Date: 2008-05-08 12:55 Subject: FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP Security: Public

FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP

Take Action: Don’t Let Congress Orphan Your Work

THE ORPHAN WORKS BILL IS BACK.

And this time the wheels have been greased for quick passage.

Yesterday a revived Orphan Works Bill sailed through a House panel. Today the Senate bill will be marked up. These bills will expose any work of art to commercial infringement. This will include everything from professional paintings to personal photos placed on the net.

The bills will coerce you to register your work with for-profit registries as a condition of protecting your copyrights. Any unregistered pictures will be subject to Orphan Works infringement. This is a radical departure from international copyright law and normal business practice.

If you wish to oppose this legislation, you must act now. We’ve set up an online site for anyone to e-mail their Senators and Representatives with one click. This site is open to professional artists, photographers and any member of the image-making public.

We’ve provided sample letters from individuals representing different sectors of the visual arts. Illustrators, photographers, fine artists, reps, licensing firms, designers:

If you’re opposed to the Orphan Works act, this site is yours to use.

For international artists and our colleagues overseas, we’ve provided a special link, with a sample letter and instructions as to whom to write.

2 minutes is all it takes to write Congress and fight for your copyrights. Go here:

http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/

Pick a sample letter or write your own. Type in your zip code. Your letter will be automatically addressed to your congressman and senators. Click and send.

For more information about the Orphan Works Act of 2008:

IPA Statement to House Subcommittee March 20, 2008:

http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00261

IPA Senate Mark-up Comments April 30, 2008:

http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/ow_docs

Geneva/ May 7, 2008 Orphan Works Bill Catches Global Attention/ Intellectual Property Watch: http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=1028

MP3 Interview: http://www.sellyourtvconceptnow.com/orphan.html

YouTube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=CqBZd0cP5Yc

Please post this message or forward it to any interested party.

If you received our mail as a forwarded message, and wish to be added to our mailing list, email us at:

illustratorspartnership@cnymail.com

Place "Add Name" in the subject line, and provide your name and the email address you want used in the message area.

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Date: 2008-04-30 19:16 Subject: How Art Licensing Works Security: Public

Here's a letter from Joanne Fink that explains how licensing works and why the OW bills will be detrimental to artists that license their work. It's like licensing 101 for congress ...

My name is Joanne Fink, and I am the President of Lakeside Design, a Central Florida design studio which specializes in developing products for the gift, craft, and stationery industries. Most of our clients are manufacturers who sell their products to major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Costco, Target and Michaels. These clients range in size from small family businesses to huge international corporations, but they all have one thing in common; they license art to put on their products. Through my business, I have been involved in the art licensing industry for many years, and often speak about art licensing at major trade shows such as The Licensing Show and The Craft and Hobby Association show. I don’t know if you are aware of the devastating consequences that two pending bills (H.R. 5889 - The Orphan Works Act of 2008 and S. 2913- The Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008) will have on the entire art licensing industry, so I felt compelled to share my concerns in hopes that the bill could be reworked to address them.

While I oppose the Orphan Works amendment, I applaud the intention of those who created it; there have been several occasions in the past decade that I wanted to use a particular image as part of a design, but because I was unable to determine where the image had originated and/or who owned the copyright to it, I was unable to use it. While I would welcome the ability to use images of this sort, I would NOT welcome it at the expense of undermining the entire Art Licensing world and current copyright protections, particularly as they relate to visual artwork such as photography, painting, and illustration. Unfortunately, as currently written, the Orphan Works amendments will have a devastating economic impact on artists and manufacturers in numerous industries; it will basically change American copyright and intellectual property laws.

My belief, from having read the bills in detail, is that whoever drafted them may not have fully considered their impact on the licensing world. Since art licensing is one of my areas of expertise, I thought it would helpful if I could share some information about how licensing works, and why passing this bill in its current state will be detrimental to the millions of people involved in the field.

LICENSING IS BIG BUSINESS

The following statistics have been provided by LIMA (the Licensing International Merchandiser’s Association). Licensing is big business; it accounts for $175 billion in retail sales of licensed merchandise worldwide, and over $105 billion in the United States.

In 2006, the $3.3 billion in retail sales of products featuring a licensed piece of art brought licensors—artists and designers— royalty revenues of $182 million. These sales came from the following categories, affecting a wide range of American manufacturers:

36% gifts and novelties
15% home décor
15% housewares
10% paper products
7% accessories
5% apparel
4% publishing
3% food and beverage
3% health and beauty
2% infant products

HOW THE ART LICENSING INDUSTRY WORKS

Whoever owns the rights to a 2-or 3-dimensional design or image (usually the artist/creator of the design) is the LICENSOR, and whoever wants to acquire the rights to reproduce that design or image is the LICENSEE. Artists/LICENSORS make money by licensing (essentially “renting”) the right to reproduce their design or image to different manufacturers (LICENSEES) to use on different sorts of products. For example, a sailboat image can be licensed to company A for a mug; company B for a coaster, and company C for an art print. Licensing is an interesting and complex business, and it is a successful and profitable business because our current copyright law protects the creator’s rights and safeguards their ability to profit from their intellectual property. This $3+ billion art licensing industry will no longer be able to function should the proposed legislation be passed.

RAMIFICATIONS OF THE PROPOSED LEGISLATION

When a manufacturer wants to feature an artist’s work on one or more of their products, it is important to them that they are the only company who has the right to reproduce that design on that particular product. If other manufacturers are able to put the same design on the same product then it hurts the licensee, especially if the manufacturer licensee has to factor the artist’s royalty payment into their price structure while the infringing manufacturer does not and can therefore bring the product to market at a lower price point. In fact, one of the great incentives NOT to infringe on an artist’s copyright, is that currently there is a stiff penalty—up to $150,000 for each instance that infringement is proven. The proposed Orphan Works bills removes the penalty for infringement, which will make it easy for unscrupulous companies to infringe on someone’s copyright and receive nothing more than a ‘hand-slap’ as punishment.

Consider for a moment, that you are an artist, and imagine how you would handle the following hypothetical situation:

In the 1990’s, you licensed a series of pictures for one-time use in a corporate annual report. As often happens in such cases, the copyright notice and artist credit were left off of the printed piece. As a business-savvy artist and studio owner, you naturally took the time and trouble to register your copyright to the works. Because your brand is important to you, you make it a practice never to license your work for inexpensive or distasteful products, but over the course of the next decade, you did decide to license some of these images for exclusive use on upscale lines of dishes, wall décor, and jewelry boxes—product lines which enhance your brand’s image.

Fast forward to today; a t-shirt manufacturer is cleaning out his mother’s attic and finds the annual report featuring your pictures, and decides that they would be hot sellers for his fall line. He calls the company to try to find the artists name, but no one there knows. So he begins to manufacture and sell cheap t-shirts bearing your art. Thank goodness for our current copyright law, under which your remedies would include statutory damages, attorney’s fees, impoundment and injunction for this flagrant infringement - because it’s damaged your ability to exclusively license your work only in high-end markets. And once your work is seen on lower-end products, the brand loses it caché resulting in many upper end manufacturers refusing to license it. Since this adversely affects your income, you hire a lawyer to take your case on a contingency basis, and with their assistance are able to prove infringement.

