A Public Apology to Becka Moon

When we were first working on Kair Toren, we commissioned a map from Becka Moon of Becka Designs Cartography. Becka is a map artist who works with Inkarnate.

To clarify before some misunderstanding might occur: Inkarnate is not generative AI and has never been one. It is illustrative software that is tailored specifically to map making. It doesn’t generate maps, it requires a human artist, and it has been around for years.

Becka created a fantastic map which you can see below. She truly brought our vision to life, which is why we have been recommending her as the map artist.

This map originally appeared on this site but was taken down prior to publication in accordance with Tor’s promotional schedule. Some of you might remember it.

We provided this map to Tor with the original contract. While I love this map with all my heart, a decision was made to replicate it and simplify it for print. Another artist, Jennifer Hanover, was commissioned by Tor to create a hand-drawn version that would work a little better in a black and white format and would reflect minor changes which occurred as the book was edited. Jennifer also created a piece of art, and you can see her version below.

As you can see, the two maps are very similar. Jennifer was credited as the map artist in the book, but Becka was not.

Why did this happen?

Becka and I executed our contract for her map in November of 2023 prior to the series being sold. That contract included a provision which asks for the copyright attribution. This is the image from the executed contract.

It reads:

My guess is that this paragraph is the culprit. Bringing the book to publication requires coordinating many moving parts. This is exactly the kind of thing that seems minor but ends up causing issues, because everyone would pull the proper copyright attribution from this contract.

Whose fault is this?

This is my fault. My deepest apologies to Becka Moon. I am so sorry that I failed to ensure proper attribution.

The initial admin error is joint: Becka didn’t fill out the copyright line and I didn’t check the contract to make sure it was filled out. I verified the address, dates, and signatures and somehow overlooked the copyright line.

I bear more responsibility here, because I should have caught the lack of attribution in the finished book. Instead I was under impression that she was credited and only found out about the issue yesterday, when Becka emailed.

(It went somewhat like this: what do you mean you are not credited, you are credited, they have the contract, let me check…. !!!!! All the emails and phone calls.)

Tor bears no responsibility in this issue because I was the one who was supposed to provide the correct attribution. To their credit, they jumped on this issue immediately, and resolved it the same day, which is lightning speed in publishing. Amazing response here.

With that in mind, we have agreed to treat this contract issue as an oversight in good faith. This is not about technicalities but making things right and ensuring that the artist is credited. Therefore, we will proceed as if the line was properly filled out and treat it as a contract breach.

Here are the steps we are taking to remedy this.

• Tor will edit all future editions of the book to include Becka Moon as the original map artist. The attribution will be as follows: Map art by Jennifer Hanover, based on an original map by Becka Designs Cartography. The changes will appear in the ebook first. There is no way to un-print the existing books, but all future editions will have the proper attribution.
• All future foreign editions will also follow suit and include Map art by Jennifer Hanover, based on an original map by Becka Designs Cartography as attribution. Once again, the changes will appear in the ebook first, with print following.
• A public apology will be offered – which is what I am doing now. I am deeply sorry for failing to ensure the proper attribution.
• A restitution will be paid to the artist in the exact amount of the original contract fee. This has been paid yesterday, and receipt was confirmed.
• Finally, we will prominently display Becka’s map with attribution and all appropriate links once the Maggie’s part of the site goes up. This will happen once book 2 is finished.

I am happy to report that Becka will be returning to Kair Toren for the battle maps relevant to the second book in Maggie the Undying series. With the proper attribution this time.

Also, all future artist contracts will have this line highlighted. I will learn Adobe Acrobat and make sure that it is unskippable.