Reade 0413 575 934
>
> cathy.reade at crawfordfund.org
>
> *Interviews possible prior to 11 February*
>
> * *
>
> *FIRST HISTORIC SHIPMENT OF AUSTRALIAN SEEDS TO ARCTIC VAULT*
>
> * *
>
> An Australian farmer will soon leave the floods and heat of the Wimmera,
> don special
>
> protective clothing and go through a variety of quarantine and other safety
> checks at a
>
> remote frozen location in Norway to make the historical first deposit of
> crop seeds from
>
> Australia in the Arctic ‘doomsday’ seed vault. The seeds have already been
> through the
>
> hoops of national and international protocols and are waiting to be taken
> to Svalbard on 16
>
> February.
>
>
>
> “Like the seeds on their way to Svalbard, Australian farming has gone a
> long way
>
> considering all our food crops are exotic to this country. We have depended
> almost
>
> completely on other countries for seeds to feed us and make us a major
> force in global
>
> agriculture,” said Dr Tony Gregson, a member of the Crawford Fund board,
> who will be
>
> joined in Svalbard by Professor Edwina Cornish, Deputy Vice-Chancellor
> (Research) at
>
> Monash University and Mr James Choi, the Australian Ambassador to Norway.
>
>
>
> “Like me, many Australian farmers have been dealing with extremes in
> weather which are
>
> harsh reminders of the need to research and have access to crops that can
> adapt to
>
> changing conditions and new pests and diseases,” said Tony.
>
>
>
> While Australia has only just organised its first shipment, it played an
> important role in the
>
> vault’s establishment. Through AusAID and the Grains Research and
> Development
>
> Corporation, Australia was one of the first countries to support the Global
> Crop Diversity
>
> Trust which operates the seed vault in partnership with the Norwegian
> government and the
>
> Nordic Genetic Resource Center in Sweden.
>
>
>
> “Australia has been a generous and committed supporter of the Global Crop
> Diversity Trust
>
> from the beginning. Australia's unique geography means that, perhaps more
> than any other
>
> nation, it is acutely aware of how vulnerable agriculture is, and of the
> vital importance of
>
> crop diversity in confronting the challenges to each harvest. We are
> thrilled that Australian
>
> seeds will now be benefitting from the kind of protection which the Vault
> provides,” said Cary
>
> Fowler, Executive Director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust.
>
>
>
> “We have gained so much from other countries and generous public research
> bodies that
>
> have freely provided us with their seeds, and it’s time we reciprocate.
> It’s satisfying to see
>
> Australia start to improve arrangements so that our germplasm is safe and
> more freely
>
> available to the global scientific and agricultural communities,” said
> Tony, a grain grower
>
> from Victoria’s Wimmera region who has extensive national and international
> experience in
>
> biodiversity conservation for food security and is passionate about plant
> genetic resource
>
> conservation.
>
>
>
> “I hope that this first small shipment of Australian germplasm will be
> followed by others so
>
> that more of Australia’s crops are safe. Australia also needs to move
> towards secure funding
>
> and better management of its own collections, and to living up to its
> international treaty
>
> obligations, to share its seeds globally and help feed the world,” he said.
>
>
>
> The Crawford Fund's mission is to increase Australia's engagement in
> international agricultural
>
> research, development and education for the benefit of developing countries
> and Australia
>
> “Just like the rest of the world’s seed collections, ours are vulnerable to
> a wide range of
>
> threats such as natural catastrophes, and perhaps surprisingly in a
> relatively wealthy
>
> country like Australia, lack of adequate funding. For want of a
> Federal/State agreement,
>
> Australia has seen a number of its collections defunded.”
>
>
>
> The Australian deposit is coming from the Australian Temperate Field Crops
> Collection in
>
> Horsham Victoria. Our other collections are in Tamworth (Australian Winter
> Cereals
>
> Collection), Perth (Australian Trifolium Genetic Resource Centre), and
> Canberra (Australian
>
> Indigenous Relatives of Crops Collection). The pasture collections in
> Biloela (Australian
>
> Tropical Crops and Forages Collection) and Adelaide (Australian Medicago
> Genetic
>
> Resource Centre) have been mothballed.
