26 October 2012

John Mellancamp speaks out against piracy


John Mellencamp




"Tell me where, under today's conditions of de facto indentured servitude, will the new artists come from? If I were a young songwriter today, I would definitely be looking for another way to earn a living. The same would go for the young screenwriter or novelist. And what about the guy who only had one or two hit records 10 or 50 years ago? What happens to this guy who depends on that income to support his family if people are stealing those songs now? Tough luck, right? This is the thread of failure in front of all artists today. Art exclusively as a hobby -- that's the "new model" it seems. And to all you bloggers who have prophesized that this new way is going to somehow provide sustainable careers? Your prophecies did not and will never come true. If there is the occasional sparkle of success, it usually turns out to be nothing more than a novelty, not a new business model. We need to restore intellectual property to its rightful owners and reconstruct the business that has lost thousands and thousands of jobs plus billions of dollars in revenue."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-mellencamp/online-piracy-search-engines_b_2018332.html

Read the whole article.

16 October 2012

Surviving and moving ahead

Author/Reviewer Jacqueline Lichtenberg reviewed my novel A Wolf's and Wolf's Clothing (wonderful review by the way) a few months after release.  She enjoyed the book, so I dropped her a note to explain why there were no more releases in the series of late.  First, I had to overcome a series of life-altering incidents, then the publisher -- Dorchester Publishing -- went out of business.  She asked me to write about the fire, how it affected me, how it was eerily like the ending of A Wolf in Wolf's Clothing.  I put it off for a long time.  The events were simply too hard to sit and write about.  But I think she sensed this was a bridge I had to cross in the healing process.  Wise woman.  I traveled that path of healing, an ongoing process, but it's a step I needed to take in my personal life and my evolving as an author.  They say what doesn't break you, makes you.  I have fond that to be truth.

So here is the article:

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2012/10/guest-post-by-deborah-macgillivray-wolf.html

I thank Jacqueline for her kindness, her encouragement and special words about my writing.

I also give a big thanks to Montlake/Amazon Publishing for stepping in and buying my series from the defunct Dorchester Publishing and giving my series a new home.