But what would happen if this same scenario took place in 2014— under the Orphan Works acts of 2008. Since, under the new (proposed) legislation you would only be entitled to ‘reasonable compensation’ for the use of your designs, and even that would be limited to whatever maximum the court might set and would be constructed not to deprive the infringer of the profits he made “in reliance” on his so-called failure to locate you, no attorney would take the case on a contingency basis. As a small business owner, you could not possibly afford the costs of hiring an Intellectual Property attorney and taking the case to Federal court, and so you would be unable to protect your design. In the meantime, the high-end companies which were featuring your work on their products see the same images on cheap t-shirts, decide to drop your work from their line, and sue you for breach of contract, since the contract you signed guaranteed them the exclusive right to use that design. They also sue you for damages for the loss they take due to sharply reduced sales of products they have produced with your no longer fashionable design. All in all it is a very damaging situation—both from the visual artist’s and the honest manufacturer’s standpoints.

Without the deterrent of statutory damages and attorneys fees - and without a permanent injunction against repeat offenses by the same t-shirt seller, this experience would now act as an incentive for the infringer to exploit other uncredited (and therefore, effectively orphaned) images by other artists. Worse, the t-shirt manufacturer will discover that publishing ‘orphan works’ is a rational, profitable business decision, which could in turn inspire yet other infringers. It is bad enough we have to deal with infringement issues from China and other countries—we shouldn’t have to deal with it from our own soil.

PRIMARY OBJECTONS TO THE PROPOSED “ORPHAN WORKS” AMENDMENTS FROM THOSE INVOLVED IN THE ART LICENSING INDUSTRY

1. It changes the 1976 U.S. Copyright Act (enacted in 1978), and makes it virtually impossible for artists to protect their work. It basically allows anyone to use a design without the copyright holder’s permission.

Under current law, you receive basic copyright protection even if you don’t register your work. Under Orphan Works law your work could be declared an orphan even if you have registered it. Congress, in enacting the Copyright Act of 1976, provided that copyright exists in the creation of any work that is copyrightable subject matter, regardless of whether or not the owner has performed any legal formalities, such as registration, or copyright notices, or taken any steps to protect or defend the copyright. Since 1978 (when it was enacted) many creators have relied upon the Copyright Act of 1976, and employed business practices based upon the protections it offered. The proposed Orphan Works Acts of 2008 would have the effect of depriving certain creators of the ability to enforce their copyrights because they did not take steps that the Copyright Act of 1976 did not require them to take. In essence, it will give infringers the legal means to use a design without the copyright holder’s permission.

2. It requires artists to attempt to protect their work by registering it with a digital data base system (presumably for a fee, in addition to the copyright filing fee)—when no such system exists!

The proposed legislation is predicated on the establishment of private, profit making registries that would establish databases of digital versions of artworks and provide a place for infringers to try to locate the artist, BUT it will be enacted whether or not these data bases ever come into existence. This will relieve the infringer of liability if he simply attempts a search that cannot possibly be performed successfully.

In addition, the legislation places no limit on the number of these registries or the prices they would charge. The burden of paying for digitization and depositing the digitized copy with the private registry would presumably fall entirely on the artist, and even if an image is contained in the registry, as long as the infringer “looks” without finding it, the infringement is allowed. There is no liability imposed for the failure of a database to find an image registered in that database when it is searched, and no requirement that all available databases be searched, thus potentially requiring multiple registrations (and multiple registration fees). There are also no safeguards to prevent any person or company from fraudulently registering work they do not own.

3. It eliminates statutory damages wherever an infringer can successfully claim an orphan works defense, thus eliminating the only tool the law provides to prevent deliberate infringement.

Current law almost certainly deters rampant infringement because the present remedies – damages of up to $150,000 per infringing article-- make infringement risky. By “limiting remedies,” the Orphan Works amendments will effectively create a no-fault license to infringe.

4. It allows for an infringer to create—and copyright—a derivative work from the original design.

Under current law, the right to create a derivative work is one of an artist’s exclusive rights. Section103 (a) says a user can’t copyright a derivative image that he’s infringed. “Protection for a work employing preexisting material in which copyright subsists does not extend to any part of the work in which such material has been used unlawfully.” Under the proposed new bills, since the entirety of an infringed work can be included in a derivative use, then the copyright of the derivative will amount to a copyright of the original. This would be a de facto capture of new exclusive rights by the infringer. In other words, these bills allow infringers to make and copyright derivatives—even if the copyright holder to the original work objects.

If this legislation passes it would mean a return to pre-1976 U.S. Copyright Act when many artists' works fell into the public domain because they could not afford to comply with the formalities of registration as a condition of copyright protection. This violates the trust under which American artists have worked for the last 30 years, and effectively nullifies our U.S. Copyright registrations. Further, it leaves infringing works (and products incorporating them) subject to seizure in other countries under the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (the international agreement governing copyrights to which the United States is a signatory), and invites sanctions from around the world under the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), to which the Unites States is also a signatory, because international artists' works would be just as vulnerable to infringement within the U.S. under the terms of the Orphan Works Amendment.

THE HEART OF THE ISSUE

One of the things that I do not understand about this legislation is why it applies to commercial applications. I truly believe that few in the art licensing community would have major issues with the legislation if it only affected non-commercial uses. Rather, we are extremely concerned about losing our ability to earn a living as small businesspeople and entrepreneurs by licensing our work for commercial use-- which is what we believe will happen if this legislation passes.

I began my career over 25 years ago as a greeting card designer, and I am still extremely active in the greeting card industry; I am on the Board of Directors of the Greeting Card Association, an organization whose members (e.g., Hallmark and American Greetings) publish over 95% of the greeting cards sold in the United States. I am also the Design Editor for Greetings etc. magazine, the major trade publication for the greeting card industry. While the impact of this legislation will initially be felt by the visual arts communities, I would like to point out that it will also impact American manufacturers who utilize artwork in their product lines.

I strongly oppose this legislation, and respectfully request that you do NOT pass it. If you would like any additional information regarding the broad reaching implications this legislation has for our country, the art licensing community and visual artists both here and abroad, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely yours,
Joanne Fink, President
Lakeside Design
345 Eden Trail
Lake Mary, FL 32746
www.lakeside-design.com

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Date: 2008-04-29 12:59 Subject: Children's Artists and the OWB Security: Public Mood: concerned

Here are the 4 things I'm concerned about the Orphan Works Bill and how it affects children's artists (from the letter I'm sending - feel free to use or adapt this for your letters):

My four main concerns about this bill are: (1) "reasonable compensation" and how that would be determined, (2) the inability of copyright owners to recoup legal fees to defend their copyrights, (3) private registries that add additional expense and burden to artists and (4) infringers being allowed to make derivative art.

Derivative art is especially problematic for someone that creates art for children, like I do. If my work is stolen and altered into a more adult image, it will adversely affect my ability to continue to work and make art for children, and kids might be inadvertently exposed to adult content through the infringing derivative artwork.

