The Hooper Interviews -A Warning Note!

  

Terry Hooper-Scharf

Paperback, 

A4

365 Pages 

Preview

Price: £20.00 (excl. VAT)

Ships in 3-5 business days.

 http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/the-hooper-interviews/paperback/product-22078000.html

 

 

From a huge selection of interviews covering the Small Press,Independent Comics from the UK,Europe and US -The Hooper Interviews!  To celebrate, at the time of publication, over 25 years of interviewing comic creators -writers, artists and publishers- this 365 pages book was produced.

Interviewees included Yishan Li, Marv Wolfman, Dave Ryan, John Cooper, Mike Western, Donna Barr, Roberta Gregory, Sonia Leong, Emma Vieceli, Pekka A. Manninen, Alan Class, Karen Rubins, Kate Glasheen, Ron Fortier, Jon Haward, Franco Francavilla, Rick Geary, Tania Del Rio, The Etherington Brothers, Olivier Cadic (Cinebook the 9th Art), Holly Golightly and MANY others.

 Profusely illustrated with art and photographs!

Now, selling via the online store I do not make a big profit out of this. In fact, it is not a profit.  However, the lulu.com Print On Demand service -they store and forward pdf files to printers and are not in any way publishers- offers a distribution deal so you can get your books sold by Barnes & Noble, Amazon and other dealers.  They order the copy of the book ordered and do not promote or push the books.  They are, simply, another online store.

There is a major catch.  For one thing there is a tiny payment to me for a book -under £1/$1 for, say, the Interviews book.  Lulu.com and -the main chunk of money going to these- Amazon, Barnes & Noble get the main money.  Now, yes, IF they were promoting or pushing the book you would expect them to take a percentage.  But they do not. The book is "just listed" and for that they take all the money.

So, imagine my shock when I saw, on Ebay AND Amazon, people offering "new copies" of the Interviews book for up to £30/$60.  Let me make this clear: these people will order with a discount from lulu.com and then hike the price HIGH to make an even larger profit.

I have heard nothing back from two dealers who list the book as "a graphic novel" -there is nothing on lulu.com nor the book info that in any way states that this is a sequential art book -it states this is a book of interviews!

Now, I am the publisher and it states and shows this on the online store.  I publish under Black Tower Comics & Books.  Again -this is stated on the store and in the books and the legal notices.  So, when I see ALL the sites listing the publisher as lulu.com I get pissed off.  Lulu.com -as it points out whenever there is a problem of any kind- is "only an intermediary between publisher and printer, storing files".  It does not pay me as an author nor do they have any rights what-so-ever to any of my works.  That is solely mine.

I pointed this out to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc., but they refuse to recognise me as the publisher -I have, apparently, no such title recognition in their deal with lulu.com.  Lulu.com is the publisher and they will not change that.  Be clear: you complete an online copyright form and declaration where I am listed as Publisher and Black Tower Comics & Books is listed as the company. THAT makes it very clear.

It is illegal for another person or body to claim to be the publisher of your work unless they have paid you for that work and there is an agreement to this effect.  International publishing law states so quite clearly.

These are my books with my name on them and I do all the publishing/editing/interior work.

I have been in publishing a long time and I have seen how creators get ripped off and cheated and end up having produced a great deal of work and not even making a living from it.  It is wrong.  It has to be stopped.  People who have done no work to promote my books or credit me correctly as publisher, simply stick up details from lulu.com and will make more from selling one copy than I will if I sold ten books via them and got by pittance.

No. I am the one who will control sales until these big organisations and dodgy dealers decide to respect me -and others- and pay a proper percentage.

I have told lulu.com in writing that I wish to withdraw from their distribution deal and WHY.

I really am sick of how creators are treated as shit to make companies with money make more -by doing nothing.  End.

And my advice if you think being listed by these co0mpaniesis going to get you sales and make you money -it won't.  Do not be fooled because in this market you may well have worked for years on the book, typed it, edited it, put in weeks of finalising and design but you are of no significance.