I'd like to correct some misapprehensions about Cory Doctorow's unauthorized posting of my short comic piece "On Serious Literature" on his boingboing.net site.

I originally sent the piece to David Langford for Ansible, because that's where I first saw the quote from Ruth Franklin that the piece riffs on. I also put it on my web site. (It's still there.) Jon Carroll of the San Francisco Chronicle then reprinted it entire in the Chronicle, without asking permission. My agent Vaughne Hansen and I immediately demanded an apology from Carroll, and immediately got one. Harper's asked to publish it, offering me $200.00, which I accepted (I love gravy.)

I then discovered that Doctorow had put it on his web site, without asking permission and without observing copyright, misrepresenting its purpose, and falsely claiming that it was under license by "Creative Commons" so that anyone could copy it.

My agent and I had just decided to ask the e-piracy committe of SFWA, which I had come to count on in similar situations, to intervene on my behalf — when we found that the committee had suddenly been dissolved, following complaints about unauthorized interference, issuing from Cory Doctorow.

The irony of this situation is fairly visible. While Doctorow was making a huge fuss over an honest mistake, which when discovered was immediately redressed, he was publishing another writer's work without asking permission and in clear violation of copyright.

With my consent, Andrew Burt exposed Doctorow's piracy in a letter printed on Jerry Pournelle's web site. Doctorow scoffed, blustered, made no apology to me for misidentifying my work and using it without permission, and behaved as if his action was legitimate, although the Fair Use exception explicitly does not cover reprinting an entire article or poem no matter how short. But he took part of the piece off his site.

At the request of Michael Capobianco, President of SFWA, acting on my behalf, Doctorow has now finally removed the entire piece.

He has not apologised either to me for using my piece without permission, or to the people he misled with his pretense of a "Creative Commons License" into thinking they could reprint a copyrighted piece without violating the law. Nor has he offered to help them remove these many additional copies.

But, thanks to SFWA, he has taken the piece down. My agent is writing to request him to redress some of the other matters. I hope then to be done for good with Mr Doctorow. What I remain upset about is the confusion and destruction he seems to have effected within SFWA.

An overworked committee mistakenly identified a few works, among many, as infringing copyright; the mistakes were promptly admitted and redressed, with apologies; and President Capobianco invited any other parties who thought themselves wronged to contact him. Where is the cause in all this for dissolving a committee which has worked with extraordinary effectiveness to redress real wrongs?

In my view, the best thing that could come out of my brush with the Doctorow Doctrine would be this: the honorable reinstatement of the SFWA e-piracy committee, with an expression of appreciation from SFWA officers and members of the honest and effective work they have done for us for so long.

This letter is not copyrighted and may be excerpted or copied entire.

— Ursula K. Le Guin
October 12 2007

Doctorow has since posted an apology, and LeGuinn has accepted it. LeGuinn is also asking those who have posted the entirety of her piece will take it down.

E-piracy is a growing issue, especially since so many people don’t know the laws. Even when people do know the laws, fair use is difficult to determine, as you can see in the exchange between LeGuinn and Doctorow. Basically, you can quote part of a text, but the acceptable excerpt length is debatable (we generally use 300 words from a book). ALWAYS say who wrote it and where you go it, and make sure to include context.

Also, just because it's online does not mean it falls under the Creative Commons umbrella. Check for copyright info before reposting something. If you’re not sure, include a hyperlink instead of posting it, or ask a lawyer and save yourself a headache and potentially bad press.

Variations on "What are the elements of (name your genre)?" keep appearing in my lovely system tracking how people get to this site, so I thought I'd cover it a little better.

We have all heard of the basic fiction genres—literary, mainstream, fantasy/sf, romance, mystery, horror, comics—but what do they mean?

I’ve pulled some of the main genres and subgenres from the glossary in NSSWM 2008 and included an example or two. Just remember that categories are fluid and overlap a lot, so a book that is most accurately described as a romantic urban fantasy thriller might just be considered a fantasy for ease of shelving. The lines between thriller, suspense and action novel are pretty subjective, so please don't leave me comments about how Patterson's book is actually a thriller.