Please send letters to your Senators and Representatives asking them to vote NO on this bill.

The Senate is only accepting input through tomorrow, Wed. April 30th. The House hasn't set an end date yet, but if you send all the letters at the same time, you'll be covered.

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Date: 2008-04-29 11:47 Subject: OWB - Congress accepting input until April 30th Security: Public Mood: grrr

The Senate is only accepting input on the new bills until tomorrow. The House hasn't set an end date yet, but if you send letters to both, you will be covered. The Senate version, S.2913, and the House version, H.R.5889 are very similar in nature and closely mirror the last Orphan Works Act.

Find your senators and representatives here: http://capwiz.com/gag/dbq/officials/

If you are still unsure about all of this, here is a letter (printed with permission) from Joanne Fink, who has been working with the Illustrator’s Partnership.

Hi Everyone,

Just thought I’d chime in on the Orphan Works situation. As you probably know, last Friday both the Senate and House introduced variations of the same bill: The Shawn Bentley Orphan Acts of 2008 (S. 2913) and The Orphan Works Act of 2008 (H.R. 5889). If these bills pass, they will have devastating consequences for visual artists.

Having been involved in strategy sessions for the last few days with Brad Holland (Illustrator’s Partnership) and others, let me outline what you can do that would be helpful.
1. Write a letter to your congressional House leader and Senators stating your opposition to the bills. Send the letter both by e-mail and fax.
2. Help raise awareness about the potential consequences of this legislation, and ask everyone you know to write and send letters.

A number of groups which oppose this legislation are collaborating on creating a website which will enable you to e-mail your congressional leaders with the push of button. It will also contain sample letters. I will post the link as soon as the site is live.

The main reasons to object to this legislation are listed below. In case any of you want to start work on your letters before the sample letters are published, I’ve also included additional information to help you explain and clarify these objections.

1. It changes the 1976 U.S. Copyright Act (enacted in 1978), and makes it virtually impossible for artists to protect their work. It basically allows anyone to use a design without the copyright holder’s permission.

Under current law, you receive basic copyright protection even if you don’t register your work. Under Orphan Works law your work could be declared an orphan even if you have registered it. Congress, in enacting the Copyright Act of 1976, provided that copyright exists in the creation of any work that is copyrightable subject matter, regardless of whether or not the owner has performed any legal formalities, such as registration, or copyright notices, or taken any steps to protect or defend the copyright. Since 1978 (when it was enacted) many creators have relied upon the Copyright Act of 1976, and employed business practices based upon the protections it offered. The proposed Orphan Works Act of 2008 would have the effect of depriving certain creators of the ability to enforce their copyrights because they did not take steps that the Copyright Act of 1976 did not require them to take. In essence, it will give infringers the legal means to use a design without the copyright holder’s permission.

2. It requires artists to attempt to protect their work by registering it with a digital data base system (presumably for a fee, in addition to the copyright filing fee)—when no such system exists!

The proposed legislation is predicated on the establishment of private, profit making registries that would establish databases of digital versions of artworks and provide a place for infringers to try to locate the artist, BUT it will be enacted whether or not these data bases ever come into existence. This will relieve the infringer of liability if he simply attempts a search that cannot possibly be performed successfully.

In addition, the legislation places no limit on the number of these registries or the prices they would charge. The burden of paying for digitization and depositing the digitized copy with the private registry would presumably fall entirely on the artist, and even if an image is contained in the registry, as long as the infringer “looks” without finding it, the infringement is allowed. There is no liability imposed for the failure of a database to find an image registered in that database when it is searched, and no requirement that all available databases be searched, thus potentially requiring multiple registrations (and multiple registration fees). Also there are no safeguards to prevent any person or company from fraudulently registering work they do not own.

3. It eliminates statutory damages wherever an infringer can successfully claim an orphan works defense, thus eliminating the only tool the law provides to prevent deliberate infringement.

Current law almost certainly deters rampant infringement because the present remedies – damages of up to $150,000 per infringing article-- make infringement risky. By “limiting remedies,” the Orphan Works amendment will effectively create a no-fault license to infringe.

4. It allows for an infringer to create—and copyright—a derivative work from the original design.

Under current law, the right to create a derivative work is one of an artist’s exclusive rights. Section103(a) says a user can’t copyright a derivative image that he’s infringed. “Protection for a work employing preexisting material in which copyright subsists does not extend to any part of the work in which such material has been used unlawfully.” Under the proposed new bills, since the entirety of an infringed work can be included in a derivative use, then the copyright of the derivative will amount to a copyright of the original. This would be a de facto capture of new exclusive rights by the infringer. In other words, these bills allow infringers to make and copyright derivatives—even if the copyright holder to the original work objects.

If this legislation passes it would mean a return to pre-1976 U.S. Copyright Act when many artists' works fell into the public domain because they could not afford to comply with the formalities of registration as a condition of copyright protection. This violates the trust under which American artists have worked for the last 30 years, and nullifies our U.S. Copyright registrations. Further, it is against the Berne Convention, and invites retaliation from around the world because international artists' works are just as vulnerable to infringement under the U.S. Orphan Works Act.

Now let me recap the current situation:

The Senate has only given a few days for comments on the bill to be made; they are due Wednesday, April 30th. The House has not specified a time-frame, and may give as little as 24 hours notice before closing the window for comments. There are several loosely allied groups which are opposing the legislation. These include The Illustrator’s Partnership (illustrators), The Artists’ Rights Society (fine artists), The Advertising Photographers of America (photographers), the Artists Foundation (fine artists), the Textile coalition (4 textile groups) and the Industry Coalition (whose members include the Craft and Hobby Association and George Little Management). During an OW strategy session Friday afternoon, Corrine Kevorkian, counsel for textile giant F. Shumacher, shared that the Textile coalition intends to recommend to the Senate that they adopt the House version. If this happens, the Textile industry will be spared the draconian impact of the Orphan Works Act because the House version exempts useful articles (see #1 below). She also intends to emphasize that the legislation shouldn’t take effect until the electronic data bases actually exist.

Although the bills are similar, there are some important differences to note. Both are devastating to all visual artists, but the House bill is somewhat less objectionable. Here are the three main differences:

1. The House bill includes an exception for useful articles, which (as far as I can determine) means that products (such as textiles and mugs) which are functional whether or not design has been applied to them, will not be impacted by this legislation.

2. The House bill also requires that manufacturers file their intention to use an image before they can use it --although it does not (a) specify a time period or method for doing so, (b) does not require an image to be included, only a verbal description (the Mona Lisa, for example could be described as “a dark-haired woman with an unusual expression” which would supposedly allow Leonardo to identify his work), and (c) does not require the filings to be readily searchable to allow an artist to monitor unauthorized uses of his/her work.

