Is a table of contents copyrightable?

[arjaybe]

Originally Posted by Hitch

You know, not to be overly critical, but perhaps your friend needs a different type of help than you're able to provide. Ya know?

Hitch

He's had that kind of help, if I'm reading you correctly, and he assures me he's well on his way to recovery.-)

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by arjaybe

He's had that kind of help, if I'm reading you correctly, and he assures me he's well on his way to recovery.-)

I hope for his sake that that's true, but his intense concern over the TOC, coupled with the distrust of electronic communication--for the everyday, I mean--seems to indicate some challenges.

(n.b.: BTW, I don't disagree that electronic communications are taken for granted by far too many people, and most have zero understanding of how they actually WORK. I'd be cautious myself about using email, etc., for anything confidential. But for everyday communication, well...)

Hitch

[arjaybe]

Originally Posted by Hitch

I hope for his sake that that's true, but his intense concern over the TOC, coupled with the distrust of electronic communication--for the everyday, I mean--seems to indicate some challenges.

(n.b.: BTW, I don't disagree that electronic communications are taken for granted by far too many people, and most have zero understanding of how they actually WORK. I'd be cautious myself about using email, etc., for anything confidential. But for everyday communication, well...)

Hitch

Yeah, the world is bigger and more dramatic for him than it is for most of the rest of us. From his letters, though, I can tell he's dealing with it. Getting help. Taking steps. Right now, I'd call him more eccentric than crazy. You've probably dealt with a few eccentric writers, eh?

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by arjaybe

Yeah, the world is bigger and more dramatic for him than it is for most of the rest of us. From his letters, though, I can tell he's dealing with it. Getting help. Taking steps. Right now, I'd call him more eccentric than crazy. You've probably dealt with a few eccentric writers, eh?

I've dealt with a lot of eccentric writers, but the nature of the work we do prevents me from dealing with any quite THAT fringe-y. Obviously, to work with us, you have to be able to work in an electronic medium--email, etc. I've had a few that persisted in being difficult--one guy insisted on sending a thumbdrive of his book, instead of xferring it via our GUI FTP--but generally, not quite that "out there."

I do also, of course, deal with a lot of the paranoia--the whole "how do I know you won't steal my book" thing. It's annoying as s**t, of course, not to mention, an idiotic thing to ask, no matter how politely phrased--wouldn't thieves (or "copyright infringers") also be liars? What's the value of getting an assurance from someone you're already thinking isn't honest?

My tolerance for that kind of thing is really, really waning.

Hitch

[arjaybe]

Originally Posted by Hitch

I've dealt with a lot of eccentric writers ...

I do also, of course, deal with a lot of the paranoia--the whole "how do I know you won't steal my book" thing. It's annoying as s**t, of course, not to mention, an idiotic thing to ask, no matter how politely phrased--wouldn't thieves (or "copyright infringers") also be liars? What's the value of getting an assurance from someone you're already thinking isn't honest?

My tolerance for that kind of thing is really, really waning.

Hitch

Only waning? I stand in stunned awe of someone with such reserves of tact and diplomacy. Probably explains why I've never been in any service oriented occupation. I'd be the one saying, "Oh yeah? Well, you can take your precious story and ..."

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by arjaybe

Only waning? I stand in stunned awe of someone with such reserves of tact and diplomacy. Probably explains why I've never been in any service oriented occupation. I'd be the one saying, "Oh yeah? Well, you can take your precious story and ..."

Oh...I'm well past it, but...girl's gotta eat, and so do my crew. Otherwise, OH HOW I WISH I could say that!

(I have a poet in, right now. I offered him fixed-layout versus reflow; he took reflow, and now, he's UNHAPPY. Thinks the ebooks "look terrible." What doesn't he like, about how they appear?

