One of the things I did yesterday was tackle the claim form for the Google Library settlement. I love Google Book for research, but I’m not really happy about the settlement because—according to a New York Times Book Review article—it gives Google a monopoly. The Google groups might be Good Guys now, but that may not always be the case.
Nonetheless, a settlement is a settlement, and my literary agency is advising their authors to fill out the claim form. I did, with the usual on-line form frustrations. But the puzzle (and surprise) was to discover that one of the Google Book listings for Mistress of the Sun is shown as: Mistress of the Sun: A Romantic Tragedy with Several Changes of Scene. Say what?
Readers of this blog might recall that this was the title of a very early draft of this novel—possibly the first one submitted to HarperCollins, my Canadian publisher. My guess is that that was the title on the contract and that somehow it got picked up by Google Book. I’m rather charmed to discover this—I’m fond of this title—but it cautions me to be wary in the future. What I think of as a “working title” might easily become etched forever in the ethernet airwaves.