3. The House bill allows for a longer (possible) time period before implementation: January 1, 2013 vs. the Senate bill which uses the date of January 1, 2011. Unfortunately both bills are scheduled to take effect on the earlier of: “the date on which the Copyright Office certifies under section 3 at least 2 separate and independent searchable, comprehensive, electronic databases, that allow for searches of copyrighted works that are pictorial, graphic and sculptural works, and are available to the public through the Internet; or the January 1st, 2011 or 2013 listed by the respective bills. This means that if there is no visually searchable database operable before the date(s) listed, the legislation goes into effect anyway!

If you would like additional information on the potential impact of this legislation, you can learn more by
a. Reviewing the submission to the House by the Illustrator’s Partnership http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00261
b. Listening to Brad Holland’s informative webcast: http://www.sellyourtvconceptnow.com/orphan.html.

This is a very serious situation, and will require a concerted effort on all of our parts to stop it. I’m glad to see so much posting going on… and I believe that together we CAN make a difference. I’ll be in touch as soon as I have more information.

This may be forwarded in its entirety to any interested parties.

Best wishes,
Joanne Fink

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Date: 2008-04-27 12:52 Subject: Help - Orphan Works Bills - Time To Act Security: Public

It's time to act now to protect your copyrights and the copyrights of your friends here on LJ.

The U.S. House of Representative and the U.S. Senate introduced two versions of the orphan works bill on Thursday. Both the Senate version, S.2913, and the House version, H.R.5889 are very similar in nature and closely mirror the Orphan Works Act of 2006.

Call, fax and snail mail your senators and representatives (email is easy to delete). Make sure to use the bill #s when you contact them. Try to voice your opinion ASAP, because they are trying to fast-track the bills.

Find your senators and reps here: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

Here is a sample letter you can edit and send to your local and/orstate representatives and Senators. These letters work best when you make your point clear, do not curse, and make them aware that you live in their district or state and can vote for or against them.

Feel free to make this personal with your story on how the Orphan Works legislation will harm your income. Stories are incredibly powerful.

Faxes work better than e-mails, as e-mails are too easy to delete.

Congressman/Congresswoman/Senator (their name)
(their contact info)
Fax: (their fax number)

Re: The Orphan Works legislation

Dear (their name),

My name is (your name) and I live in (your city, state). After reading about the Orphan Works bill, I am shocked and outraged that this could happen in our country.

This Orphan Works legislation, if passed, will severely impact my income and life as an artist. Not only will it give license for others to legally steal and use my work for free, it will be virtually impossible for me to afford the time and money to register my creations in all the potential new registries.

(your personal story if you wish. It should show hardship under the new bill)

I strongly urge you to vote AGAINST the Orphan Works bill and protect my rights, my copyrights, to all that I have and will create.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

(your name)
(your address)
------

PLEASE PASS THIS ON!

The House Bill (the whole bill online) -
http://illustratorspartnership.org/orphan-works-bill-20...0Act%20of%202008.pdf

The Senate Bill (the whole bill online) -
http://illustratorspartnership.org/orphan-works-bill-20...0Act%20of%202008.pdf

Shows differences between the 2006 bill and the current bills -
http://www.asmp.org/news/spec2008/orphan_update.php

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Date: 2008-04-23 11:21 Subject: Update on Orhan Works bill (not a myth) Security: Public

It looks like the bill will be introduced this week:

4.22.08 - FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS' PARTNERSHIP

Today the House and Senate sent us draft copies of the new Orphan
Works Act of 2008. They haven't officially released it yet, but we've
been told the Senate will do so this week. A quick analysis confirms
our worst fears and our early warnings. If these proposals are enacted
into law, all the work you have ever done or will do could be orphaned
and exposed to commercial infringement from the moment you create it.

-----------------

To find out more about the specifics of what's at stake, there's a great Q&A here:
http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00264

It's a good way to get specific answers to the hype and questions that have been floating around the internet lately.

-----------------

For even more info, if you want to keep reading, here's the page at the Illustrator's Partnership that has other articles on the subject:
http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00185

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Date: 2008-04-16 23:33 Subject: Support Teen Literature Day Security: Public

Wikipedia has a Teen Lit Day page - http://wikis.ala.org/yalsa/index.php/Support_Teen_Literature_Day

Also, check out - http://www.readergirlz.com/ - for info about Operation Teen Book Drop

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Date: 2008-04-14 19:51 Subject: Re: my last post was meant for info, not panic Security: Public Mood: contemplative

Seems like people are thinking that the orphan works posts on LJ and other internet sites are all a bit of panic.

FWIW, my last post was meant as information, not as a call for panic. If there's another bill introduced this year, as it looks like there is likely to be an orphan works bill in 2008, then people should be informed of some of the possible issues. Of course until we read the actual wording of the bill, we will not know for sure what's what, but I'm guessing that there will be another try to get this passed in such a way that is not beneficial to artists. If that is the case, then people should be prepared to voice their concerns.

No panic yet, just some info in case there is need for action (still not panic) later. That's all I'm saying. (Read my last post if you have no idea what this is about and want to know.)

Further reading:

March 13, 2008 - It is now official: An Orphan Works law is being drafted for consideration in the 2008 legislative session. On Thursday, March 13, the House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property will hold a hearing, and ASMP’s General Counsel, Victor Perlman, will be there to testify on behalf of creators. He will be speaking on behalf of photographers and illustrators generally, as well as ASMP and its members in particular. Read more here - http://www.asmp.org/news/spec2008/orphan_update.php

Thursday 03/13/2008 - 10:00 AM - Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property
Hearing on Promoting the Use of Orphan Works: Balancing the Interests of Copyright Owners and Users
- video of hearing - http://judiciary.house.gov/Oversight.aspx?ID=427

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Date: 2008-04-14 15:23 Subject: Copyright Laws - please read Security: Public Mood: aggravated

Original Source - http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=pageone&article_no=3605&page=1

Please read! Don't think it concerns you? Skim to the BOLD section.

Mind Your Business: You Will Lose All The Rights to Your Own Art

April 10, 2008 by Mark Simon

As you know, I usually handle the subjects in my articles with a sense of humor. That is not the case this month. I find nothing funny about the new Orphan Works legislation that is before Congress. In fact, it PISSES ME OFF!

As an artist, you have to read this article or you could lose everything you've ever created!

An Orphaned Work is any creative work of art where the artist or copyright owner has released their copyright, whether on purpose, by passage of time, or by lack of proper registration. In the same way that an orphaned child loses the protection of his or her parents, your creative work can become an orphan for others to use without your permission.

If you don't like to read long articles, you will miss incredibly important information that will affect the rest of your career as an artist. You should at least skip to the end to find the link for a fantastic interview with the Illustrators' Partnership about how you are about to lose ownership of your own artwork.

Currently, you don't have to register your artwork to own the copyright. You own a copyright as soon as you create something. International law also supports this. Right now, registration allows you to sue for damages, in addition to fair value.

What makes me so MAD about this new legislation is that it legalizes THEFT! The only people who benefit from this are those who want to make use of our creative works without paying for them and large companies who will run the new private copyright registries.

These registries are companies that you would be forced to pay in order to register every single image, photo, sketch or creative work.

