tiredIt has become customary in recent years for authors of Hugo-nominated works to provide the members of the World Science Fiction convention who get to vote for the awards with electronic copies of their stories. The ball started rolling a few years ago when John Scalzi kindly took the initiative in preparing the first Hugo voters packet; since then it has become almost mandatory to distribute shortlisted works this way.
Unfortunately, as professionally published authors, we can't do this without obtaining the consent of our publishers. We are bound by contracts that give our publishers the exclusive rights to distribute our books: so we sought their permission first.
This year, Orbit—the publisher of Mira Grant's Parasite, Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice, and Charles Stross's Neptune's Brood—have decided that for policy reasons they can't permit the shortlisted novels to be distributed for free in their entirety. Instead, substantial extracts from the books will be included in the Hugo voters packet.
We feel your disappointment keenly and regret any misunderstandings that may have arisen about the availability of our work to Hugo voters, but we are bound by the terms of our publishing contracts. The decision to give away free copies of our novels is simply not ours to take. However, we are discussing the matter with other interested parties, and working towards finding a solution that will satisfy the needs of the WSFS voters and our publishers in future years.
Finally, please do not pester our editors: the decision was taken above their level. Don't pester anyone else, either. The issue is closed.
Signed,
(Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire), Ann Leckie, Charles Stross)
May 16 2014, 11:58:47 UTC 3 years ago
It doesn't surprise me that people are being entitled about it, because even though it's a bonus, people have come to expect it. I also suspect it's probably not helped by that Tor has announced they will be including the entirety of the Wheel of Time series in the voter packet (which is, what, thirteen books? Something like that? My partner had a squee-gasm when they announced that, a couple days after I said I'd be buying a supporting membership; we have most of the series physically, but the books are so long and heavy my partner can no longer physically read them, because arthritis sucks, but 13 books is... ouchy to the wallet, esp when until recently even the backlist ebooks were priced around $10-12). Tor and Orbit are entirely different publishing companies, but I'm not sure the average reader is that aware, or even cares.
It's super not cool that people are giving you guys, the authors, crap over it. It's in no way in your control, and if I see any of that on my friends list/etc, some noggins are gonna get bonked. *offers sympathy cookies*
May 20 2014, 15:35:37 UTC 3 years ago