1. His original poems were center-aligned, so that the left-edge of the lines of the poems were at the center of the page. Well, great--but we can't do that in eBooks--certainly, NOT in MOBI or MOBI 8 format, period. They're indented, but only as far as they can be, in MOBI.
2. He "HATES" the TOC. Says, it doesn't LOOK like a TOC. His printed book had dotleaders and page numbers, which, of course, we can't use. Will he tell me what he wants us to do, to make it look like "a real TOC?" Eff, no, he won't.
3. He's unhappy because "the poems aren't all on one page." Now, what he means is, that the person reading the book doesn't, like in a print book, SEE the entire poem at once. that people SCROLL the page, or tap, etc. to see more than the first X lines. I've asked him, given that he asserts that he knew (of course!) that eBook readers can ENLARGE THE FONT, how he expected that to work? If Jane makes the font size font size 10, hwo the frack did he think that the entire poem would stay on the "page"?

...and this moron wants his MONEY BACK. He's made zero effort, to do anything at all, to enable us to tweak the book to make him happier; he obviously did ZERO research, on eBooks, before he hired us. I've wasted now at LEAST 2+ hours, in explanations and examples and the like, for him, to explain how ebooks work. And now he's asserting that even though he knew that "making an ebook is collaborative, it's not (his) job to handhold us, to fix a terrible job." I'm not only mortally offended, but I'm starting to get really, really angry.

I told him: you go out and find ONE book of reflowable poetry, that's so much better than this. Go ahead. And/or, someone else, in the biz--someone respectable, not some Fiverr--that will say that there's ANYTHING wrong with this file.

He's made it MY responsibility that he didn't know a damned thing about ebooks, before he hired us. I even walked him thorugh some of the pros and cons, about fixed-layout, versus reflowable, when he first inquired of us. I offered him both--and he chose the CHEAPER reflowable. Now he's "unhappy?" With our "terrible" work? None of which he can ...

OMFG. Now he's back, and he's trying to BLACKMAIL me, by threatening to "post bad reviews all over the Net."

Oh, brother. Boyo, you have no idea what you're getting into. Most pleople aren't stupid enough to get into an out and out fight with me.


Hitch

[arjaybe]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Oh...I'm well past it, but...girl's gotta eat, and so do my crew. Otherwise, OH HOW I WISH I could say that!

(I have a poet in, right now ...

OMFG. Now he's back, and he's trying to BLACKMAIL me, by threatening to "post bad reviews all over the Net."

Oh, brother. Boyo, you have no idea what you're getting into. Most pleople aren't stupid enough to get into an out and out fight with me.


Hitch

Please forgive me for enjoying that! This comes to mind:

Lucky for you I gots a sensk uh humility ... Unlucky for you I also gots a sensk uh humiligration.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by arjaybe

Please forgive me for enjoying that! This comes to mind:

Lucky for you I gots a sensk uh humility ... Unlucky for you I also gots a sensk uh humiligration.

So does that mean someone owes someone an apologigie?

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by arjaybe

Please forgive me for enjoying that! This comes to mind:

Lucky for you I gots a sensk uh humility ... Unlucky for you I also gots a sensk uh humiligration.

Originally Posted by crich70

So does that mean someone owes someone an apologigie?

I'm simply BOGGLED that not only would he stoop to it, but that he'd be STUPID enough to put it in writing, just like that "If you don't refund my money, I'm going to post bad reviews of you all over the net." (DUH).

I pointed out to him that it was blackmail, pure and simple. He seems to have calmed himself a bit since then.

Hitch

[arjaybe]

Originally Posted by Hitch

I'm simply BOGGLED that not only would he stoop to it, but that he'd be STUPID enough to put it in writing, just like that "If you don't refund my money, I'm going to post bad reviews of you all over the net." (DUH).

I pointed out to him that it was blackmail, pure and simple. He seems to have calmed himself a bit since then.

Hitch

There, see? Tact and diplomacy.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by Hitch

[...]Oh, brother. Boyo, you have no idea what you're getting into. Most pleople aren't stupid enough to get into an out and out fight with me.


Hitch

A couple of things: I don't think the your wand is working (see avatar); and just think how little you'd have to write about if it was all smooth running.

And, as arjaybe noted, at least we get entertainment out of it. Not sure it makes your suffering any less, but you've got to look for the silver-lining somewhere.