It is currently against international law to coerce people to register their work for copyright because there are so many inherent problems with it. But because big business can push through laws in the United States, our country is about to break with the rest of the world, again, and take your rights away.

With the tens of millions of photos and pieces of artwork created each year, the bounty for forcing everyone to pay a registration fee would be enormous. We lose our rights and our creations, and someone else makes money at our expense.

This includes every sketch, painting, photo, sculpture, drawing, video, song and every other type of creative endeavor. All of it is at risk!

If the Orphan Works legislation passes, you and I and all creatives will lose virtually all the rights to not only our future work but to everything we've created over the past 34 years, unless we register it with the new, untested and privately run (by the friends and cronies of the U.S. government) registries. Even then, there is no guarantee that someone wishing to steal your personal creations won't successfully call your work an orphan work, and then legally use it for free.

In short, if Congress passes this law, YOU WILL LOSE THE RIGHT TO MAKE MONEY FROM YOUR OWN CREATIONS!

Why is this allowed to happen? APATHY and MONEY.

Artists have apathy and corporations have money.

We need to be heard in order to protect our incomes, our creations and our careers. GET OFF YOUR ASS!

That means writing letters to our congressmen and representatives. That means voicing your opinion about how we need copyright protection, as we've had since 1976, that protects everything we create from the moment we create it. This is the case around the world.

However, an Orphan Works bill is also in the works in Europe. I was speaking recently with Roger Dean, the famed artist of the Yes album covers, and he is greatly concerned with what will happen if Orphan Works bills become law.

"This will devastate the livelihood of artists, photographers and designers in a number of ways," Dean says. "That at the behest of a few hugely rich corporations who got rich by selling art that they played no part in the making of, the U.S. and U.K. governments are changing the copyright laws to protect the infringer instead of the creator. This is unjust, culturally destructive and commercial lunacy. This will not just hurt millions of artists around the world.

"On the other side of the coin, what argument will a U.S. court have with a Chinese company that insists it did its research in China and found nothing? If the cost of this is onerous for a U.S.-based artist, what will it be like for artists and small businesses in emergent economies?"

If an artist whose work is as famous as Roger Dean's is concerned with this legislation, it should be of great concern for all of us.

The people, associations and companies behind the Orphan Works bill state that orphaned works have no value. If that were true, no one would want them. However, these same companies DO WANT your work, they just don't want to pay for it. If someone wants something, IT HAS VALUE. It's pretty simple.

Some major art and photography associations, or I should say, the managers of the associations, support this bill. The reason they support it is that they will operate some of the registries and stand to make a lot of money. Some have already been given millions of dollars by the Library of Congress. Follow the money and you will see why some groups support this bill of legalized theft of everything you have ever created.

Two proponents of this new legislation are Corbis and Getty Images. They are large stock photo and stock art companies. They sell art and photos inexpensively and are trying to build giant royalty-free databases. Do you see how they could benefit from considering most works of art in the world orphans?
Do you know who owns Corbis? Bill Gates. He doesn't do anything unless it can make a huge amount of money. Helping you lose the copyright to your art is big business for Gates.

For years we've heard of Hollywood fighting with China to protect copyrights and stop the pirating of DVDs. Our government has worked with the studios to protect their investment.

Our government is NOW WORKING AGAINST US by allowing our own fellow citizens TO STEAL OUR CREATIVE WORKS.

It will be easy for them to get away with it unless we make ourselves heard.

Your calls and letters do work. I've seen many instances in which a single letter made a difference in public policy. Tens of thousands of calls and letters help even more.

This is not empty talk. I have written letters to my congressmen and I will do so again. I do what I can to let every creator know about terrible legislation like this... thus you are reading articles like this one and you can listen to interviews I've posted online.

CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATOR:
Go to http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml to quickly find the phone number, address and e-mail of every U.S. senator, U.S. representative, governor and state legislator.

Forward this article to every creator you know and urge them to take a moment to protect their very livelihood. I am giving everyone the right to reprint this article in any form to help spread the word to protect our creative rights.

Instead of sitting around watching TV tonight, TiVo that show, write a letter and make yourself heard.

Letters to our government officials don't have to be long, but they should be heartfelt. A good story helps. Tell them who you are, how this legislation negatively affects you and that you want them to vote against the Orphan Works legislation. It's that easy!

If you don't, you will have only yourself to blame when you see other people making money from your art and you don't see a dime.

Spider-Man comic artist Alex Saviuk is also concerned about the loss of copyright protection. "When I found out all the negative aspects of the new legislation, it would almost behoove us to want to do something else for a living," says Saviuk. "If we would have to register with all the different companies, we would never be able to make a living."

"It would be impossible for me to register all my art," continues Saviuk. "It would put me out of business."

You can listen to my complete interview with Alex online. ( http://www.sellyourtvconceptnow.com/orphan.html ) Think this doesn't apply to you? Maybe you don't license your artwork? How about this?

Photos on the internet could be orphaned. With tens of millions of photos shared online with services like Flickr, Shutterfly and Snapfish, there is a huge opportunity for unauthorized use of your photos... legally.

You could see photos you take of your family and kids, or of a family vacation, used in a magazine or newspaper without your permission or payment to you. You would have to pay to register your photos, all of them, in every new registry in order to protect them. Say the average person takes 300 photos per year (I take a lot more than that). If a registry only charges $5 per image, that is a whopping $1,500 to protect your photos that are protected automatically under the current laws. If there are three registries, protecting your images could cost an amazing $4,500. Not to mention the time it would take to register every photo you take. Plus, you will also have to place your copyright sign on every photo.

That's not including all your art, sketches, paintings, 3D models, animations, etc. Do you really have all that extra time and money? Plus, even if you do register, the people stealing your work can still claim it was orphaned and, unless you fight them, they win. Even if you win, you may not make back your legal fees.

It gets even better. Anyone can submit images, including your images. They would then be excused from any liability for infringement (also known as THEFT) unless the legitimate rights owner (you) responds within a certain period of time to grant or deny permission to use your work.

That means you will also have to look through every image in every registry all the time to make sure someone is not stealing and registering your art. You could actually end up illegally using your own artwork if someone else registers it. DOES ANYONE SEE A PROBLEM WITH THIS?

Do you think the U.S. Copyright Office is here to protect you from this legislation? Think again.

Brad Holland of the Illustrators' Partnership shares his notes from a recent meeting with David O. Carson, general counsel of the Copyright Office.

Brad Holland: If a user can't find a registered work at the Copyright Office, hasn't the Copyright Office facilitated the creation of an orphaned work?
David O. Carson: Copyright owners will have to register their images with private registries.

BH: But what if I exercise my exclusive right of copyright and choose not to register?

DOC: If you want to go ahead and create an orphan work, be my guest!

This cavalier and disrespectful dialogue should have you seeing red. Who the hell does he think he is? Carson should be fired and RUN OUT OF WASHINGTON!

None of this could happen with our current laws. Our current laws work and they protect us and our creations.

The only people who will benefit from the copyright law change are those who can't create work on their own or companies who stand to make a lot of money from using our works of art. They make contributions to congressmen, which is why they get what they want. We need to stand up and be heard. Every one of you need to write your senators and representatives. We have to protect our livelihoods. It's that serious.

