Back in May, the romance writing community was rocked by a scandal after
author Faleena Hopkins started enforcing a trademark over the common
word “COCKY” in the titles of romance novels; I predicted then
that there would be some sociopaths who would observe the controversy
and decide that it was an inspiration, rather than a warning, and start
trying to use trademark to steal other words from writers and their
titles.
The application lists a series of self-described “pulp harem fantasies”
by Michael-Scott Earle, published by MSE Media LLC, as evidence of the
mark’s use in connection with a “Downloadable series of fiction books,”
Class 009.
Of course, none of the dozens (hundreds?) of authors who have used
“Dragon Slayer” in a title have sought a trademark, because the term is
generic and not trademarkable.
If the mark passes the US Patent and Trademark Office’s initial
examination (a notoriously lax process), the other authors who’ve used
this term can file an objection to keep this common term from being
stolen by a single writer.
In the US, states and cities have their own minimum wages, keyed to the
local cost of living – but every one of these minimum wages is
insufficient to provide that most basic of needs: a roof over your head.
It’s the nexus of the crazy, private-equity-fuelled
skyrocketing cost of housing and decades of Big Business-fuelled wage
stagnation that has seen American workers’ pay stalled even as companies
became more profitable and GDP grew.
Even a $15/hour minimum wage would not allow a single parent to afford
an apartment with a separate bedroom for their child or children in most
of America (Arkansas has the lowest rents in the country, and even
there you need to earn $13.88 to afford a two-bedroom apartment).
Even a one-bedroom apartment is out of reach for minimum wage workers in almost all of America.
“No offense but maybe if you want to get ahead you should keep your politics to yourself and just you know write books.”
You’re entirely right, I could keep my mouth shut and probably do very well out of it. But any world where I have to keep my mouth shut and turn away from the suffering and persecution of others is not a world I want to do well in.
I know you think you’re probably helping, and are possibly even coming from a place of concern, but this is my choice to make. And if it turns out this bed I’ve dug is a
grave, then buddy I’ll damn well die in it. But not before I do
everything possible within my power the take the bastards with me.
Authors are just as entitled as any other citizen to form and voice their own opinions.
OK BUT THE THREAD??? Tumblr this is what kills me, you screenshot an amazing Tweet but don’t link to the source or UNROLL THE THREAD! So then I have to go read Twitter myself and lose my entire goddamn mind. Anyway!
There was another amazing thread on how fucked the Domino’s pothole-filling squad was, but this was from the same poster so it was easy to find. The other thread was about the concept of “prevailing wage” and how Domino’s was surely paying their workers minimum, meaning the job wasn’t going to skilled tradesmen and is further aiding the slippage of the former middle classes into poverty, but now I can’t find it. Anyway! There’s some underpinnings for that punchline.
