You know, there was a time when publishers expected a degree of craziness from their authors and had systems to deal with it, but it's a time long past and the industry now is as stuck in the mud as the music recording industry, but without the satisfying ka-ching the recording industry still produces somehow.

I've had the misfortune to work in publishing and I'm still really not sure whose interests they're serving these days. Certainly not authors' or the reading public's. Beware though because they also love lawyers and the legal process almost as much as the recording industry, and prefer that avenue to taming with an even-mildly difficult author.

I can't remember where I read it, but someone said something similar about lawyers destroying rational people, and that if a lawyer says his client intends to take you to court, it is better to say something like "Go fuck yourself", since it indicates a position of power.

I just find it fascinating that with all you said in that video, (the numerous potentially "controversial" statements and such that provide the asshats of the world with plenty to be pissed off about) everyone is fixated on the fact that you have no shirt on. Next time you should forego the pants and double the attention.

What I was trying to say is that it's not a person or even a group of persons who goes directly against the psycho (sorry, Sebastian :-), it's a big corporation.

The lawyers are paid to do their job, the gears are turning and the only one who can personally get hurt in this case is Sebastian. No one at CBS will be affected personally, although it is possible, though highly unlikely without a lot of effort, that the company's image will be a bit tarnished (which seems to be the goal here, actually).

They'll be going out of the publishing business or changing their game whether they want it or not, since authors can now easily publish their own books and not depend on them anyway.

It's like going on foot against an APC...

I would just let it go and never deal with them again, but that's just me, of course :-)

You're thinking too rationally. All of game theory goes out the window when the other player starts acting irrational. As a simple example, consider playing Chicken against an psychopath. You will swerve, every time. That's the victory a psychopath gets by being irrational.

Good for you. My writing partner and I got tired of getting fucked over by agents/aborted publisher contracts, and will be releasing our first novel in E-book format next week. The good news is, we created a readership from scratch with a now popular website and can now market ourselves. The old system is indeed dying, and after my experience with it in the last six years, I say "Adios."

The no shirt part was a stroke of brilliance.

It's a good point.

Err, don't you think you're taking on too much at the moment?

I mean, if it was important or even related to your current projects, I'd understand, but taking on a big company is not a very smart idea when you don't seem to have time for your more important stuff.

I mean, if it's CBS, they can just take you to court (for, well, anything) or just hassle you to no end, because it's not a person doing it, it's a legal department - no soul, no goal except to relentlessly hassle you - the papers go around their office, you go through problems personally... not really fair...

Props to you on taking a stand on principles rather than being shoved around.
What makes someone great? Someone who follows no nobler principles through to the end but whose entire life purpose disintegrates amidst fear mongering isn't.