|
The problem is that after one single e-mail containing an explanation that really wasn’t, they simply don't reply anymore. There's no confusion with texts published elsewhere, the copyright belongs to me 100%, in every country, since its 100% my text (i.e. my translation).
The weirdest thing is: seemingly in reaction to my second reply and request for clarification, in which I pointed out that they'd already approved some other epubs of mine last year, they've now also canceled all of these. The cancellation text mentions only: "Inappropriate content (contains images/text from works in the public domain)", no further explanation is given.
To complicate matters slightly: I'd also published two 19th century translations that are in the public domain. In one of these two, I admit I seem to have made the mistake of not flagging that as public domain. That’s rather moot, however, since I offered that text for free. The other public domain text I did put up for 2 euro (partly to see if that would make a difference in the number of downloads and partly because I’d put some effort into modernizing its spelling). And this text has been taken down too, with the same cryptic justification. But that’s nonsense, since I *had* actually flagged that as public domain.
And as for the translations that are my own, I don't *need* to publish those as public domain texts, since they aren’t.
I guess I shouldn’t read too much into it, but it almost feels like a vindictive action by someone who thought my second request for information didn't sound friendly enough and because of that just decided to cancel all my books.
Oh well. I though this might prove to be a free and relatively hasslefree way of charging a fee for my translations on the web, i.e. without having to go through the hassle of installing your own paywall, or actually publishing it officially (with an ISBN &c, which costs time and money). But I guess the only way forward is putting them up for free. Because I don't feel like being at the mercy of the ignorance and incompetence of some Canadian (?) office worker who knows nothing about translation copyright and/or is too lazy to check the actual contents of a book.
|