Pretty wow, if I say so myself-- since it isn't me. The Esquire requisition-- by Arnold Gingrich himself,-- to pay Thomas Pynchon for the Crying of Lot 49 excerpt.

[Mark Kohut]

A: These things are negotiated before the book's publication, almost
entirely....(but the rights remain if somehow a book gets published nakedly
so to speak but
a demand pops up for it, parts of it at magazines and other places and get
sold later. To excerpt in a major way without paying does violate copyright
law: beyond fair use)

Yes, it still goes on. At inflation-adjusted current levels. Very lucrative
for some authors. Look at Crying of Lot 49. With Tyler's pricing news, Tom
made more than selling almost 12,000 hardcover copies.

Yes, any publicity is a gift in your wording and always has been.

On Wed, Aug 25, 2021 at 8:48 PM David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> OK, so now you’ve provided some context for discussion of this $800
> payment.  Not knowing publishing like you do, are these Esquire payments a
> kind of fine or a settlement for publishing excerpts before the book’s
> release?  Or are these things negotiated before article publishing?  Either
> way, in today’s world does this practice still happen?  Any publicity of a
> new novel would seem a gift in the state of today’s publishing world, no?
>
> David Morris
>
> On Wed, Aug 25, 2021 at 8:28 PM Tyler Wilson <tbsqrd at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> The review slip and jacket state $3.95.
>> —
>> T
>
>
>
>> On Aug 25, 2021, at 4:49 PM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> A little more of my book experience some might like to read.
>>
>> I cannot find the original price of the hardcover of The Crying of Lot
>> 49. But given the year and small size, I'm going to judge it had to be
>> under $10. (I have a shaky memory that i saw $7.95 on a library copy once. )
>>
>> Anyway, at 15% royalties, Tom would have to have sold @5830 copies to
>> earn the amount of the Esquire excerpt.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Aug 25, 2021 at 3:35 PM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com<mailto:
>> mark.kohut at gmail.com>> wrote:
>> I am too much a fanboy but 1) I don't think any Pynchon scholars or few,
>> have seen this document. Many don't know the terms (amount)
>> and timing, I don't think. I, at least, never knew the amount, did you?
>> Anyone, anyone?
>>
>> Inflation calculators show this $800 is equal to @$7000 today. ...Further
>> on this guy's site---he saved these documents from the
>> trash at Esquire and framed them......I say documents because there are
>> three others, one a bit later in the 60's shows Ms Donadio
>> getting a grand grand for Roth for an excerpt from what was not then
>> entitled Portnoy's Complaint.
>>
>> I'll drop the wows. One man's wow is another guy's old news.
>>
>> Mark
>
>
>> On Wed, Aug 25, 2021 at 1:23 PM David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com<mailto:
>> fqmorris at gmail.com>> wrote:
>> Oh.  So this is an ancient non-story?  A story that never was?  So much
>> for that “wow.”  Mark is way too much a fan boy, and I don’t do Twitter.
>>
>> On Wed, Aug 25, 2021 at 1:08 PM Tyler Wilson <tbsqrd at hotmail.com<mailto:
>> tbsqrd at hotmail.com>> wrote:
>> Isn’t this clearly just the payment he received for the excerpt that
>> appeared — pre-publication! — in the December 1965 Esquire issue. Seems
>> pretty straight forward . . .
>> —
>> T
>>
>>
>>
>> > On Aug 25, 2021, at 9:51 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com<mailto:
>> fqmorris at gmail.com>> wrote:
>> >
>> > It’s impossible to understand *anything* about this $800 payment w/o
>> any context.  Like, was “fair use” violated, and, if so, how?  That would
>> be my first question.
>> >
>> > David Morris
>> >
>> >> On Wed, Aug 25, 2021 at 12:45 PM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com
>> <mailto:mark.kohut at gmail.com>> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> https://twitter.com/DanielTorday/status/1430549770146250754/photo/1
>> >> --
>> >> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>> >>
>> > --
>> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>> --
>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>
>