Ian Stoba

October 23, 1998

Post #762 – 19981023

Here’s an idea I’ve been kicking around even before the Afterlife Diet republication:

Many of us dyed-in-the-wool Pinkwaterites have been frustrated by our inability to find many of the books that have gone out of print. Today, the only way I am likely to get my hands on a copy of The Terrible Roar or Magic Camera is through some rare books scoundrel who would take all the profit without you getting a cent.

How difficult would it be to republish some of these books on the web? I don’t know what the legal difficulties would be (other than the fact that a project like this could only happen with your permission and cooperation).

In terms of actual effort, it would have to be easier than compiling the Hoboken Chicken Emergency was for Hal Johnson, Mary Sophia Novak, and your humble servant. (Sorry, I can’t help but plug it.)

I would even volunteer to run the thing and provide the web server if you were up for it.

What do you think?

Daniel replies:

While I did allow Fat!So? fatso.com to post the whole THE AFTERLIFE DIET a chapter at a time, and then leave the whole book up for a period of time, I don't contemplate doing many things other things like that. Possibilities for reprinting, and collections like 5 NOVELS exist, and I am entitled to try to make a living from the books, foolish as that is. The day is surely coming when an author can earn a dollar via the web, but it's not yet. Meanwhile, I _am_ giving everything away free on Chinwag Theater. We are coming to the end of our first 39 weeks, which will be followed by 13 weeks of repeats. Also some of the material written and read by me will be repeated in the second year...so it behooves a person of taste to create pressure enough to get the local station to carry the program (still free) and then tape it. But that's not the same as text on the internet. It's my belief that the radio program will encourage people to try to buy the books. Of course, they won't be able to find most of them....etc.