In light of my unwilling involvement with Getty Images, as president of my publishing company, I have decided to take the proactive and defensive measure and gathering and reporting information relating to the Getty Images Settlement Demand Letter.

In fact, this whole fiasco is so outrageous that I have named this the Getty Images Settlement Demand Letter Extortion Scheme.  I think this term truly fits what they are doing.  The information I am finding on the Internet is simply outrageous.

I have launched ExtortionLetterInfo.com so that my blogs don’t get overrun with the Getty Settlement Demand Letter discussions.  If you are interested in what is happening with this, go visit the website.  Otherwise, I will keep this blog focused on what it was meant for, commentary on the publishing industry.

This post was first published on the MatthewChan.com Blog site.

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Today, I received a Getty Images Settlement Demand Letter basically trying to extort from me a payment of $1,300 for a bird image that was used on theintrepidway.com website.  If I pay that amount, basically they agree not to sue me or my company.  However, suing and winning are two entirely different issues.

TheIntrepidWay.com currently looks bare because I immediately took down all the web banner graphics to comply with the Getty Images Settlement Demand Letter.

For most of you reading this, you will be like me earlier today.  I had no clue what this was all about.  It would be many hours later until I discovered this extortionistic practice by Getty Images.  But, believe it or not, this issue is relevant to anyone who wants to put up their own website and intend to hire someone to design their graphics and images.

The “short version” of all this is that “Getty Images”, a photo-licensing company, actively sends out Settlement Demand Letters in the U.S., U.K., and Australia to unsuspecting website owners that have intentionally or unintentionally infringed on their copyrighted images.  ON the surface, this sound fine.

In my research, so many website owners are small-business people or companies that contracted web site templates and graphics from graphic artists/designers in India.  Well, apparently, the folks in India have a terrible reputation of stealing U.S. images and incorporating them in their web graphics and template design.

Unsuspecting U.S. website owners who want to improve the appear of their websites buy these web templates and graphics and use them on their websites.  However, months and years later, Getty Images sends this very nasty and threatening letter out essentially holding you fully responsible even if someone else did the crime.  I understand that employers are held responsible for many issues, however, what comes is on the verge of insanity and certainly not even close to reasonable.

If you are legally uninformed, I will tell you, it is a very intimidating letter unless you think this through carefully.  After I calmed down, I took the time to do a Google and Yahoo search on “Getty Images Settlement Demand Letter”. I think if you do the same, you will get a very interesting education.  It is actually devious because Getty Images do not do anyone the courtesy of a Cease and Desist Letter.  Basically, let people know that they did the wrong thing and allow them to correct the situation before you get nasty.

However, in one mailing, they ask you to remove all the infringing images AND ask you to pay this extortionistic amount so they won’t sue you.  What a great scam.  Start sending letters to anyone who made a mistake to correct the mistake but also demand a huge cash payment while you are at it in exchange for you to NOT sue them.  What a great way to make money.  Why bother going to court when you can simply instill the fear of a lawsuit into people?

And even if you have to go to court, there is this small matter of preparing and proving your case.  Is Getty Images (based in Seattle) really going to hire an attorney and sue me in Columbus, Georgia over a $1,300?  Perhaps they will sue for more.  But for what damages?   Punitive damages?  You want to punish someone for doing something they did not intend to do or know it was even occurring?  Those attorney fees might get expensive trying to sue a corporation over state lines.

I have been to court many times as a plaintiff.  It is not easy to simply make stuff or puff your case up.  The judge is usually smart enough to temper a case and not let a ruling get too ridiculous especially in a small claims case.

If it sounds like I am being cavalier, I am not.  I am treating this seriously.  However, I am not simply going to roll over.  I also have a few tricks up my sleeve if they truly decide to push the matter into the court system.  I won’t get into specifics but let’s just say the word will get out very quickly and wide to people, companies, and agencies I have never communicated to before.

I felt the need to post this warning message to warn others.  There are many, many angry people who have received similar letters from Getty’s Images.  I suspect they will want one more web source to consult and discuss this situation.

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If you want to learn more about this case, visit ExtortionLetterInfo.com.

For years, I have heard how inexpensive Chinese printers are for color printing compared to their U.S. printing counterparts.  And the couple of people I asked years back were very guarded in their answers.  Essentially, I got the feeling they wanted to keep the information to themselves as if it were a trade secret.

