Elworthy talks copyright on The Nation
File sharing website, Mega, has been asked to remove any illegal copies from its site of Kiwi writer Eleanor Catton's award winning book The Luminaries.
Speaking on TV3's The Nation, PANZ president Sam Elworthy said finding the Man Booker Prize winner's work pirated online was hugely disappointing."There are multiple ways you can get legal access to this work. It's a real pity when pirates take it and make it available for free.
"And it's an even greater pity when that pirate site is based in New Zealand with New Zealand employees and giving it away like that. So we were very disappointed."
Mr Elworthy says that file sharing site owners and managers might claim ignorance – but that it is easy enough to find pirated work on these websites.
"If I can find it, they can find it – they're a lot smarter than me," he says.
"Anyone can go on Google, and if you google any famous novel that you're looking for, Lee Child, or something like that, and 'free download copy' you'll see mega.co.nz pretty high on the ranking."
With the prevalence of file sharing websites, like Mega, Mr Elworthy says finding The Luminaries is just the "tip of the iceberg", but he says the publishing industry learnt from the music industry and acts quickly to remove pirated copies from online.
He says while it is a problem borne of the digital age, the literary world has been the victim of piracy before."It's actually been a problem before – you know, the old photocopier or scanner was pretty good too."
Access Sam’s interview here.
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Publisher Centenarian Wilf Beckett Dies
Wilf Beckett was a regular at the gym until he was 99, and turned 100 in July. (Beckett pictured right at his 100th birthday celebration). The book trade knows him as the founder of Beckett Stirling, but Wilf had an interesting career path starting much earlier. At the age of 16 he worked at the Auckland Sun newspaper until it closed a year later; he was in Napier when the devastating earthquake of 1931 hit, and worked for dole money hunting for gold in an abandoned Picton gold mine during the Depression. He then hitch-hiked the country as a movie promoter.
Wilf’s overseas trip in the late 30’s to New York and then London was cut short by the Second World War Undaunted, he joined the Royal Navy for the duration of the war, turning down a promotion to return to New Zealand and open an advertising agency. “He had a good way with words and had already had two features on Maori myths and legends published in the Dominion in 1939,” Wilf’s son Richard Beckett said.
With wife Mardi, he formed Beckett Sterling in 1947, initially dispatching imported paperbacks from their garage. The company grew much larger and was a pioneer in publishing cookbook titles and pictorial books on New Zealand landscapes.
Wilf also enjoyed a publishing friendship with the UK publisher Paul Hamlyn and imported that imprint’s books. “Hamlyn was the first in the world to publish full colour cookbooks,” Richard says. “He gave Wilf the advice on publishing books women would want to read – on cats, dogs, babies and cooking!”
Beckett Sterling published the first NZ Woman’s Weekly cookbook and was a leading distributor when it merged with sports publishers Moa. “Turnover exploded in a short time from 2 million to 12 million,” Richard explains. That was before the company sold to Hodder and operated for many years as Hodder Moa Beckett. “We were unashamedly commercially driven to improve the bottom line, and when the company sold we were doing 10 million turnover in Anne Geddes product alone.”
A man of great energy, the indomitable Wilf also found time to become part of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron where he served as commodore and later was named a life member.
Wilf Beckett’s funeral was held at the Devonport Naval Base chapel on 14 October.
Footnote:
Wilf was one of the influential figures in the NZ book trade when we started Beattie & Forbes Bookshop back in the late 1960's and I remember him fondly. Murray Brown was the rep who used to call on us from Beckett Stirling. The Sunset Books series was one of their great lines way back then. Later they merged with John Blackwell's Moa, became Moa Beckett and then eventually Hodder Moa Beckett. With Hachette ceasing NZ publishing that has all gone now sadly.
RIP Wilf.
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