What would you do?

[Brian Towers]

He said you could send him letters, but he did not say he would necessarily reply.

The contents of your letter and contract must have been so problematic for him that they did not merit a reply. Usually authors do not write their own contracts. Remind me, did you ever receive a contract from him?

nothing other than the 1st one he emailed 5 years ago, which contained a one-off advanced payment.I changed the payment to a royalty and observance of English copyright to Iran's, as we don't know much about the English law.

now I an pay the one-off payment.

That does sound rather problematic.
Presumably you changed the contract, signed it and sent it back? And didn't get a signed copy of the changed contract back?

If the original contract mentioned a one-off initial payment and no royalties then, provided it wasn't excessive, you would have been wise to accept.

Similarly you should have put your brain into gear over the issue of English v Iranian copyright law (as perhaps should have the English publishers). The point being that if you had no intention of ever coming to England then the clause binding you to English copyright law has little if any effect whereas you live in Iran and so cannot escape Iranian copyright law whether you sign a contract or not.

It sounds from the initial contract as if the English publishers were in effect saying "Go on, please yourselves". By changing the contract and sending it back you were in effect arguing with them and then they just couldn't be bothered and didn't think you were worth the effort.

If it would be legal in Iran you could continue printing, selling and sending royalty cheques to the publisher in England and see what happens.

[soheil_hooshdaran]

well, the one-off payment sounded two high, so we agreed on a royalty via email.
I sent the new contract unsigned, and my lawyer said that is better.
Iranian copyrioght law would only recognize the English party if there was a contract between us. why do you think I continue publishing and see What happens? They may express discontent with it and I would then be left with books distributed and money before the retailers and my futile investments.

[John McKenna]

Thanks for reminding me of your chequered history with Everyman, Soheil.

What Brian says above is good practical advice.

There is a board game called "Monopoly" in which there's a card saying, "Do Not Pass Go... "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly_(game)

You have been dealt such a card by Everyman and if you want to play by the rules you could try to obey it as follows...

I doubt that the "Everyman Chess guy" will ever bother to "express discontent" because you have already exhausted his patience and he probably just wants a quiet(er) life. Dealing with Iran is becoming easier, but at the time your dealings began relations were fraught with difficulties mainly due to sanctions, particularly financial ones.

You can send them more cheques if you feel obliged to keep your side of the one-sided bargain that you think you struck with them. BUT expect no more cooperation from them on future projects. They simply do not want you as one of their authors after what's happened.

I don't think you are ever going to sell enough copies for Everyman to sue you for breach of copyright and they almost certainly would not do so in Iran. (You only have to worry if you have assets outside your country not held in offshore trusts.)

As I have said, only news of a large number of sales of your translation, accompanied by a cheque for a large sum (several thousands of US dollars) would make them reconsider trying to do business with you again.

At present your track record with Everyman does not warrant futher communication with you on their part. You are not going to change that by revisiting the scene of the accident - it's already happened and there's no easy way to heal the wounds.

Find other partners for your next venture, and if you are successful you might be able to approach Everyman again telling them about it and humbly asking if they will allow you to do translations of GM Seirawan's other works.

John

PS Any further communications with me regarding this matter must be by PM (private message) - none of which I promise to answer, particularly if you send me cash in the style of Henry Root.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoax_letter_writers

[soheil_hooshdaran]

How I exhausted their patience?

[John McKenna]

The same way you've exhausted mine - by sticking to your guns even as your ship went down. As far as this battle goes you're so sunk you don't even know it. Stop refighting the same action, over and over. Better still stop playing battleships and learn to play Monopoly.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/don%27t_pass_go

Then you'd realise that you've been sent to jail.

[soheil_hooshdaran]

so what do you say,? I prnt it or not? Would they be fine with publishing it or not?

[soheil_hooshdaran]

If their problem is with the money, I can make a one-off payment, instead of moving to the book of IM Kopec

[John McKenna]

The problem is no longer money - you have become the problem due to not knowing how to conduct business with the West.

Further above you were clutching at straws by citing legal niceties.
Now you're doing it again by trying to tempt them with what's effectively their own money.

But you've missed the boat. You've been treading water and shouting for someone to throw you a life preserver to keep you afloat until it returns to pick you up. It's not coming back for you, so all you can do is swim to shore and try to get aboard another vessel.

Offering to "make a one-off payment" didn't work in the past and will not work at this late stage either because you didn't pay them the up-front money they asked you for in the first place (that showed bad faith) and now you would probably have to pay them every rial that you could ever earn from sales of the translation in Iran, and more. It's just not viable or buyable. Only you seem to be unable to see and accept that.

I'm sure they would not be best pleased if they heard that you are persisting in trying to return to them rather than moving on to IM Kopec. That would confirm their worst fears.

I am also sure that for them silence is golden. Just as I am sure that for you to continue to err is only human and for them to forgive you would take divine intervention. Do you believe in miracles? (No need to answer that.) Of course you do.

[soheil_hooshdaran]

John speaks-or rather writes- in mathaphhors!!
I see no reason they left other than a misunderstanding. I made 1 mistake. OK, then what?
I will give them my earned rials from the sale of the books, and that is quite good if they allow me to publish the books.

[Barry Sandercock]

What are mathaphhors ??

[John McKenna]

Aphorisms of a mathematical nature, perhaps, since the crux was the want of sum of money.

Here's a better aphorism -

For the want of a nail the shoe was lost,
For the want of a shoe the horse was lost,
For the want of a horse the rider was lost,
For the want of a rider the battle was lost,
For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost,
And all for the want of a horseshoe-nail.”

Benjamin Franklin

[soheil_hooshdaran]

John, you was joking, right?
You told me I cannot sell books for 1000 dollars!
That will be less than 300 copies!

[Alistair Campbell]

He said you could send him letters, but he did not say he would necessarily reply.

The contents of your letter and contract must have been so problematic for him that they did not merit a reply. Usually authors do not write their own contracts. Remind me, did you ever receive a contract from him?

nothing other than the 1st one he emailed 5 years ago, which contained a one-off advanced payment.I changed the payment to a royalty and observance of English copyright to Iran's, aswe don't know much about the English law.

now I an pay the one-off payment.

I'm still a little confused here. Are you saying that the original contract stipulated a payment from you (Soheil) to the publisher (Everyman)? In effect, you were asked to buy the rights? However you could not afford the one-off payment and suggested a royalty instead? And this was all 5 years ago?

Then despite not having a signed contract, you went away and published anyway (on the basis of an email, largely in capital letters)?

[soheil_hooshdaran]

The originally proposed contract demanded a one-off payment. As it was much for me, I aked for a reduced price and he suggested the royalty.
And yes, I published the book and then sent the contract. I hoped that everything would be resolved because he said so in his email. but 2 or 3 of my friend say 300 copies is not publishing

[Ian Thompson]

The originally proposed contract demanded a one-off payment. As it was much for me, I aked for a reduced price and he suggested the royalty.
And yes, I published the book and then sent the contract. I hoped that everything would be resolved because he said so in his email. but 2 or 3 of my friend say 300 copies is not publishing

I can understand why Everyman are not very interested when the number of books, and therefore income for them, is so low, and its probably a lot more work for them dealing with you, as a foreigner, than it would be dealing with a book being published in the UK. (I remember reading a long time ago that a typical chess book in the UK would be expected to sell about 2000 copies.)