Anyone who attended the 2008 Book Expo America convention learned they are no longer a secret.  They were quite well represented.  In fact, printers from Korea, India, and Singapore joined their Chinese counterparts at Book Expo America.  Perhaps I was not looking but I noticed that there were very few American printers at the convention.

It would seem that these international players have gotten aggressive and come to our country and business convention to get some business from American publishers.

I chose to focus on the Chinese printers for a couple of reasons.  First, they appear to be the most price aggressive.  Second, I have a personal interest in eventually doing business in China and working with a Chinese printer would act as one economic bridge into that country.  It does not mean the other international printers could not do a good job but because of my personal interest and preference I am focusing on the Chinese Print Manufacturers.

There was an assortment of booths.  There were a couple that had large booths with very formal presentations.  These companies had Chinese representatives in business suits acting in a very “honorable” fashion.  There were other companies that had very bland and boring booths that were staffed with with people who spoke very little English.

Interestingly, I noticed many of the Chinese companies were concentrated in Shanghai and Guangzhou.  There were others that were in Beijing and Hong Kong.  AS it was explained to me, many of the printers are located outside of the major cities due to lower labor costs.  The samples provided by all the companies were almost always very professional and of high quality.

I have to say, as a whole, the Chinese representatives were very nice people to deal with.  But clearly, there was some cultural and language challenges to overcome on my part.  Although I am a Chinese-American, my conversational Chinese is nearly non-existent.  Fortunately, there was at least one representative that seemed to speak English.

One thing that was clear to me with ALL the Chinese printers is that very few understand the publishing business beyond what the major publishers represent it to be.  Meaning, the Chinese representatives understood very little of the economics of publishing aside from overall printing cost, unit cost, and shipping cost.  They had little awareness of warehousing, holding, and distribution costs.  They knew nothing about “Long Tail”.  They knew very little about short-run printing, accelerated publishing, audio publishing, or micro-publishing.

As large as Ingram is, Lightning Source and the other POD printers are still very much unknown entities to the Chinese printers.

After a few brief conversations, it was clear they were happy to cater to American companies that wanted to commit to print runs of 3,000 and more.  Many of the Chinese companies wanted print runs of 5,000 or more.  However, what they do not yet understand is that “long tail” and the boom of small, independent publishers will continue to erode at the core business of the “big best-seller” that large publishing houses love so much.

Anyone who visits this website knows that my focus is paving the way into the publishing business from ground floor to the level you prefer to be at.  This is going to be an upward trend.  The days of the traditional big-bestseller will continue to drop.  Traditional publishers who do not pay attention at the “lower levels” will find themselves out of business within 10 years.

And these Chinese printers who, so far, have an economic advantage because of cheap labor, will find themselves with an ever-increasing base of American publishers who are less willing to commit to larger print runs.

Basically, as far as I can tell, Chinese printers, are out of touch of the undercurrents going on in the publishing industry.  Obviously, I want to do business with them if I can but I am concerned that they might be slow to adapt.

As publishing technology continues to improve in the U.S., the Chinese printers may eventually find themselves niched into a smaller marketplace.

I just returned from over a week-long adventure in Los Angeles that included the huge 2008 Book Expo America in Los Angeles.  This event followed the 3-day IBPA’s Publishing University also in the same city.

The last time I attended Book Expo America was in 2002 in NYC.  It was before I started my publishing firm, Ascend Beyond Publishing.  I definitely feel like I waited too long to go back but I did try to make up for lost time soaking it all up and managed to get some nice advance copies of upcoming books.

I am a book lover myself which is one reason I got into the publishing business.  I can honestly say my legs hurt every night from all the walking on the convention floor during the day.  The are so many exhibitors to visit and products to check out.

I had not planned on attending another Book Expo America for another 2 years but now I feel somewhat compelled to go back next year.  I have put it on my calendar.

For the next few days and weeks, I will be sharing my thoughts on what I saw at Book Expo America.

Welcome to the brand-new TurnKey Publisher’s Blog!

Because of the fast-moving nature of the publishing industry, this blog will allow me to better comment and update you on my views of the publishing industry.

Also, as my new educational products are published, this blog will allow me to keep those products current.

As this blog is being launched, I am working on the 2nd draft and revision of my TurnKey Publishing book manuscript.  I had planned on printing and publishing the book by the end of June 2008 (2nd quarter) but it won’t happen.  Because of new events and information I have learned, I have to once again go back into the manuscript to update and freshen it up.

If there are any ideas or suggestions you have regarding improving the quality of this blog, I would welcome them.  Feel free to email me.