Fleen: The Awkward Christmas Dinner Of Our Obligation To Existence

For all the hassles of commuting into the big, bad city for work, there are some things that will just make your day start off right. The heat and humidity broke yesterday, it’s perfect summer weather, the train was almost empty, and just below the windows of my building is Bryant Park. In the summer, Good Morning America hosts a series of mini-concerts, which normally means that the immediate vicinity is overrun with a crowd of people there to see pop tartlets (the Hillary Duff show two years back must’ve attracted 5000 tween girls and 200 creepy middle aged guys).

But today a small, very polite crowd sang along with Feist. And if that don’t get you hummin’ as you walk past the park into work, pretty much nothing will. Let’s see how long it lasts.

Sighted on the con floor in San Diego — Meredith Gran’s Octobook 2. Rumors abound of a Super Stupor book, which would include the greatest boots-to-the-head that the cape genre ever got. Someday, I will own those originals. Oh yes, I will.
Following up on the evolving Wowio/Platinum story, we at Fleen received word from a current Wowio client who wishes to remain anonymous at this time ([s]he awaits one final payout under the current contract and doesn’t wish to jeopardize it):

I have a whole lot of anecdotal evidence that says creators are not happy with the new Wowio deal.

Other than DJ Coffman, I know of several publishers, including myself, that are displeased with the new deal and are saying “no dice”. Several others have yet to decide, but aren’t happy. One guy I know faxed his in right away because he had to. Another guy I know is taking a chance and sticking with them, but he’s lost a bunch of his subcontracts.

I hear that San Diego will produce PDF-related announcements that will be very favorable to Wowio expatriates.

Intriguing. Once again, if you’ve had dealings with Wowio and have feelings about the new contract, we at Fleen wish to hear from you.

the Hillary Duff show two years back mustâ€™ve attracted 5000 tween girls and 200 creepy middle aged guys).

I remember commenting to one of the other dudes that I was surprised I didn’t see you there…

I’ve just gotten mine, and I’ve read DJ’s post about it.

He’s right about a couple of things: the wording about the “Preview” option does seem a bit vague, and 20% of ad revenue generated from it is low, but I am following up with WOWIO to see how that will be. If it’s only a few pages, then I don’t care; it’s in service of getting people to download the full book.

His concerns about the “eCommerce” option (paid downloads) are also well-placed, but he ignores the fact that it is an OPTION and only effective if you opt-in. You can (as Multiplex currently does) offer free eBooks through WOWIO and paid ebooks on your own site rather than through WOWIO â€” or, rather, that’s the way I’m reading it, and I have asked WOWIO for clarification.

I think he’s OFF-base about the “when sponsors are available” bit; the full, operative phrase is “for free distribution with embedded advertising when sponsors are available.” They will still be available, just without advertising, and you get paid with or without ads. I thought that one was pretty obvious. The embedded ads are bought in bulk, not per book, for God’s sake. They’re not going to take down a giant section of their titles just because they don’t have ads for them â€” they need to build up a user base for WOWIO *as a service*, and books vanishing and reappearing without apparent reason to the downloaders cripples the value of that service.

And of course, the fact that it’s Platinum is inarguably a cause for concern.
All that said, my contract is up in five months, and I may give the amended contract a shot for a few months to see how it goes. I am looking forward to these rumored “PDF-related announcements,” though…

Wowio’s put up a timer on their webpage counting down to the relaunch, about six days away so it should be on Thursday 31st July.

[…] Gary Tyrell presents commentary from an anonymous creator on the new Wowio contract […]

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