This decision by Watts to put the book in the public domain (effectively) just because Tor hasn't acted quickly enough to reprint looks like a massive tantrum to me.

I'm actually a bit surprised he can do it legally. Surely Tor bought the eBook rights?

Johan: I'm no expert by any means, but "Creative Commons" is nowhere near "public domain."

Cory Doctorow, for example, has put several of his novels up on his website for free under a CC license, and that doesn't make them PD.

I'd concur that it certainly doesn't look like Watts is behaving in his own best interests or in a way likely to make Tor or their lawyers happy. However, this is only his second real chance to bring in new readers; all the Rifters books were connected. I think that for sales purposes this is probably in Tor's best interests.

All that doesn't change whatever things may be contractually true. I suspect that a more important component in understanding why Watts is reacting so decisively to what might just be a normal delay in the sinister world of publishing has to do with the last line of his newscrawl post where he mentions the creative commons release.

I know that wouldn't be my best condition for decision making.

Jason: I'm not sure how a CC license is "not behaving in his own interests" -- would you say Doctorow's similar free-books giveaways were bad for him? And what about Charles Stross's Accelerando or Kelly Link's Stranger Things Happen? All of those are available under the identical terms.

And, while I have no knowledge of the situation, I am certain that Watts has Tor's approval to do this. (And Tor does have has some prior experience with CC licenses -- including Watts's first two books.)

Andrew, if he's operating with Tor's approval then everything is super swell for sure. I was just unclear on that given the tone of the discussion and his prior mention of it on November 2, where it sounded like an at least mildly antagonistic proposition.

I'm all for CC licensing. My confidence level in the arrangements is just a bit lower. This is, of course, based on nothing but my sense from reading the newscrawl.

Well, I suppose it's possible that he's doing this without Tor's OK -- but, then, as you say, the lawyer letter would already be on its way and Blindsight would be the book with the world's shortest CC license lifetime.

I guess I'm assuming nobody would be dumb enough to do that -- it's a good way to kill a career, on top of everything book-specific.

Okay, folks. Context:

1. Tor (or at least David Hartwell, my editor) is aware I've gone CC. He's cool with it, and interested to see what happens (although, to give a bit of ammo to those who think of me as self-destructive loon, I might well have gone ahead and done it regardless). I was planning on doing this as soon as I learned about the problems with distribution; David asked me to hold off for a month before acting, and I complied.

2. I am not doing this because "Tor hasn't acted quickly enough to reprint". That was mere catalyst. I'm doing this because a book lives or dies in the first two months following release; because the smaller independent stores couldn't get their orders filled; because one of the two largest book chains on the continent chose not to preorder any copies of Blindsight whatsoever (a scenario which my editor, a couple of years back, characterized as a professional death sentence); because I am told that such chains, having made their decisions, are unlikely to change their minds later regardless of critical acclaim; and because the buzz arising from all the advance raves, good reviews, and warm fuzzies in the world is bound to implode if nobody can read the damn book.

3. I was heartened to learn of a second print run (the first was pretty small), but I've been updated twice since then, and at each step Tor seems to be back-peddling. I honestly have no wish to antagonize anybody, but these guys have failed to follow through on promises on several occasions in the past, and based on that I don't feel I can count on a second print run. Note that I am not saying that there will be no second run (as some have misquoted me), only that this may happen, whereas my understanding before was that it was in the bag. I've seen these sands shift before.

4. Going the CC route is, for me, an act of desperation more than experimentation. I am very concerned that it may bleed off sales, that the book may tank commercially, that I may be cutting my own throat. But there is also the possibility that it will help sales -- it certainly has for others -- and if somebody doesn't try some kind of course correction, the current trajectory (holes in big-store distribution, shortages in the smaller outlets, and a deliberate strategy on Tor's part to hold off on a reprint because they have "only a few" backorders) seems pretty ominous. This is not a tantrum: this is a Hail Mary.

5. Regarding "the quickest way to end one's career"-- dude, my sense is that whatever career I had in this business was already pretty much flickering out before Blindsight even came on the scene. In which case, the only question is whether to go out with a bang or a whimper.

Thanks for listening. I apologise if I'm coming across as too cranky. I'm going through a bit of a rough stretch on a couple of fronts, and am probably not on my best behavior.

PW