Title: Winning Pony Mk. II – Test Print is Ready! · 5:05am Mar 6th, 2017
Hey everyone!
Comma-Kazie here once more with good news: the test print for the next round of Life and Times is here!
Behold its radiant sheen.
Behold its completely redone cover. (Thanks once again to Darkpen)
Behold how through friendship, Word, and CutePDF, two books have magically been turned into one!
(Seriously, this thing is huge.)
WOOHOO!
So what now?
Well, first I need to do one final read-through—
Boo!
Yes, yes, I know. More waiting. Still, like last time, this is the last leg—I just need to do a final check to ensure that the transition from Gdoc to Word to PDF to paper didn’t leave any last-minute goofs or surprises.
So what’s the new timeframe?
Ideally, this last check-over shouldn’t take me longer than the coming week. I say ‘ideally’ because in addition to the other chapters Chengar and Ponibius send my way (and holy [Buy Some Apples!] do these guys send me a lot chapters), I have that pesky job thing I have to go to when I’m not on Google Drive or The Secret World.
Once that’s done, we’ll start taking orders.
Nice! I might have to order a copy for myself. I'm not sure where my first edition copy ended up in the move...
Wait a minute...
s2.quickmeme.com/img/4a/4a8abcedde48aa896b165de057848f62c02fe5aa47e7ef2399401f029f5c3c38.jpg
You can't be Comma-Kazie. He died a long long time ago! It was really tragic, and I still see his ghost here on fimfiction from time to time, making identical posts to other WP staffers.
Jokes aside, that book looks great! You guys clearly worked hard on it.
Looks awesome! Guess I should actually get off my lazy bum and buy one this time =P
I love the cover art's background, but the text itself is really boring. It looks like it was hastily pasted ontop of a great drawing.
My old theory that Chen and Comma are secretly the same person remains alive and well, I see.
Can't wait, guys
Cool!
Neat!
Any chance of an e-book edition? Maybe that sounds pointless, but it'd be nice to be able to read the Winningverse if I don't have access to the internet.
4445427 There is already a "Download Story (.epub)" icon present on every story page (to the right of the Complete/Incomplete label). Works satisfactorily on my Kobo Glo HD (inline images are not included, and some special formatting is broken). No idea about any other devices.
Man, I still need to read that story.
Question: I know Pen Stroke did the same thing with Past Sins, why doesn't Hasbro get uppity about it? They already ruined Button Mash's Adventures, what stops them from cancelling your book?
4445658
The tl;dr of a conversation I had with an intellectual property attorney is: all fan work is technically a violation of copyright. Hasbro could hit us with a Cease & Desist at any time, but they could also do the same to Darkpen, or Pen Stroke, or--hell, BronyCon, FimFiction, and Equestria Daily all at once.
Why don't they, you ask? Three reasons:
(1) It's an exhaustive process. Consider how many authors (not stories, authors) are on FimFiction alone, to say nothing of EQD and FanFiction.net. Now consider that, as a company, you're going to keep a expensive IP attorney on hand to not only issue the C&Ds, but follow up on them as needed and remain on the hunt for new writers to research as necessary.
(2) It's an expensive process. Per (1), the above process could never be executed by one person; it would take a team numbering in the dozens, if not hundreds, to stay on top of one single issue out of any number that a multinational corporation might face--and speaking from personal experience, IP lawyers ain't cheap.
(3) It's an alienating process. They could issue a C&D at any time, and in Button Mash's case, it sounds like the had to. Games Workshop has had to C&D a German fan film because of how German copyright law worked, even though GW is relatively friendly to fan works; the tl;dr of the situation with GW (and Hasbro with Button Mash) is that if they don't assert their copyright when it's visibly challenged, they will lose the right to own it.* The Mane 6 ran into the same problem with Fighting is Magic, and while Hasbro did shut them down, there is no way they didn't receive a major fan backlash (and more importantly, loss of sales) for it.
Basically, if Hasbro wants to issues a C&D, they can. We--Chengar and myself, Pen Stroke and his collaborators, Knighty and Fimfiction, Seth and EQD, and the entirety of the MLP fandom--are trying as hard as we can to stay under the radar and not make it worth their time.
*Disclaimer: I am not an IP lawyer, and the information in this post is made to the best of my knowledge. This reply should not under any circumstances be taken as legal counsel or advice, and any and all questions of such nature should be directed to an attorney.
4446462
So every piece of fan art, music, and fanfiction from all kinds of fandoms violates copyright laws? That is really weird to think about.
Thanks for explaining!
Can anyone else not see the pictures? Or is there actually none?
4448119
Just you, so far as it seems. Which browser are you using?
4448797 Google Chrome, like a normal human being?
4452930
Huh. Weird. I'm using Chrome too (though I have no pretensions about being normal).
4453212 'twas just messin, and yeah. I got it to work on edge, just not on chrome for some reason. Odd, but there you go
I'm assuming that since this blog was posted over a week ago, the ideal schedule didn't work out. Is there a more updated estimate of when orders will be ready? Because I absolutely plan on purchasing this book (I wasn't around for the first printing), and I want to place the order it as soon as it's ready.
4458085
I'm actually writing the order notice now.