Even though I have wanted to write a blogpost I have not been able to. The reason for this is that my mind has been fully occupied by a few emails I have received on Facebook and to my email address.
All these problems a due to this blogpost.
The emails are from one of the author of the now released book SOME KIND OF HERO and every email starts with PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL - NOT FOR PUBLICATION - WITHOUT PREJUDICE. The author is angry at me for pointing out that his book can be read on Amazon without payment and say I have acted "inflammatory, hostile and in breach of copyright and moral rights".
Now since I am not a lawyer and English is my second language I have some problems with the WITHOUT PREJUDICE part. But I tried to google it and found the following link and there is says that the text does not count if there some kind of threat within the email. The “Without Prejudice” rule has long been subject to exceptions. I feel this to be one of these occasions.
And since the author in his email says that he shall "notify all relevant copyright holders of your actions" and by that tries to threaten me. And since I have no idea of what kind of stunt or emails he has planed I have no other option then to come clean on the matter.
What I cant understand is that I am being jumped at because I point out a fact that the author should be well aware of. If the author finds it troublesome that Amazon has, what seems to be, the entire book on display on there website then he should be angry with his publishers and not me for making this deal with Amazon. The publishers should then contact Amazon and take the pages away. I feel I get to receive all the frustration out of this fact when I have nothing to do with it.
I have never in my life seen, what seems to be, an entire book available on Amazon and I surely has nothing to do with it being there for everyone to read.
In his email he pinpoints some facts that needs to be solved. And I am most cooperative that I wish to solve this matter as you can see below.
1. He writes that I am frustrated by the fact that I have not received an email back from the publishers since I contacted them on October 10 and that I should have contacted him personally instead of writing in my blog post that the publishers have not come back.
Answer: I did contact him personally on October 15 but did not receive any answer at all.
I do not find it a big deal that I wrote that the publishers has not come back to me for 10 days. I have just started my blog and believe it to be quite common (sadly) that companies do not understand the value of speaking to customers who take there free time to contact them.
Please note that (by coincidence?) the Marketing executive of the publishers contacted me yesterday saying that she would send out the book right away. I am off course thankful for this.
2. He writes that I have breached the copyright rules for the two pictures that I have borrowed from the books Facebook page and if I had read the captions next two the photos that he says explains the pictures. He also says that I am "trying to stir up controversy" over the photos.
Answer: Yes, I should have written that the photos was taken by M Whitherspoon and that has now been updated.
If one looks at the books Facebook page one can clearly see by the comments these books has made that MANY people has misunderstood these photos and take them for real. I also wonder (dont know) if it is legal to fool the customers like this and what Piccadilly lights and the Transport for Londons legal department feel of these actions. There is a saying in Sweden: Dont throw a rock if your in a glasshouse.
3. He says that I claim in my blog post that one can read the entire book on Amazon when it to him looks like an ordinary "Look inside" preview. In other words he claims that I am wrong.
Answer: Now I dont know what he can see on his computer but on my computer I can still see, what seems to be, the entire book. Please look at the picture below. To be friendly I have chosen a title page so that I do not spread the text of his book but as you can see this is page 276. You can also see that the drop down list is truly small. I believe I have access to if not the entire book, then 98% of it.
a) I update the blog post with the same captions as they appear on the Facebook page. DONE!
b) I double check if the entire book is available on AMAZON he wants me to write him a private email saying so or contact Amazon to have it removed. If I can't be certain that the entire book is free to read he wants me to update my blogpost. I am not going to sit an read 700 pages on my computer so therefore I have updated the blogpost to "what seems to be" but I still believe that the book is available and if this is a problem I urge the authors to have it removed. Thats not my task, especially since I live in Sweden and has no connection to the book.
Now let me be clear once again. My intentions was never to harm the release of the book. My intentions was the opposite. If the author believes that James Bond fans will read the entire book on Amazon (700 pages) instead of paying as little as £17 when a lot of the fans collect all things Bond then I think they are naive.
If any publishers have been contacted by the author to drag my blog in the mud I do hope you understand that this blog is my own views on the books of Bond and that I rarely write anything negative about the books I collect. On the other hand, I am Swedish and in Sweden we are very proud of our freedom of speech and freedom of opinion and just like any other reviewer there might or might not be things to criticize.
I am a fan of the creation that Ian Fleming created and just like him I will not let someone scare me into silence. I hope that the readers of this blog will stay on and understand the reason for the above post and I hope for a rewarding collaboration with any publishers in the world releasing any James Bond book. Together we can spread the word on all things 007.
Kindly
Stephan Bäckman
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