In Today’s Journal
* Quote of the Day
* Copyright (Read This)
* A First-Time Occurrence
* 400 Pages, One Sentence?
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quote of the Day
“So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.” Christopher Reeve
Copyright (Read This)
According to Dave Chesson, the Kindlepreneur, from the recent $1.5 billion settlement of Bartz v. Anthropic, the rights holders of those books that were scraped are now eligible for payments of around $3k per title.
You can check the official settlement website to see if your book is listed (and file a claim if it is) by clicking here.
But not every affected author will get a check.
Automatic copyright isn’t enough. Yes, your book is protected the moment you write it. But without registration, you can’t collect statutory damages, and you’re invisible in cases like this settlement.
Registration gives you proof. A registration certificate makes it easy to prove ownership in court (or in a settlement process) without endless back-and-forth.
The earlier you register, the better. In the U.S., registering within three months of publication (or before infringement happens) gives you the strongest protection.
In Of Interest, you’ll find a link to Dave’s guide to registering your copyright.
I personally register copyright once per year for a single, massive compilation titled, for example, “Writings of Harvey Stanbrough, 2025.”
However, to my knowledge, my method has never been lawyer-tested and court-approved. So do what you want. This is not legal advice.
A First-Time Occurrence
You’ll remember that yesterday I reported having finished BO-48. I also said there was a last-minute change of the title.
I was wrong.
In a first-ever occurrence, the character reached out after the novel was finished, as I was preparing the promo document. I copy and paste from that text document while I’m publishing to various platforms.
Anyway, he grabbed me by the collar and shook me: “What’s the big idea, slappin’ a name on me like that? Don’t do that, dude.”
So I went back and changed the cover and the title and published the thing as Blackwell Ops 48: Razor Edge. Given what Mr. Edge does for a living, it was the only sane thing to do. (grin)
Always trust your characters, folks, even after you think they’ve left the building.
As a result of that little revelation, the description for BO-48 is a lot more enticing than it would have been otherwise. You can view the description here.
400 Pages, One Sentence?
Yeah. And rewarded. Apparently the Nobel Prize for Literature (or those judging it) has taken a severe nosedive.
Sigh. I’m just glad it happened now, so I won’t have to spend decades hearing fad-chasing fiction writers say, “Well a Nobel Prize winner did it that way, so it must be all right!”
As they did with Cormac McCarthy when he wrote ONE novel in which he didn’t use quotation marks to set off dialogue.
According to 1440 Daily Digest
“Yesterday, the Nobel Committee announced Hungarian author László Krasznahorkai will receive the literature prize for his work covering dystopian themes. The novelist and screenwriter is known for sprawling prose, with sentences that can run on for pages (his most recent book, Herscht 07769, is one sentence long, spanning roughly 400 pages).”
Ol’ László gave a LOT of thought to the importance of reader understanding, didn’t he? Um, no.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
When to Run (and Not Run) Amazon Ads
How to Copyright a Book in 4 Simple Steps
Why Pinterest Works for Me… and Tips
Discipline: Gotta Love It, Baby!
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………… 560
Writing of Blackwell Ops 49: Wesley Stark
Day 1…… 2381 words. To date…… 2381
Fiction for October………………… 25936
Fiction for 2025…………………… 64474
Nonfiction for October.…………… 5760
Nonfiction for 2025……………….. 215870
2025 consumable words………… 812775
2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 15
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 32
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 119
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 306
Short story collections……………………. 29