Plus, the technologies being developed for locating visual art don't work well enough. On March 13, 2008, PicScout, the creators of one of the software applications used in the registries, stated to the House IP subcommittee:

"Our technology can match images, or partial information of an image, with 99% success."

A 1% margin of error is huge when you consider the millions of searches performed for art every day. That means for every million searches, 10,000 images could be orphaned.

Plus, this only takes into account images registered on their system. If you have registered all your work on another system, they won't be searched here and, even though you may have spent thousands of dollars registering your creations, a new or unused directory could orphan everything you've ever created.

This is just one of the many reasons why INTERNATIONAL LAW FORBIDS COERCED REGISTRATION as a condition of protecting your copyright. The United States is about to break international law by making us register our works. The people behind the bill say it's not forced registration, but you won't have any rights unless you register. THIS IS SEMANTICS! Of course, this is forced registration and we can't stand for it!

There are many, many other problems with the Orphan Works legislation. As a creator, YOU MUST understand what is going on.

For additional information on Orphan Works developments, go to the IPA Orphan Works Resource Page for Artists. ( http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00185 )

This is not something that is going to go away easily. We need to be vocal NOW!

This legislation has been beaten or delayed for the past two years and they will keep trying until it passes. This is no time to be quiet and see what happens. What will happen depends on you. Send e-mails and call your congressmen. Ownership of your own creations depends on it.

Roger Dean sums this up well. "Where are the colleges and universities in all this? Has the whole world gone to sleep?"

GET ON ORPHAN WORKS E-MAIL LIST
To be notified of the latest information on the Orphan Works bill and when to contact your legislators, send an e-mail ( illustratorspartnership@cnymail.com ) and ask to be added to the Orphan Works list.

AUDIO INTERVIEW LINK
I have recorded a fantastic interview with Brad Holland of the Illustrators' Partnership regarding this bill and what it means to us as artists. Please listen and learn more about how you may lose ownership of all your art and photos. This article and the recorded interview are available for anyone to use in print or online. Please forward this information to every person and group you know so that we can work together and protect our creations and livelihoods.

Mark Simon is an award-winning animation producer/director and speaker. He speaks around the world on subjects about art, animation and TV production. His copyrighted companies may be found online at www.SellYourTvConceptNow.com and www.Storyboards-East.com. He may be reached at marksimonbooks@yahoo.com.

Portions of this article use information and phrasing provided by the Illustrators' Partnership.

Note: Readers may contact any Animation World Magazine contributor by sending an e-mail to editor@awn.com.

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Date: 2008-03-19 11:53 Subject: SPLAT! Graphic Novel Symposium Security: Public Mood: dorky

I attended SPLAT! Graphic Novel Symposium on Saturday and had a good time and learned a few things too. PW did a good job of covering the symposium and the reporter went to some different sessions than I did. Check out the article here: PW SPLAT! Symposium article

I started the day with a storytelling workshop with Mark Siegel from First Second. He talked about how your story isn’t ready until it’s ready. It has to be important to the creator and come from inside. “It doesn’t have to be pompous to be great; it just has to have a core.”

The next session was my favorite session of the day. It was Comic Deconstruction with Paul Karasik. He spent almost the whole session deconstructing one comic strip. (It was a Nancy comic by Ernie Bushmiller.) Bushmiller is a great one to study, since he knew how to pace a comic strip, tell a joke in that short space, respect the reader, and move your eye through the strip with the use of black. Karasik also said, “All of your characters should be designed. You should always be able to tell who it is.” (Like Charlie Brown with the wavy line on his shirt – even if he’s drawn really small, you know it’s him.)

My next session was about place in the graphic novel with Brian Wood. He talked about his comic LOCAL and how he and the artist made sure to use specific references and landmarks from the places the comics were set in, with special attention to historical references to make sure that business, etc. was there at that time. He told a story about one of the comics having lots of music references and then getting mail after the comic was published saying that those records didn’t come out until after the time period of the comic. OOPS!

At lunch, I saw my friend Carol and got a chance to catch up, which was fun. She also had done a really great drawing on her badge and ended up winning the badge contest – yay Carol!

After lunch was the Comics for Kids Too panel. The PW article covered this one pretty well, so I won’t add to that, except to say that book fairs are where graphic novels are selling really well, because the kids get to choose their own books and the gate keepers aren’t as involved in the selection.

The next session was on web comics, and the panel really rocked. It’s a lot of fun to be in the audience when there's a great moderator and the speakers are engaging and having fun and playing off of comments that others on the panel are making. PW covered this session too. The big theme was web vs. print and whether you could cross over and make money (yes for some, but not all). The success of web comics is the interaction between the creator and the reader. Most newspaper comics have a web presence now too.

Then I went to the DIY comics and self promotion session with Edwin Vazkez. He showed a lot of really cool hand-made promotional items and suggested that you should always print on both sides of your business cards and postcards.

The final session of the day was with Scott McCloud. PW covered that much better than I could, because at that point I was fried from the long and wonderful day of constant information. The 2 things that he said that I did write down were: “Community (in comics) is incredibly important.” and “Moby Dick in 40 pages is always going to suck.” (You need enough room to tell the story.)

I’m glad I went to the symposium and I hope they have another one next year!

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Date: 2008-01-14 10:39 Subject: I can't believe it Security: Public Mood: Wow!

Congratulations to Brian Selznick! Hooray for Hugo!

After all the talk about why it would be impossible for Hugo Cabret to win either the Caldecott or Newbery awards (and why it should win both) it actually won the Caldecott award! I'm am happy and amazed that it won. I saw Brian speak about creating The Invention Of Hugo Cabret at a conference. The speech, like the book, was amazing.

It will be interesting to see where illustrated books for children go from here. American Born Chinese (graphic novel) won a Printz last year and now The Invention Of Hugo Cabret (an illustrated book, but not a PB and not a graphic novel) won the Caldecott this year. I'm excited about the possibilities for the future.

I also wonder what the Picture Book communtiy is going to think about a novel winning the Caldecott instead of a PB. Any thoughts?

Congratulations to all the winners and honorees today!

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Date: 2007-11-12 08:57 Subject: Last Week for Snow Security: Public Mood: snowylicious

This is the last week for Robert's Snow snowflake interviews. You can view all of the 2007 snowflakes here The auction begins next Monday, so if you have time, please read the interviews and think about bidding on a snowflake. You can see a complete list of the interviews on a special page at 7-Imp.

