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From: Greg Sandow <gsandow@prodigy.net>
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 1997 18:44:26 -0400
Fwd Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 01:39:23 -0400
Subject: Re: Writers & Fees

Hey, as long as I'm defending Budd on money issues, I'll defend Phil
Klass, too. I don't agree with Phil about much (except that we both
appreciate a good laugh), but facts are facts.


> Date: Tue, 09 Sep 1997 03:39:35 -0700
> From: Ted Viens <drtedv@smart1.net>
> To: UFO UpDates - Toronto <updates@globalserve.net>
> Subject: Re: UFO UpDate: Re: The Question of UFO Witness Anonymity

> Phil must have very foolishly failed to receive royalty on the vast
> number of his books that Prometheus contributed to libraries around
> the country. His failure to capitalize on his writings must mostly
> be his own fault...

> Bye...  Ted..

Nah. UFO books just don't make money, plain and simple. (Exceptions:
Whitley Strieber's "Communion," because Strieber was already a
best-selling author, and John Mack's abduction book, because of its
spectacular premise: "Harvard psychiatrist says aliens are abducting
people!" PLus, let's not forget, Mack had earlier won the Pulitzer
Prize.)

Phil, I'm sure, got an advance for his books, probably meager. Like
most writers, I bet he never earned another penny past his advance.
That's because you don't earn royalties until the earnings from the
book have paid the publisher back your advance, something that, in
most cases, never happens.

Why Prometheus should pay Phil royalties for books they donate to
libraries is beyond me. They don't make anything. And if they're
willing to donate the books, would it be in Phil's interest to say
"No, don't do it?" I'm sure he'd rather that his name got around, as
well as his point of view, which he's passionately sincere about,
however wrong-headed I think he might be. He might also think that
every time someone reads his book in a library, that's a possible
future buyer for his next book. So my guess is he'd treat those
donations -- did they really occur, by the way? -- as an investment.
Makes sense to me.

Greg Sandow