Jezebel 
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New York, 5:14 AM
Fri Nov 27
2 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/25/09
However, for the normal author, if your book doesn't make the advance you're in trouble. Usually, it means you'll never publish again and your name is mud. However, some authors have been asked to pay back the advance. Sarah Palin? Not a chance.
A large advance that the sales don't meet just means that Palin cost her publishing company more money than any publishing company can afford to lose. Because of her, (depending on the company), a few thousand hopeful new authors, and a few thousand more established authors, won't see their books published this year, or ever. In publishing, it's never a bad thing to offer or take a smaller advance if your book is going to sell well. Unless you're JK Rowling, you don't take the large advance.
11/26/09
Like you, I find the fact these obscene advances go to celebrities or public figures who, ironically, don't write their own books anyway. The publishing industry is whining 'recession' and good writers with fabulous books can't make a living, yet they can still manage to drum up millions for ex-porn stars or beauty pagaent queens. Then they blame the midlist author for their financial ruin - really?
11/26/09
I heard stories from agents and editors who were guest speakers at my grad school. They couldn't name names. They said it was rare, but has happened when the publishers banked big on something like a memoir that turned out to be fake and the public actually cared (as opposed to the discredited memoirs people still buy).
Also, some prolific mystery author (bitterest man on the planet) who came to speak also told a story of a author with pathological narcissism issues who could tell a good summery and get a good advance up front before he wrote the book, but never delivered. He was sued after he promised too many unwritten books. But again, rare case.
Anyway, publishers are desperate for the next JK to save their business but it's the midlist that's their bread and butter. But they routinely screw them over on their third or fourth book if they don't continue to outsell themselves. No one can keep that up. It's like asking a pro athelete to get a better and better average every year - even the best have good years and bad years. But a lot of midlisters get dropped after a few books b/c they don't turn into runaway hits.
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PM-ed you, btw.
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11/26/09
#tips
11/26/09
#tips
11/25/09
I'm kind of impressed the woman pressed charges, I think a lot of women would have felt they couldn't because there was no non-consensual penetration.
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05/09/09
But in this case, it's different because she is paying a private company to aid her. It's not like she has a right to the use of their services. Had they denied her based on any reason other than her husband having kids, it'd be within THEIR rights as a private company. But to group them together isn't necessarily wrong if that was their companies policy and they knew that going in.
05/09/09
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i also nder if they could go to another fertility clinic in the UK? part of the problem is that this particular clinic interprets the guidelines very narrowly.
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There's just something about this that I'm very uncomfortable with. I don't like the idea of anyone making decisions about anyone's family size or what they do with their own uterus, and this definitely feels like something that should be decided by the couple, not their doctors.
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I don't really have an issue with limits on government funding for something like this.
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Kind of like if I want breast implants. The government can totally deny paying for that, it doesn't mean I CAN'T get them. I just have to shell out the money myself.
I don't see too much of a problem with it.
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I think governments should pay for necessary procedures, but I guess the debate starts at if a baby is "necessary" or not.
My heath insurance will pay for things I need. I need foot surgery. They're paying for that. Back to breast implants, I want those, I'm on my own with those.
I don't consider babies a NEED.
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But it does make me think, why does everyone need biological children? Are biological children a right?
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I'm assuming that if she could fund this without the government she wouldn't be turned down?
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05/11/09
@Mina_da_mad_child: Garr, really? Cos the upfront cost of an abortion is totally equal to financially supporting a child from 0 to 18. Urgh!
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You do it to get a kid, and adoption, you get a kid.
I'm just saying theres tons of children that need a parent that never get one. Ever. And if you can't make babies but somehow in your mind believe you would make the best parent ever then just adopt a child.
To me its kind of a insult to be honest that all these adults are going through all this bullshit to get pregnant, when theres tons of children that would be a great match. To me its saying 'Oh all these children are bullshit, MY GENES would be SUPER, not like these kids who are already made.'
05/09/09
I love it when I'm dating a man who pinches his face at the mere suggestion of adoption because he'd rather just see more of himself in the world. Usually accompanied by the phrase "my son." Shudder.
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I feel like a lot of times people won't adopt because they want a child with their own genes, and that kind of bothers me. I know not everyone is like that, and I know fertility is a really painful thing and I don't want to judge anyone who has been through that because I might act the same way they do, but no one's genes are special enough to justify years and years of painful, expensive fertility treatments.
You never really know someone's motives or what they're going through, though, so I don't want to be unfair to those who choose fertility treatment over adoption.
I should probably also mention that I am terrified of being pregnant and the whole thing horrifies me to the point of barely being able to look at pregnant people, and I really don't want to pass on my genes, so while I know that there is a biological drive to have kids, I don't understand it, and that probably affects my thinking.
