WOW!! A second publisher seek permission!

It this a return to integrity?!

Wow! I can’t tell you how excited I am! I’ve just had the SECOND publisher in last ten years or so to seek permission to reproduce my original works!!!! I mean WOW! This is incredible!!! It’s so exciting to know there are two publishers amongst the many who didn’t care about copyright or didn’t doo their due diligence! Here’s what I received! (I have deleted parts of the email to protect the privacy of the writer).

"Hello, I am emailing from xxxx Australia, an educational publisher. We are currently preparing for publication of a book:

xxxx

In this publication our authors would like to include the following material in which we believe you control copyright:

(Graph), How to write strength training programs 'A Practical Guide' by Ian King 2000

We request that you grant xxxx the non-exclusive right and license to use, display, reproduce, publish, transmit, and distribute the Material in the Work in the nominated territories and languages and in all advertising and promotions of the Work. Your grant and license shall also apply to any reprints, revised editions, or derivative works of the Work in any media or formats, whether now or hereafter known, including without limitation other kinds of print and electronic media.

Replying to this email with your permission confirms your agreement to this request. By consenting to this request you represent and warrant that (i) you are the sole owner of all copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property and proprietary rights in and to the Material, (ii) xxx publication of the Material as authorised herein will not violate or infringe any copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property or proprietary right of any person or entity, and (iii) you are not a party to and the Material is not subject to any contract or arrangement which would conflict with your permission herein.

Thank you very much for your help, I look forward to hearing from you." --xxxx

xxxx – Thank you for your email. It’s great to experience courtesy and respect in publishing, not to least moral and legal respect of copyright! I mean that very sincerely. You are only the second publisher in the last ten years to seek permission – and the other was just a few years ago when Human Kinetics sought permission for content in Istvan Balyi’s book.

Yet the contents of 'How to Write' (and others of my works) are the most plagiarized content in the modern history of physical preparation.

So I really appreciate you, and your effort to maintain what was once standard, accepted practice in publishing!

I am definitely going to agree, but first I want to get this right for you and for myself.

1. The referenced title - My book, ‘How to Write Strength Training Programs’ was originally published in 1998, and has a number of new editions, however I am happy for you to use the 1998 year.

2. If you are committed to avoiding additional copyright breaches, you may want me to check the rest of your content. It would be very unlikely that your current manuscript is devoid from additional of my original published works.

It would be disappointing for me to see you publish more of my works without reference or credit, but I am getting to expect this, as certain individuals have made their career out of extensive republishing my original works as their own. However I see no reason why copyright breaches need to be perpetuated simply because others have, although I have received this argument from another published previously.

For example, you most likely have my speed of movement and or lines of movement concepts in your manuscript – just to name some possibilities. It would be amazing to find a publisher whose commitment to integrity in publishing exceeds their desire for easy short term cash flow.

I am and will continue to publish clarity on the origin of my original ideas, and over time I aim that those who have and continue to publish my works without professionally and legally acceptable referencing and credit will be exposed for failing to ethically, morally, professionally and legally show appropriate respect for the copyright of others.

3. Can I check the pictures you have earmarked to be connect/referenced from the table?

4. I note the graphs say ‘altered from’ – in what way has it been altered and what was the purpose of the altering? Why is the original table not adequate? To give clarity in the first instance, it would appear the table you present marries the content of two of my tables, from different pages in my book.

5. Has this book already been published? Or similar ones? Were my original, copyright works appropriately referenced and credited?

Again xxx I am really happy to receive a request indicating a desire to credit a person for their works. I am got used to American publishers treating my copyright with total distain however it would be even further heartbreak to have the same treatment by Australians, considering I have spent the bulk of my adult life in Australia. --Ian King

It may seem trivial to some but to anyone who has created and shared so many original, copyright material, its massive.

It’s so heartening to find as many as two publishers committed to ethical behaviour. Perhaps the world is changing back from the ways of what I call the Decade of Deceit, where between the years of approximately 2000 and 2010+ so many hid behind their keyboards, creating perceptions of themselves and their professional experiences and competencies that were far removed from the reality, and blatantly breaching anyone’s copyright to further themselves. Two publishers in the last few year compared to none before that. If we are seeing a return to greater integrity, I fully support it!

Ian King

NB. If you read this blog article, and are genuinely committed to helping the physical preparation industry return to greater integrity, I would like to gift you a free copy of my ebook ‘Barbells & Bullshit’. Just email us at feedback@kingsports.net asking for your copy. And keep an eye out for my upcoming release – ‘The New Rules of (Writing About) Lifting: Lying, Cheating & Stealing.