Yet more depressing correspondence with my publisher today – it really is getting me down. The publisher has an understandable fear of facing malicious and extremely expensive litigation under British libel laws, which exist to protect the reputations of the wealthy and the powerful. As my entire purpose is to expose unsavoury truths about the wealthy and the powerful, I really do not see how we are going to solve this.
I have no fear of libel action myself as I am confident in the truth of what is after all the story of my own life. So we may need to cut out the publisher.
I would be grateful for any practical advice on other publishing options. For example, can you really make it into Waterstones and Amazon if you publish on Lulu? What options are there for electronic publishing that work? I am also likely to need help from someone with genuine expertise in formating for publication – I have looked at the instructions on PDF creation, page numbering, chapter headings etc on Lulu and its all way beyond my ability.
You can comment below or email me at [email protected].
The snag about the libel laws is, of course, that a statement doesn't have to be untrue to be libellous just that the other fellow feels he/she has been defamed in some way.
It would help considerably if our parliamentary bludgers would amend these laws to strengthen the 'truth' and 'fair comment' angles and diminish the 'defamatory' one.
This may seem a silly comment, but have you considered the option of publishing abroad out of the reach of British libel laws?
That thought about 'being out of reach of British libel laws' strikes me as false : I've read of an Australian sent halfway around the world for violating RIAA limits on distributing copyrighted downloads online.
Frankly, publishing in 'dead tree' media may not be practical. Why isn't that hard to figure out : just terribly unpalatable.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutocracy
"Spycatcher"?
There are publishers everywhere. Of course whether the deals are the same is another matter…..
My sense of whimsy kicked in.
One of the oldest dodges is to proclaim your writing inspired fiction.
Many can't tell that from truth anyway …especially these days.
You've probably already done all this, but as well as asking your agent to approach publishers abroad, it may be worth contacting the Society of Authors in London for advice on opportunities regarding other modes of publishing and maybe even PEN – they may have contacts who might be able to advise appropriately. There's the Index on Censorship and also the organisation, Liberty – after all, these are issues of Freedom of Speech. Maybe you could try and get advice from someone like investigative journalist, Duncan Campbell or a similarly experienced figure, usually contactable through their agents. Or perhaps Robin Ramsay, of Lobster magazine and the University of Hull. Or Stephen Dorrill (not to be confused with the ex-Conservative Minister!), who wrote a book on the SIS. Or Professor David Miller of Spinwatch and the University of Strathclyde. I was going to suggest Paul Foot, but unfortunately and sadly, he's been dead for a few years.
I'd put your book together in a PDF format or document.
It's a piece of cake.
Then you would only need to post it at your site for downloading.
Calm