Friday 27 August 2010

The New Yorker is speaking up about gay marriage after the back and forth appeals in California about Proposition 8, the state’s referendum on same-sex marriage.

In the small window between the decision to allow gay marriage on 4th of August and a federal judge Vaugh Walker’s ruling that it was unconstitutional, several same-sex couples tied the knot. Others are looking to civil unions, which the article calls “marriage-lite, lacking the constricting, exalting, maddening qualities of the real thing”.

But the “m-word” still has a lot of value. The article concludes “Judge Walker found that, rather than seeking a novel right, the plaintiffs are asking California ‘to recognize their relationships for what they are: marriages.’”

The great digital rights siege of 2010 seems to be over as uber-agent Andrew Wylie has brokered a peace with Random House and is “in discussion” with Penguin Books.

After breaking ranks with traditional publishing because of disputes over paying his authors for electronic rights, Wylie founded his own online publishing company. But if you want to buy from Odyssey Editions for your Kindle, you’d better be quick because the list has shrunk from the original 20 titles to 7. Of the remaining books, 2 are Penguin titles (Saul Bellow’s Adventures of Augie March and William Burroughs' Junky) so the list may be reduced even further.

And the price paid for getting Wylie’s authors back inside Random House? According to Publisher’s Weekly’s source at Random House, royalties on digital editions are “built around a sliding schedule that can approach 40%”. Wylie hasn’t made any comment on dismantling Odyssey Editions, as it could still prove a useful weapon in Wylie’s war.