Monday, November 12
John Nez at ChatRabbit
Liza Woodruff at Check It Out
Jane Dippold at Just Like the Nut
Mike Wohnoutka at laurasalas

Tuesday, November 13
Cynthia Decker at The Silver Lining
Cecily Lang at Kate's Book Blog
Jane Dyer at Whimsy Books
Gutierrez at AmoXcalli and Cuentecitos
Lee White at Please Come Flying

Wednesday, November 14
Philomena O'Neill at Jo's Journal
Maggie Swanson at Chicken Spaghetti
Timothy Bush at Here in the Bonny Glen
Peter Emmerich at Loree Griffin Burns: A Life in Books

Thursday, November 15
Yangsook Choi at What Adrienne Thinks About That
Laura Jacques at cynthialord's Journal
Mary Newell Depalma at Wild Rose Reader
Leanne Franson at Just Like the Nut

Friday, November 16
Mary Haverfield at Your Neighborhood Librarian
Lisa Kopelke at Lisa's Little Corner of the Internet
Salley Mavor at ChatRabbit
Greg Newbold at The Longstockings
Elizabeth Sayles at AmoXcalli and Cuentecitos

Saturday, November 17
Paul Brewer at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
Aaron Zenz at Jo's Journal
Wendy Edelson at What Adrienne Thinks About That
Joan Waites at Chicken Spaghetti

Sunday, November 18
Giles Laroche at Book, Book, Book
Annie Patterson at Check It Out
Teri Sloat at The Miss Rumphius Effect
Annette Heiberg at Lisa's Little Corner of the Internet
Wade Zahares at Wild Rose Reader

Please take time out to visit all of these blogs, and read about these fabulous illustrators. And, if you're so inclined, think about bidding for a snowflake in the Robert's Snow auction. Each snowflake makes a unique gift (for yourself or for someone else), and supports an important cause.

See also the following note from Elaine Magliaro of Wild Rose Reader:

Note to Blog Readers about Blogging for a Cure: When Jules of 7-Imp put out her call in September for bloggers to interview/feature artists who had created snowflakes for Robert’s Snow 2007 at their blogs, a number of artists had not yet sent in their snowflakes to Dana-Farber. As time was of the essence to get Blogging for a Cure underway, we worked with the list of artists whose snowflakes were already in possession of Dana-Farber. Therefore, not all the participating artists will be featured. This in no way diminishes our appreciation for their contributions to this worthy cause. We hope everyone will understand that once the list of artists was emailed to bloggers and it was determined which bloggers would feature which artists at their blogs, a schedule was organized and sent out so we could get to work on Blogging for a Cure ASAP. Our aim is to raise people’s awareness about Robert’s Snow and to promote the three auctions. We hope our efforts will help to make Robert’s Snow 2007 a resounding success.

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Date: 2007-11-11 01:11 Subject: Elizabeth Dulemba Robert's Snow Interview Security: Public Mood: artistic

Today I’m interviewing the wonderful artist Elizabeth Dulemba about her snowflake for Robert’s Snow: for Cancer’s Cure as part of a blog tour for Robert’s Snow. I asked some goofy questions about winter and art and got some excellent answers. Thanks Elizabeth!

( click here for the interview )

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Date: 2007-11-05 12:04 Subject: the 4th week of snow Security: Public Mood: snowerific

Robert's Snow is an online auction that benefits Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Snowflakes created by over 200 children's book illustrators will be auctioned off, with proceeds going to cancer research. The schedule for week 4 is posted below, of you can view all of the 2007 snowflakes here. You can find links to the individual posts and any last-minute updates each morning at 7-Imp. Jules and Eisha have also set up a special page at 7-Imp containing a comprehensive list of links to all the profiles posted so far. Also, Kris Bordessa has posted a summary of all the snowflake-related contests to date.

Monday, November 5
Anna Alter at The Longstockings
Laura Huliska Beith at Just One More Book!!
Cece Bell at Jo's Journal
Denise Ortakales at cynthialord’s Journal

Tuesday, November 6
Carol Heyer at The Shady Glade
Joe Kulka at ChatRabbit
Steven James Petruccio at Blog From the Windowsill
Carol Schwartz at Jama Rattigan's Alphabet Soup

Wednesday, November 7
Jeff Ebbeler at Sam Riddleburger's blog
Scott Magoon at Just One More Book!!
Connie McLennan at The Shady Glade
Julie Paschkis at the excelsior file

Thursday, November 8
Genevieve Cote at a wrung sponge
Linda Graves at Your Neighborhood Librarian
James Gurney at Charlotte's Library
Matt Tavares at Please Come Flying

Friday, November 9
Susan Kathleen Hartung at Wild Rose Reader
Mary Peterson at Brooklyn Arden
Annette Simon at Check It Out and Deo Writer
Melanie Watt at Whimsy Books

Saturday, November 10
R.W. Alley at at Jama Rattigan's Alphabet Soup
Jeannie Brett at cynthialord’s Journal
Daniel Mahoney at Paradise Found and Great Solutions to Team Challenges
Amy Young at Kate's Book Blog

Sunday, November 11
Tim Coffey at The Silver Lining
Elizabeth Dulemba at sruble's world
Chris Gall at Through the Studio Door
Amy Schimler > at Please Come Flying

Please take time out to visit all the blogs, and read about the fabulous illustrators. And, if you're so inclined, think about bidding for a snowflake in the Robert's Snow auction. Each snowflake makes a unique gift (for yourself or for someone else), and supports an important cause.

Note to Blog Readers about Blogging for a Cure, from Elaine Magliaro of Wild Rose Reader:

: When Jules of 7-Imp put out her call in September for bloggers to interview/feature artists who had created snowflakes for Robert’s Snow 2007 at their blogs, a number of artists had not yet sent in their snowflakes to Dana-Farber. As time was of the essence to get Blogging for a Cure underway, we worked with the list of artists whose snowflakes were already in possession of Dana-Farber. Therefore, not all the participating artists will be featured. This in no way diminishes our appreciation for their contributions to this worthy cause. We hope everyone will understand that once the list of artists was emailed to bloggers and it was determined which bloggers would feature which artists at their blogs, a schedule was organized and sent out so we could get to work on Blogging for a Cure ASAP. Our aim is to raise people’s awareness about Robert’s Snow and to promote the three auctions. We hope our efforts will help to make Robert’s Snow 2007 a resounding success.

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Date: 2007-11-01 00:40 Subject: Karen Lee Interview for Robert's Snow Security: Public Mood: artistic

Today I’m interviewing the talented artist Karen Lee about her snowflake for Robert’s Snow: for Cancer’s Cure as part of a blog tour for Robert’s Snow. I asked some silly questions about winter and art and got some fun and thoughtful answers. Thanks Karen!

( click here for the interview )

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Date: 2007-10-29 10:00 Subject: Robert's Snow Week 3 Security: Public Mood: snowy

Robert's Snow is an online auction that benefits Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Over 200 children's book illustrators have created art on individual snowflake-shaped wooden templates. The snowflakes will be auctioned off, with proceeds going to cancer research. You can view all of the 2007 snowflakes here.

Here’s the schedule for the Week 3 blog interviews. Jules and Eisha have set up a comprehensive list of links to the profiles posted so far, and Kris Bordessa has posted a summary of all the snowflake-related contests to date.