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It's not "retarded" for someone to have a desire you don't understand. That's incredibly small minded of you to say.
05/09/09
Your said what I wanted to say but a lot nicer. I don't care if I sound harsh over the internets... its the internets. I'm actually kind of happy it gotten so many responses. And yeah I know people who choose the turkey baster and stuff but it just, it insults me. And I mean everyone here always bitches about THERE SHOULD BE A TEST TO BE PARENT!! and when there is one, THIS TEST IS TOO HARD!! in reference to the adoption thing, which I know is some bullshit but still... I'm glad its there.
05/09/09
On the off chance that I do want a child, however, adoption is the only way I would go: local or foreign, whatever. To me, that's what motherhood is: raising a child to the best of my abilities - it doesn't have to be my OWN child.
05/09/09
(I wouldn't say this, but it COULD be said.)
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I'm not saying adoption is The Only Choice. But if you're going through years and years of expensive, painful (physical AND psychological) treatments, all so you can see yourself in another face? Then maybe you should be exploring some other options if you want a child that badly.
To doggedly pursue something like this for such an extended period of time smacks of selfishness and gobs of money.
05/09/09
I suck at being female sometimes.
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Also, people are rejected for adoption for a multitude of reasons. It's not just about money. Those reasons don't automatically disqualify their abilities to parent.
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You haven't been around here long, have you?
05/09/09
It's easy for me to just get on my soapbox about it because I don't want children, but I know I need to learn to respect other women's desires to do so in whatever way they choose. I probably won't understand it, but in the future I will try to respect it.
Stepping down..
05/09/09
Second. Please don't go around badmouthing people who want to get pregnant or get IFV en mass. You know, I think that, as a general rule, IVF is kind of fucked up. I know it costs a lot of money to adopt, that that it can take a long time; the same is true of IVF, with the added bonus of painful and dangerous medical treatment.
I also think that people who spend thousands of dollars to push their bodies into having kids can be selfish, and are probably doing it simply to re-create their genes. Of course, as biological creatures, we're meant to pass on our genes. So desiring IVF is pretty much a biological impulse for some people.
But 'biological impulse' has never really been enough of an explanation for me, and when people choose IVF without considering adoption, I think it's pretty narcissistic and irresponsible. Irresponsible not just because of the adoptable kids, but because the world is already dangerously over-populated. So when people say things like "it's none of your business," it sort of is, because as a member of the planet, the presence of extra people will affect me.
But since I also recognize that shit is complicated, I try not to say shit like, "that's retarded!" because sometimes, it's the only viable option for people who want babies. As of now, we live in a world with national borders, homophobia, bigotry, classism, and beauracrazy up the wazoo that keeps people from easily raising kids who would be better off with them than in the system getting bounced around and fucked with over and over again. Too bad that's not the world, because then I really wouldn't have a problem saying that I think IVF is unsustainable and irresponsible. As it is, if people want kids, they should be able to get treatment to get them.
I don't feel comfortable saying "women who get IVF to have kids are dumb," but I do think it's ok to say, "IVF as a treatment and abstract concept is dangerous." But because life is hard, and there are plenty of totally valid reasons to get fertility treatments, I am not comfortable being mean to women who choose to do it.
That said, the idea that pregnancy is something that anyone who wants to should be able to experience is total bullshit. Pregnancy might be something that people want to experience, but I don't think that it's necessarily something that should be a right. And I know that can be perverted into some scary and fucked up eugenics stuff, so it's really not a belief that can be implemented in this world (because of aforementioned classism, racism, etc etc that would turn it into eugenics). But in an ideal situation in which adoption was easier, it is far better to adopt than to have a kid just so you can be pregnant. I do think that's a little absurd. The state of pregnancy as a desired end unto itself is creepy and naive; the state of pregnancy is a stage through which people go to have a kid. Do people who think that pregnancy is really that special and important, so much so that they choose to spend lots of money to become so in favor of adopting an already-born kid*, feel like kids who are adopted are less close or important to their parents than kids who are born to their biological parents and then raised by them? I don't think anyone would say that; and if you can recognize that pregnancy doesn't make a difference in your relationship with your child, why is it an ideal state that is privileged over adoption/keeping a kid from being an orphan/being better for the environment?
*Again, recognizing that adoptions aren't all so easy, my statement is qualified by saying that this is an abstract opinion and not necessarily applicable to everyone.
05/10/09
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That said, pregnancy isn't the be-all end-all - I would like to have a kid no matter what, and if I have to adopt, I will. But ideally, I would absolutely love to be pregnant with my future child.
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