>
>
>
> Tony suggests a range of other activities to boost the Australian
> contribution to global food
>
> security and help shape the future of our own rural industries and the
> communities they
>
> support including:
>
> · commitments to 50:50 governments:industry funding for Australia’s
> seedbanks, which
>
> are currently facing underfunding and closure.
>
> · appointment of a national co-ordinator of our genebanks, to be the
> Australian focal point
>
> for our collections who can serve organisational, management and advocacy
> roles.
>
> · establishment of a national database and authority for Australia’s
> implementation of the
>
> International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture,
> the
>
> cornerstone of global germplasm exchange.
>
>
>
> “I would also like to see Australia commit to further collection of our
> native and unique
>
> genetic resources such as wild relatives of sorghum, rice and soybean that
> will help in the
>
> development of new crops in the face of climate change. Australia also has
> globally
>
> significant forest tree species and our micro-organism, plant pathogen, and
> insect pest
>
> collections are all essential to Australia’s status as a vibrant global
> food producer.”
>
>
>
> As the Global Seed Vault nears its third anniversary, it is well on its way
> to ensuring that one
>
> day all of humanity’s existing food crop varieties are safely protected in
> a frozen
>
> environment from any threat to agricultural production, natural or manmade.
>
>
>
> Tony has worked internationally and in Australia on the policy frameworks
> to conserve the
>
> germplasm so important to farmers in Australia and worldwide. In addition
> to his work on
>
> food security with the Crawford Fund, he is Chairman of the CRC for
> Molecular Plant
>
> Breeding and Plant Health Australia, and immediate past-Chairman of
> Bioversity
>
> International and former board member of CIMMYT, the international maize
> and wheat
>
> research institute in Mexico which was responsible for breeding semi-dwarf
> wheat varieties
>
> that proved so productive in Australia’s harsh conditions.
>
>
>
> *About the Vault*
>
> The seed vault was constructed deep in a mountain on a remote Norwegian
> archipelago near
>
> the North Pole as a fail-safe back-up to existing crop collections around
> the world. Collections
>
> are constantly under threat from wars and natural disasters but also small
> but important
>
> threats like lack of funding to pay for electricity to store seeds in
> refrigerators. The seeds in
>
> the vault are the property of the country or institution that sent them and
> are available in the
>
> public domain through these institutions. Crop collections around the world
> serve the daily
>
> needs of farmers and plant breeders in their work to find new traits that
> can boost yields or
>
> address problems posed by diseases, pests or shifting climate conditions.
> You can find
>
> further background on the seed vault at
> http://www.croptrust.org/main/arcticseedvault.php?itemid=842
>
> And photos of the seed vault are at
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/croptrust/sets/72157623845148542/
>
>
>
> NB: Tony Gregson leaves Australia on 11 February. For pre-departure
> interviews or to make
>
> arrangements to talk to Tony from Svalbard, contact Cathy Reade on
> 0413575934 prior to 10
>
> February. Thereafter, contact Jeff Haskins on +254 729 871 422
> jhaskins at burnesscommunications.com
>
>
>
> Cathy Reade
> Coordinator - Public Awareness
> Crawford Fund
> Ph/Fax: 07 54483095
> Mobile: 0413 575 934
> www.crawfordfund.org
>
> The Crawford Fund's mission is to increase Australia's engagement in
> international agricultural research, development and education for the
> benefit of developing countries and Australia.
>
>
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>
> http://www.asc.asn.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=97&Itemid=115
>

-- 
Dr Marina Hurley
Lecturer & Consultant
Writing Clear Science
P.O. Box 2373
Richmond South
Victoria 3121
Australia
0416-097-979
Fax +61 3 94213472

info at writingclearscience.com.au
www.writingclearscience.com.au
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