Monday, October 29
Dan Santat at Writing and Ruminating
Joanne Friar at The Longstockings
Alissa Imre Geis at Wild Rose Reader
Diane Greenseid at Just One More Book!!
Sean Qualls at Brooklyn Arden

Tuesday, October 30
Ann Koffsky at Book Buds
Bill Carman at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
Gretel Parker at Finding Wonderland
Matt Phelan at A Year of Reading
Stephanie Roth at Writing with a broken tusk

Wednesday, October 31
Shawna Tenney at Kate's Book Blog
Adam Rex at Booktopia and Welcome to my Tweendom
Mo Willems at MotherReader
Rolandas Kiaulevicius at a wrung sponge

Thursday, November 1
Karen Lee at sruble's world
Diana Magnuson at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
Melissa Iwai at Brooklyn Arden
Victoria Jamieson at AmoXcalli and Cuentecitos
Molly Idle at The Shady Glade
Meghan McCarthy at A Fuse #8 Production

Friday, November 2
Tracy McGuinness-Kelly at Sam Riddleburger's blog
Sarah Kahn at Kate's Book Blog
Sylvia Long at Whimsy Books
Jeremy Tankard at the excelsior file
Holli Conger at Please Come Flying

Saturday, November 3
Susan Miller at Your Neighborhood Librarian
Ellen Beier at What Adrienne Thinks About That
Hideko Takahashi at The Silver Lining
Judith Moffat at Jo's Journal
Wendell Minor at Wild Rose Reader

Sunday, November 4
Joy Allen at Check It Out
Robin Brickman at Greetings from Nowhere
Lauren Stringer at laurasalas
Nancy Wallace at In the Pages . . .

Please try to visit the blogs listed to read about the fabulous illustrators and their snowflakes. And, if you're so inclined, think about bidding for a snowflake in the Robert's Snow auction where you can see all of the snowflakes. Each snowflake makes a unique gift (for yourself or for someone else), and supports an important cause.

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Date: 2007-10-23 10:20 Subject: a new comic Security: Public Mood: apricotish

I think I might have figured out what to do with my sandi_apricot blog. I've been going through some old files and found a comic that I worled on years ago. The MC used to be named Gloria, but Sandi Apricot is a much better name. So, in honor of my character's new name and the constant playing of the Mr. Softee song in our neighborhood (grrr), here's the first Sandi Apricot comic!



Cross posted on sandi_apricot and hopefully more comics will appear there in the future.

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Date: 2007-10-22 14:08 Subject: Robert's Snow Week 2 Schedule Security: Public Mood: snowtastic

Here's the schedule for Week 2, which starts Monday. Because the posts aren't up yet, this list links to the participating blogs, instead of to the individual posts. You can find links to the posts themselves, and any last-minute updates, each morning at 7-Imp. Jules and Eisha have also set up a special page at 7-Imp containing a comprehensive list of links to the profiles posted so far. Also not to be missed is Kris Bordessa's post summarizing snowflake-related contests to date over at Paradise Found.

Monday, October 22
Mark Teague at The Miss Rumphius Effect
Sharon Vargo at Finding Wonderland
Christopher Demarest at Writing and Ruminating
Rose Mary Berlin at Charlotte's Library
David Macaulay at Here in the Bonny Glen

Tuesday, October 23
Carin Berger at Chasing Ray
Marion Eldridge at Chicken Spaghetti
Sophie Blackall at not your mother's bookclub
Erik Brooks at Bildungsroman
Brian Lies at Greetings from Nowhere

Wednesday, October 24
Elisa Kleven at Rozzie Land
Consie Powell at Becky's Book Reviews
Jimmy Pickering at Shaken & Stirred
Frank Dormer at What Adrienne Thinks About That
Sheila Bailey at Lizjonesbooks

Thursday, October 25
Julia Denos at Interactive Reader
Rebecca Doughty at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
Brian Floca at A Fuse #8 Production
Margaret Chodos-Irvine at readergirlz

Friday, October 26
David Ezra Stein at HipWriterMama
Juli Kangas at Sam Riddleburger's blog
Ginger Nielson at Miss O's School Library
Margot Apple at Jo's Journal

Saturday, October 27
Julie Fromme Fortenberry at Your Neighborhood Librarian
Sarah Dillard at The Silver Lining
John Hassett at cynthialord's Journal
Abigail Marble at Please Come Flying

Sunday, October 28
Ashley Wolff at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
Barbara Garrison at Brooklyn Arden
Kelly Murphy at ChatRabbit

Please take time out to visit all of these blogs, and read about these fabulous illustrators. And, if you're so inclined, think about bidding for a snowflake in the Robert's Snow auction. Each snowflake makes a unique gift (for yourself or for someone else), and supports an important cause.

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Date: 2007-10-21 01:35 Subject: Susie Lee Jin Interview for Robert's Snow Security: Public Mood: artistic

I’m interviewing my friend and fellow CBIG member Susie Lee Jin about her snowflake for Robert’s Snow: for Cancer’s Cure as part of a blog tour for Robert’s Snow. I asked some fun winter and art questions and got some really great answers. Thanks Susie!

( click here for the interview )

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Date: 2007-10-15 10:50 Subject: Robert's Snow Blog Tour Security: Public Mood: Snowtastic

Today is the first day of the Robert's Snow blog tour. There's a full schedule this week - please stop by the blogs and check out the featured illustrators this week:

Monday, October 15
Randy Cecil at ChatRabbit
Michelle Chang at The Longstockings
Kevin Hawkes at Cynthia Lord's Journal
Barbara Lehman at The Excelsior File
Grace Lin at In the Pages

Tuesday, October 16
Selina Alko at Brooklyn Arden
Scott Bakal at Wild Rose Reader
Alexandra Boiger at Paradise Found
Paige Keiser at Your Neighborhood Librarian
Janet Stevens at The Miss Rumphius Effect

Wednesday, October 17
Rick Chrustowski at laurasalas
Diane DeGroat at Jama Rattigan's Alphabet Soup
Ilene Richard at Something Different Every Day
Brie Spangler at Lectitans
Don Tate at The Silver Lining

Thursday, October 18
Brooke Dyer at Bookshelves of Doom
D.B. Johnson at Lessons from the Tortoise
Erin Eitter Kono at Sam Riddleburger
Sherry Rogers at A Life in Books
Jennifer Thermes at Through the Studio Door

Friday, October 19
Graeme Base at Just One More Book
Denise Fleming at MotherReader
Jeff Mack at AmoXcalli
Jeff Newman at A Year of Reading
Ruth Sanderson at Book Moot

Saturday, October 20
Linas Alsenas at A Wrung Sponge
Theresa Brandon at The Shady Glade
Karen Katz at Whimsy Books
Judy Schachner at Kate's Book Blog
Sally Vitsky at Shelf Elf: read, write, rave

Sunday, October 21
Matthew Cordell at Just Like the Nut
Maxwell Eaton III at Books and Other Thoughts
Roz Fulcher at Goading the Pen
Susie Jin at sruble's world
Susan Mitchell at Check It Out

Please take time out to visit all of these blogs, and read about these fabulous illustrators. And, if you're so inclined, think about bidding for a snowflake in the Robert's Snow auction. Each snowflake makes a unique gift (for yourself or for someone else), and supports an important cause.

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