My plan was to allow anyone who wanted to read an advance copy of the book the opportunity to do so, provided they forwarded the book within a week to the next reader. I didn’t realize it at the time, but what I was doing played right into the new publishing environment, an environment that is still uncharted and mysterious. A brave new democratic book world where everyone is a potential reviewer.

Last week I published an interview with Jill Sobule on the website I edit, The Rumpus. Jill’s biggest song was the 1995 hit “I Kissed A Girl.” Katy Perry’s biggest song is also titled “I Kissed A Girl” and was written with the help of her manager, the same guy who originally signed Jill to her label. In the interview Jill Sobule called Katy Perry a “title thieving little slut”. What happened next taught me something new about the Internet: theft spreads.