Action/Adventure Story: A genre of fiction in which action is the key element, overshadowing characters, theme and setting. The conflict in an adventure story is often man against nature. [Night Without End by Allistair MacLean]

Cozy: Mystery usually set in a small British town, in a bygone era, featuring a somewhat genteel, intellectual protagonist. [Anything by Agatha Christe]

Experimental: Fiction that is innovative in subject matter and style; avant-garde, non-formulaic, usually literary material. [Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov]

Graphic Novel: A book (original or adapted) that takes the form of a long comic strip or heavily illustrated story of 40 pages or more, produced in paperback. Though called a novel, these can also be works of nonfiction. [Stardust by Neil Gaiman or Blankets by Craig Thompson]

Horror: Howard Phillips Lovecraft…”A certain atmosphere of breathless and unexplainable dread of outer, unkown forces must be present; there must be a hint, expressed with a seriousness and portenteousness becoming its subject, of that most terrible concept of the human brain—a malign and particular suspension or defeat of the fixed laws of Nature which are our only safeguards against the assault of chaos and the daemons of unplumbed space." [most of the works of Stephen King]

Literary: The general category of fiction which employs more sophisticated technique, driven as much or more by character evolution than action in the plot. [Any of the finalists for the National Book Prize]

Mainstream: Fiction which appeals to a more general reading audience, versus literary or genre fiction. Mainstream is more plot-driven than literary fiction and less formulaic than genre fiction. [An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England by Brock Clark or Water for Elephants: A Novel by Sara Gruen]

Mystery: A form of narration in which one or more elements remain unknown or unexplained until the end of the story. The modern mystery story contains elements of the serious novel: a convincing account of a character’s struggle with various physical and psychological obstacles in an effort to achieve his goal, good characterization and sound motivation. [The Da Vinci Code or Book of the Dead by Particia Cornwell]

Noir: A style of mystery involving hard-boiled detectives and bleak settings. [The Chicago Way by Michael Harvey, or The Dresden Files could actually be considered noir fantasy]

Romance: A type of category fiction in which the love relationship between a man and woman pervades the plot. The story is often told from the viewpoint of the heroine, who meets a man (the hero), falls in with him, encounters a conflict that hinders their relationship, then resolves the conflict. Romance is the overriding element in this kind of story: The couple’s relationship determines the plot and tone of the book. The theme of the novel is the woman’s sexual awakening. Although she may not be a virgin, she has never before been so emotionally aroused. Despite all this emotion, however, characters and plot must both be well developed and realistic. Throughout a romance novel, the reader senses the sexual and emotional attraction between the heroine and hero. Lovemaking scenes, though sometimes detailed, are not generally too graphic, because more emphasis is placed on the sensual element than on physical action. [Anything by Nora Roberts]

Science Fiction [vs fantasy]: It is generally accepted that, to be science fiction, a story must have elements of science in either the conflict or setting (usually both). Fantasy, on the other hand, rarely utilizes science, instead relying instead on magic, mythological and neomythological brings and devices and outright invention for conflict and setting. [Ender’s Game and its sequels by Orson Scott Card, anything by Isaac Asimov]

Speculative Fiction (SpecFic): The all-inclusive term for science fiction, fantasy and horror.

Suspense: A genre of fiction where the plot’s primary function is to build a feeling of anticipation and fear in the reader over its possible outcome. [Double Cross by James Patterson]

Thriller: A novel intended to arouse feelings of excitement or suspense. Works in this genre are highly sensational, usually focusing on illegal activities, international espionage, sex and violence. A thriller is often a detective story in which the forces of good are pitted against the forces of evil in a kill-or-be-killed situation. [Think John Grisham]

Urban Fantasy: Fantasy that takes magical characters such as elves, fairies, vampires or wizards and places them in modern-day settings, often in the inner city. [the Mercedes Thompson series by Patricia Briggs]

Western: Genre with a setting in the west, usually between 1860-1890, with a formula plot about cowboys or other aspects of frontier life. [Lonesome Dove: A Novel by Larry McMurtry]

Many authors worry about where they're going to put their books in the store and/or try to write a particular genre. Don't do that. Write your book, then figure out what it is. Even then, knowing the kind of book is mostly so you know who to send it to.

When you’re querying agents and editors, always use the simplest description. Try to stick with the main genres, unless you know they’re looking for a specific subgenre. Even then, you don’t need to say you have a romantic urban fantasy; just say it’s an urban fantasy. Don’t worry about classifying your book exactly; that’s one of the things sales and marketing take care of.

If you have questions you would like answered, just email me at nsswm AT fwpubs DOT com.

The NSSWM also has a glossasry (On pg 544 in the 2008 edition) that breaks down all of the sub-genres for you, in case you want to know the difference between steampunk and splatterpunk.