Loving and Hating Charles Bukowski by Linda King - Available Now (1 Viewer)

I've been wondering how long it'll be before Linda Lee objects to the letters. There are many of them, quoted at length, and they are damned good letters.
After King announced her intentions to sell the letters in 2007, she said, lawyers from Bukowski's estate warned her that the letters weren't hers to sell, citing intellectual property laws that entitle the author's estate to all "unpublished works."
But the estate decided not to pursue the matter in the courts. Later that year, King took the letters to San Francisco's PBA Galleries, which sold them to a private collector.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Charles-Bukowski-love-letters-sold-maybe-more-3286664.php#ixzz2DLeJsf2H
 
King has sold 60 love letters that Bukowski wrote to her, fetching $69,000 at a San Francisco auction house [...] she said she received $25,000...

Ah, auction houses and booksellers! Those are bigger profit margins (for doing virtually nothing) than the Wall Street guys take.

"I had a dream once that I had a Bukowski rug on the floor, and each time I got broke, all I had to do was reach into the mouth and some money would come out of the rug - the Bukowski rug."

I guess a lot of people share that dream.
 
King has sold 60 love letters that Bukowski wrote to her, fetching $69,000 at a San Francisco auction house [...] she said she received $25,000...

Ah, auction houses and booksellers! Those are bigger profit margins (for doing virtually nothing) than the Wall Street guys take.

is that standard commission rate???

that's worse that art galleries, and they almost do something...
 
After King announced her intentions to sell the letters in 2007, she said, lawyers from Bukowski's estate warned her that the letters weren't hers to sell, citing intellectual property laws that entitle the author's estate to all "unpublished works."
But the estate decided not to pursue the matter in the courts. [...]

I'm no lawyer, but it seems to me the estate would only own the content of the letters, as intellectual property, but not the physical letters that were sent to Linda. Those would be hers to sell, with no publication rights attached. The estate could block publication, but not sale of the physical letters.
 
couldn't the estate sue her for selling the book as-is with the letters included? i don't know that they would, given that it is not being widely circulated, but it seems like they've shut down smaller publications from less prominent figures in the past (like amber o'neil's book)... or maybe that was due to john martin's vigilance during the black sparrow days.
 
It seems they could, but they'd probably start with a letter from their lawyer demanding she stop selling the book, as with Amber. If that happens, and Linda's book goes o.p., it's going to turn into a $200 book overnight.
 
it seems like they've shut down smaller publications from less prominent figures in the past (like amber o'neil's book)...
I think if you look at the cases where people have claimed that BSP tried to block their publications you'll find that no actual blocking ever happened.

Amber's book could be sold, she just chooses not to sell it. Every copy of Going Modern was sold. The only person who ever responded to Martin's disapproval in a concrete way was Johnny Brewton, who chopped up (most of) his run of one Bukowski broadside and sent the pieces to Martin. Which, to me, smacks more of a publicity stunt than anything. A good one, for sure.

Otherwise what has Martin or BSP ever stopped? It seems like if you published something that infringed, Martin would express his disapproval, and that's about it.
 
Not at all. In essence he said, "You've been a very bad girl," and then went on to say it was okay to sell the books, but "insisted" that she not print any more (after the first 500). The ripping out of the letters is completely Amber's choice.

I've been given excerpts of the letter Martin wrote to Amber about it, and it doesn't appear that he was a dick about it at all. And he certainly never threatened her with a law suit or in any other way.

The story around Going Modern is very similar. But rather than sit on the copies of that book, like Amber did, that publisher sold them "out the back door" to book dealers (who all benefited from the "suppression" story by inflating the price on what was otherwise a very unremarkable book).
 
I didn't know Martin told Amber it was okay to sell out the edition but not to reprint. Just hearing from him must have frightened her into suppressing the book herself. I think it was me who suggested she rip out the letters and sell the books that way just so the text was available.
 
It could have been you, yes. Whoever it was, I had just about convinced her to sell them intact when everyone jumped in and said they would buy it with the letters pages removed.

It was like spending half the day negotiating a deal on a new car and then having your cousin walk up and offer to pay the full new car sticker price (in cash) for the car at the back of the lot that was salvaged from the bottom of a river.
;)
 
Well, damn. If I'd have known about the deal, I would have shut up. Shutting up seems to be my best option in most situations.
 
Maybe they did'nt print all that many copies. I'm sure they'll just print some more.
It's still available on English Amazon.
 
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Sunday, March 3rd at 2 p.m. "” Linda King: Loving & Hating Charles Bukowski "”

A reading and book signing with the author
Sunday, March 3rd at 2:00 P. M.
BIRD & BECKETT BOOKS AND RECORDS
653 Chenery St, SF (415) 586-3733 www.birdbecket.com


Linda King, then a fetching young poet and publisher of the lit rag called "Purr", spent several feisty years in Buk's intimate company and carries the torch and the tongs to this day.
She's a great character herself "” a terrific woman, a really wonderful sculptor, a fabulous poet, a notable publisher in the day and a sly and eminently readable memoirist (cf, her new book of this title), and she lives in these parts these days, frequenting the store for jazz and poetry events.
You may have encountered her here and may not realize it... Neeli Cherkovski, close Bukowski friend, collaborator on the little mag "Laugh Literary and Man the Humping Guns" and Buk's biographer, and one of our most important local poets/essayists/novelists, will be on hand to lend a word or two in sage concurrence and playful asides.
Come and you're insured close contact with the spirit of the gruff and unlovely but oddly lovable old man himself, plus the very enjoyable company of a living treasure or two!
 
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Linda & Gerry on facebook.

Gerry:

My sister Linda King writes about how hard it is to write a book with great expectations and being disappointed in sales. I would not be disappointed if I were her. If we checked back in time we would probably discover that very few writers comparatively speaking became well known authors. But when the common person writes a book I think it is something to celebrate. I have just been reading my memoir about the first twenty years of my life published this year on Amazon as an e-book, called "Daughters of the Shadow Men. I write under my maiden name, Gerry King. I just read the first 5 chapters offered as a sample and I thought this does not sound like a polished writer, but more like an old country woman trying to sound professional. But I remembered that was what I was trying to sound like when I wrote the memoir. This is just me, folks, always trying to be a writer, but when I went off to school the city kids made fun of me because I said 'bare' instead of bear and harse instead of horse. I tried to get rid of my country brogue and when I came home my little sister Linda accused me of being hoity toity. I said, no, Lina, it is like learning to speak french. You have to talk the talk and walk the walk when you go to the city, believe me, or those city kids will crucify you! But you can never take the country out of the country girl. It will somehow shine through. But so will the talent shine, and Linda's shines through in everything she writes, paints, and sculptures.

Linda:

LOVIN AND HATING CHALES BUKOWSKI. If you have ever written a book and tried to sell a book you will know why I put this book back up again. I don'[t know how to sell. This book has everything, sex, gossip;, love , rage, passion. You would think it would go viral, but no it has has left me wondering if I shoud be a writer or not. The world is changing too fast and I can't keep.up. Bob Yoder of Wild Ocean Press did such a wonderful job editing this book. You can order it from him. I am not going to jump of a bridge because I left San Francisco and would have to go jump off Angel's Landing or someplace like that. I have stopped writing anything for months and hoping to get back on track, but there are no tracks in St. George. This book will good for you. No formulas with Bukowski.
 

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